Tyranny is a flawed gem. While in some points it feels ridiculously robust and of superb quality, it falls utterly flat in others. And yet, I love it to death. It is one of, if not my favorite cRPG I've played, and much of it is thanks to the intriguing worldbuilding, vivid characters and factions, and of course, the way it reacts to your actions. Tyranny is one of the few games where your choices truly matter, even those that you make before you so much as create your character. The writing is solid, and it is (usually) fun to read the massive walls of text the game throws at you, doubly so when you chat with your companions. As of the weaker points, it would be the visuals, somewhat boring in everything other than the menus and drawn cutscenes; combat, which is far more limited than cRPG combat usually is, often boiling down to just pressing the same buttons over and over, all the while being annoyingly hungry for your attention and requiring micro-management; and the ending, which is a complete and utter cockblock, likely caused by the development time getting cut in favor of Pillars of Eternity; as well as some specific quests and plot points. With all that in mind, however, I can still safely say that if you like the more chill kind of RPGs with a lot of reading and, well, roleplaying, Tyranny is a must try: you might like its better sides more than you'll dislike its worse ones.

Reviewed on Dec 06, 2021


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