The game is amazing. I really enjoy how you make your own stories, and how you can have some battle encouters that you'll never forget. I never expeded that kind of impact on the imagination by just looking at the simple graphics. But it achieves that by having in depth mechanics, great flavour text, unique characters and high stakes battles. I remember very well my first fight with alps, running naked in the night. A few overwhelming fights, won agains all odds vs zombies, and how a bandid leader killed with a axe swing 3 of my guys ... :D I have been playing this game on off for a few years now, and it has the same effect each time I pick it up again. I am coming back now for the Desert DLC :)
As most people checking the game I am a big RPG fan. I played most of the major RPG games in the last 20 years. I would say that Tyranny is a very special game and has a place among the great. The strongest and most unique point is the choices you make. This is emphasised from the character creation screen, where you get to make war decisions even before the game starts. This choices are fairly easy to understand, i never felt confused about them, but they will impact the game from beggining to end in a quite meaningfull way. NPC characters will often evoke your past actions and judge you by them. The story is about factions. It's a military and political story, about the conquest of a territory. While in many games, you get to choose faction A, B or C and stick to it to the end, here it's very different. First, their are many many different factions and people you can influence. Then you are never forced to choose a specific way, and can very much make your own way, with your own moral compass. You can be loyal to faction or a character, then choose to betray pretty any time you want. Their are many major endings, then probably a few hundrends small variations in the ending of the game that acount for your choices during the game. Something as insignifiant as choosing "remain silent" dialogue option many times during the whole game, will be noticed in the endgame. Many persons critique the ending, saying it's too short, rushed. I did not feel that. I think the ending makes sense. The choices you make will also affect your fighting ability. You will gain new abilities based on your standings and affiliations. In no other game have I seen such a nice and deep connection between combat and story. You can even find legendary items that come with their own abilities. My only critique it is that combat becomes a bit easy and repetitive by the end of the game. Because of lack of friendly fire you can easily spam big AOE spells, and it's the main tactic you use.
Inquisitor is a great RPG with strong mecanics. Like in Baldur's Gates the conversation trees are complex, the writing rich and each object you pick has a story behing it, especially rare items (weapons, armor, rings etc.) The game has a nice slow pace. The combat mecanics are very simple. This contributes to a "realistic feel" and immersion. I played in the hardest difficulty, and I did not found the game very hard, but I played the knight class, so maybe they are imbalances I am not aware off. The game is made to be played slowly, and to roleplay the character and the setting.
I have not finished the game yet, but I played some, had no issues and no bugs, it feels like a good port with the last patch(1.08 or 1.07). It is an intellegently designed game, a lot of interesting ideas: no enemies, no health bar, no time limit, well no stress at all. At the same time it is very challenging, in a good way. Some games involve doing combos and killing enemies which it's not trully challenging, it takes button mashing and some hours of practice. Fez is intelectually challenging, because it is a complex world to understand and to explore. The player feels completely immersed in the gameworld, the game speaks directly to the player, because they is no unuseful gameplay mecanic that makes a barrier between the player and the game. The game is minimalistic, and that is great, because the player can directly feel the world. And the world is beautiful, both unique and familiar (might feel like Treasure Adventures Game, Zelda, Mario). I know of all the hate around Phil Fish, but so many people really don't know anything about him except the sentences on Twitter. And a sentence on a site does not mean anything at all, it's difficult to understand someone by being it's friend, but how can we judge and understand a person from some sentences on the net. The music, the gameplay, the interesting and complex puzzles, the fez language, feel all great. It's a critically aclaimed game, and it should be so. It is art. Play it :)
This game has an unique and beautiful art style and it is a game that tries to learn us something, and I think succedes. It learns us to look to the nature diferently and to be amazed by every detail. Might feel a little like Superbrothers: Sword and Sorcery, though the gameplay and style are obvious completely different. The story is also interesting. After playing the game I look at things a little different, I took something from the experience, and that is amazing, it's what good art does :)
