Tyranny - Standard Edition

The game has a very interesting story, the music and visuals are pretty cool. Choices matter and in a way any other roleplaying games didn't explore. The atmosphere (how the story is told) is just the best I've saw. Interface and playability is ok. BUT it feels (actually it IS) unfinished: at one point battles feel repetitive, and the whole story and balance of the game becomes rushed. It is sad because it had potential to be way better than for example BG2 in its time. And if it ain't sad enough, the game is abandoned, no plans for making it better via updates, that could give hope. Also no way for a sequel. At times it feels as the best Roleplaying Videogame ever. Wasted potential feels sad. I had a very very good time playing it, so I feel ashamed, this could have been a great universe to get deeper and deeper in...

Tyranny is split up into three Acts. Act 1 took me about 15 hours to play through and is one of the best RPG experiences I've ever had. You are judge, jury, and executioner for a massive empire trying to bring law and order to the world through force. You make important decisions, have delicious dialogue with all the major characters, and reap the consequences of your actions. Had the entire game been as high quality as Act 1, this might have been my favorite RPG ever. However, the game starts to fall apart in Act 2. Slowly, you realize you are being railroaded into one of three paths. The number of ways to complete quests starts to dry up and you find yourself in unavoidable combat more and more. It starts to feel like no matter what decisions you make, every conversation with an important character comes down to "Yessir" or "I'm going to kill you now". You're no longer an arbiter of justice, but either 1. a lapdog for someone who has no business telling you what to do or 2. a murderous psychopath. By the end of the second Act, it has become evident that the writers were trying to finish this up for a rapidly approaching deadline and had spent all their time on Act 1. All your decisions and actions throughout the entire game boil down to one (very silly) unavoidable plot point, followed by giving every major character the same ultimatum and the game abruptly ending. By the end of the game I must have said "Why would I do this?", "Why would anyone say that?", "How has no one considered this completely logical 3rd option?" a hundred times each. Overall, I'm extremely disappointed by this game after the fantastic first Act. It's sad to think what might have been had they had more time and money. In the end, the first Act really is SO good, that it's worth buying Tyranny at a discounted price. I had a solid 15 hours of an excellent RPG, and that's more than you get with most games. I wouldn't bother with the rest of the game.

You're a high level servant to the Big Bad Guy whereas in other RPGs you usually are the hero wannabe who's gonna save the world from said BBG. Raised your eyebrows? Good, that's exactly the point of Tyranny! It starts with a really uncommon premise which wonderfully unfolds through the game as you'll be faced by many choices which will affect the whole environment and experience. Factions, characters, nations...the way they view you and consider you can be shaped by said choices, and that adds a big replay value to the game. You start as a Fatebinder, one of the "judge, jury and executioner" people who serve the Overlord Kyros, a mysterious and VERY VERY powerful wizard who wants to complete the conquest of Terratus. He sends you to the Tiers, the one and only part of Terratus who still isn't in Kyros' grasp, and there you'll have to deal with two armies' generals who increasingly antagonize each other and with many rebel factions who try to capitalize on that bickering. As you proceed through the Tiers, like I said, you'll be faced with many different choices which'll modify how the various faction will consider you...and I won't say any more. No spoiler :D Aaaand here we go with the flaws: basically the last fourth of the game, roughly. That's a flaw per se, 'cause it looks rushed like Obsidian went so over-budget and/or over-time and didn't bother to wrap everything up as it should've been. It's not so bad per se, but seeing as the rest of the game unfolds, I think every player who got really captivated by plot and environment was hoping for something a little better. Still...get this, even better on sale. You won't regret it.

Played long enough to see myself become the villain. Let me be clear, this game is a breath of fresh air in an ever increasing pool of 2-dimensional hero RPGs. Tyranny made me seriously question myself and reflect on my actions and moral choices throughout it's 20+ hours campaign - which is the highest praise I could give to the writers and creative directors of this flawed gem. Lore, world-building, setting, art style, choices are just spot-on. The scheming, betrayal, lies and deceit and especially that ever existing choice of resolving matters the way you see fit (backstabbing everyone and everything, anyone?). What keeps the game from mass appeal and truly great review scores, imho: - combat is rather stiff and dull by today's standards and since there is a significant portion of it - it starts to drag. Too bad POE 2 didn't release prior to this game, so the devs could incorporate it's more fluid and fun combat design. However, once you lower the difficiulty from hard to easy - the story truly starts to shine. So that was a saving grace for me, as you have to fight A LOT in the game and it was just teeeeedious to watch at first. - the final act is a short mess. Up until the second Act of the game it was a tension filled rise to power and yet, once you actually start using it the game just abruptly ends. Comparing the very short final act to the previous 2 strongly implies a lack of resources or a rush to finish and release the game, rather than tie in all of the loose ends (or some at least) supporting that power fantasy and emphasizing the profound message the game was trying to deliver. I am all for cliffhangers and setting up for sequels, but that just felt lazy and cheap. And yet, been a long time since I have seen the game play the player like that and I would give my money for a sequel in a heartbeat... Sadly, I am afraid that day may never come. Or will it, Obsidian? ^)

For every Fan of classical RPGs life Baldurs Gate or Fallout, this is the right game for you. Even if you are completely new to the genre, this is a very good entry-title, because the combat system, as well as chartacter progression is comperitavly easy to handle. The choices are the meat of the game, there is hardly any line of text that doesn't influence your relation to someone or change the outcome of a future event. The game is never too messy and the UI is very well structured. My only critisism is the combat system, where individual battles can sometimes last just a little too long for my taste, but if it becomes that much of a problem, you can always just change difficulty. In summary, I can only give my highest recommendations and advise you to buy it.