“Aren’t you tired of being nice? Don’t you just want to go ape-s***?”
Obsidian has a long history of creating some of the most interesting evil factions that you can align with, so it’s only natural that they would one day tackle a world where evil is the de facto mode of play. In Tyranny you are a peon to The Overlord Kyros. A Fatebinder, part judge, part soldier, sent to deliver Kyros’ specific form of justice in the Tiers - the last free lands of Terratus.
Obsidian had been developing Tyranny for almost a decade and not a day was wasted when it came to fleshing out Terratus and it’s inhabitants. Not content with simply creating an “evil has won” setting, Tyranny includes multiple shades of evil and contests them against each other both directly and philosophically. Another quirk is that this campaign is set during the end of a bronze age. It’s not often I play a game of swords and sandals, where iron is valued more than gold, and in that decision Tyranny offers a unique aesthetic, appropriately bringing some Ancient Greek God influence. This is extended in the form of The Archons, powerful god-like beings who carry mortal flaws.
The story matches the world building in quality and sees the player traveling across the Tiers delivering judgement, assisting in a civil war, uncovering mysteries behind The Oldwalls and its Spires, and growing in influence. The player will need to use any knowledge they uncover to decide who best to ally with, and just how freely they can act while under the authoritarian rule of The Overlord. The companions you collect offer their own perspectives and insights to the mysteries surrounding Terratus, the Oldwalls, and Kyros themselves. The companions are a grab-bag of mostly well realized and memorable characters.
Skill checks are aplenty and smartly utilized. Just because you can pass a skill check does not mean you automatically win an encounter. You’ll need to keep in mind what information characters have available to them, and even then, passing a skill check may invoke wrath when you are seeking favor or vis versa. Playing politics and keeping your wits about you helps smartly layer dialogue encounters, as well as inform about the personality or motives of said character.
A small feature that ended up being a massive highlight for me was the Missive system. It’s such a minor thing: letters that you occasionally receive and respond to from your superior and other notable characters that take a day or two to travel back and forth via messenger birds. It offers a lot in the way of information, character building, and also helps solidify the timescale that this is a large campaign occurring over months - where it takes days to travel from one notable point to the next.
Combat is where we fall out of my typical wheelhouse. Real Time w/ Pause is not my forte and I’d [glare silently] for a turn-based option. However, for the RTwP freaks out there, there is additional mechanical depth that I imagine would elevate this game over it’s decade old predecessors. Companion abilities have two players syncing up their actions to massive effect. Magic is not learned so much as created through crafting and skill checks. To reward this extra effort, magic is appropriately powerful and feared in Terratus.
The secret sauce of Tyranny is how well the narrative, themes, and systems intersect. The aforementioned companion abilities are unlocked by mustering either Loyalty or Fear with your companions. Instead of a positive / negative binary that other developers may lean into, both earning your companions respect or cowing them into subjugation rewards the player with new skills and benefits. This approach also extends to the many in-game factions in the form of Favor and Wrath, with each offering its own buffs. All of this to ask the central theme: What is power but influence manifest?
While music has an appropriate “evil is triumphant” sound, the voice acting does not always match this tone. Truthfully I find the voice acting serviceable to not good. I noticed this primarily with characters related to the Scarlet Chorus faction which may have been intentional as the Chorus are largely made up of citizen-conscripts - folks who lived normal lives before meeting Kyros’ Peace. But their casual, everyman VA direction was a bit jarring in a world full of Evil and Might.
A harsher critique is the dungeon crawling of the Oldwalls. You’ll spend a good amount of your middle hours crawling through same-y looking dungeons, fight after fight, with little reprieve. It’s when combat is at it’s heaviest and the story at its lightest, and as I mentioned, RTwP is just not my bag - making me weak to this particular grind. Those who enjoy this style of combat will be more immune to the onslaught of battles, and those don’t can always throw the game into an easier difficulty.
There’s a couple factors that also offset my critique on fatigue. One, is that Acts 1 and 3 offer a lot in story, decision making, and are on a greased rail in comparison to the middle chunk of the game. The other is that Tyranny is quite short - for a CRPG. I clocked in 30hrs to complete my campaign. This is beneficial not just for my short attention span but also because Tyranny has a lot to offer in the way of alternative paths. I can easily see myself returning to this game for a second play-through to try for a different political approach, a more magic focused build, and to utilize the companions that I neglected during my first go round.
Tyranny is an easy recommend for fans of CRPGs, easier so if you can stomach RTwP. I hope one day we can see another game set in Terratus. Perhaps even a sequel based around what the conclusion of Tyranny teases. I only hope that it includes an option for turn-based combat, which is my specific flavor of freak.
An easy 8 out of 10 recommend, +1 if you are a Real Time w/ Pause freak.
