Table of Contents
Tyranny, officially released in 2016, is a fairly dense RPG, whether in terms of mechanics or story. The title was made available for free on the Epic Games Store (EGS) for a week, in this gold mine that is represented by weekly games. As in the previous review, from Kingdom: New Lands, the focus here is for those who grab a bunch of free games on EGS and don't know where to start or what to play next. So let's go.
Developed by Obsidian, the company responsible for respectable titles such as Fallout: New Vegas, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Pillars of Eternity e The Outer Worlds, Tyranny follows the isometric formula of other games in the genre, such as Baldur's Gate, Divinity: Original Sin and the first titles in the Fallout franchise. An isometric RPG, for those who are not used to the nomenclature, is one in which the player observes the action taking place from a higher point, almost diagonally - the feature was used a lot in 90's titles to make a 2D game look like 3D .
Anyway, Tyranny it's a game about choices. And yes, I know this is said all the time, but, here, those choices are a little more complicated given that you serve as a sort of judge (or Fatebinder, as the official name is) of an evil emperor. This means that often the choices that you think are right because, well, they are sensible and beneficial, are not the best. It's a great way to break out of the norm, isn't it?
Having made the preliminary presentations, the first point to be addressed is the graphics. For some reason, the Windows capture commands did not take screenshots at all, so the images here will be the official ones provided by the Paradox website, which published the game. I also advance that one of the main defects, at least for the Spanish public, is the fact that the game no translation into spanish. That said, find out a little more about Tyranny reading the review that follows.
Tyranny's world is a devastated world
Even before starting the game, right after the more classic construction of the character - which, in turn, is very interesting, mixing life story elements and other more traditional attributes choice -, the player is given the option to define what the character did in the war that precedes the events of the RPG, called Conquest. A lot of what you do there, while it doesn't look like it, will have various impacts on interactions with other characters and your reputation as a whole. The coolest thing is that this section of the game is made as if you were playing a board game; a simple detail, but very welcome.
All this is highlighted by the spectacular quality of the scenarios that, even on computers with lower graphics capacity (as is the case of the machine you are talking about), faithfully resonate with the destruction of the world. Ah, this world is called Terratus and, temporally speaking, is in the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age, with magical creatures and fantasy powers common to the genre.
The characters, for the most part, have a beautiful and well-made design, whether in the 3D model or in the photo that illustrates the character sheet. During gameplay, there is the option to disable the appearance of the helmet, which is great, considering that hardly a helmet from there will fit the rest of the outfit/armor. There isn't a huge range of equipment, but what there is is well designed.
An aesthetic detail that attracts me a lot in games where there is a need to create characters is the creation of the emblem used by the team. This, in itself, usually indicates that the player will be able to create his own faction from a certain moment and, in Tyranny, that's exactly what happens. No wonder the emblems are even more memorable than the factions themselves — they are, in turn, represented by solid colors such as red, black, purple and gold.
Overall, it's a beautiful game, even by the slightly less demanding standards of isometric RPGs. Divinity: Original Sin, which is a recent game, is also beautiful and has well-made settings, but these aren't as original as the rocky desert of swords or Tyranny's flaming library.
Typical RPG's gameplay
Entering battles, disarming traps, finding spells and the like are activities that give character experience. In addition to these, which are the most common in other games, the dialog also guarantees XP the player, given that many situations can be avoided (or caused) through conversation, from the yield of a city to its complete destruction on the map. And, rest assured, the game will not facilitate any choice.
Like all good RPGs, Tyranny will allow the player to choose a few travel companies – 4 in total, the rest go to base. Like all the other characters, they also belonged to certain organizations, which, in addition to their own personality, makes them react very differently to each other about your comments and actions, and may even leave you or want to battle you.
Still on these companions, there are two bars that change according to what you do and decide: the one of loyalty and the one of fear. Both grant two abilities, one passive and one active, which is normally done in a combo (ie, the main character and the partner perform an attack or a spell together). In addition to the techniques, they are responsible for dictating team members' responses not only to you, but to each other as well. For example, if you choose to torture an enemy soldier to death, one company will gain loyalty and praise your deeds, while another will beg you to stop and be more afraid of you.
This system also works with factions, with the difference that, instead of fear, the bar is called wrath. The interesting part here is that you already start the game with some points in the faction bars, which were defined according to your choices in the Conquest part.
A curious change is that the player can assemble spells from fragments found in Terratus. There is a core, which dictates the type of spell (fire, lightning, confusion, teleport, etc.), the type of appearance or use (whether it's going to be a long-distance ball of energy or a touch), and one or more extras, which amplify magic powers (more damage, lesser cooldown, greater range), but increase the number of points needed in Lore to use them.
As for attributes, they are not very different from what RPG players are used to. Strictly following the older models, they are maxed out at 20 points, each of which determines the character's proficiency in certain aspects: Wisdom for spells, Streetwise for ranged and stealth attacks, and so on. Related to these are skills, which involve one- and two-handed weapon combat, two-weapon combat, nature control, and the like. It is possible to train these skills with specific NPCs in the world of Tyranny to have a very versatile team.
Each time you or a team character evolves, an attribute point and a skill point are received. Skills, unlike the standard division by classes, depend on character creation. I decided to do something different from what I usually do in other RPG's (I always choose the rogue) and I made a warrior that fights with spear, shield and can throw javelins (throwing spears). The skills, therefore, were defined as leadership (by having a military background), throwing (by choosing the javelin), protection (by having a military background) and agility (by choosing the spear).
The partner choices for the party end up depending a lot on how you create the main character – in my case, I chose Barik, a disciplined soldier in armor who served as the team's tank; Verse, a savage fighter who used two daggers and a bow for damage; and Lantry, a sage who gave bonuses to characters' abilities, in addition to healing. It is up to the player to decide which techniques the teammates will use.
Finally, there are the spiral towers, called Pinnacles, which end up becoming bases for the player. There are five in total and, in addition to being places where you can recruit teachers for techniques, blacksmiths to improve armor and other support characters, they represent an important part of the story. Before I forget, they are useful for traveling around the map, too – each trip taken takes a few days, and depending on the quest, this counter is important.
The only issues I had were with the teammates AI and the quest tracker. Sometimes, the NPC's in the group, in the middle of combat, left me stuck in a corner or didn't obey the commands. Because it is an isometric RPG, Tyranny gives the option to pause the battle and dictate orders to the characters in order to assemble a better strategy, which is a little tricky to do when they don't obey.
As for the quest tracker, everything indicates that this is a recurring problem on Obsidian's team, as practically every game I played with them had the same problem. The tracker is confusing, shows a lot of information at the same time and is not at all intuitive, quite the opposite. Perhaps it causes a bit of a headache for inexperienced players.
Dense and impactful story
Tyranny's story is very interesting and part of a premise little used by game developers and writers. There is no harm to be defeated – at least not immediately – given that he has practically already won.. The world of Terratus is in the hands of Kyros, an unknown ruler whose power is so great that only a handful of people can challenge him. The problem is, all these people are on his side, including you. I use the masculine here for mere formality, since the gender (or anything else) about the entity is not known.
As I mentioned at the beginning of the text, the player takes control of a Fatebinder, which is a kind of judge of Kyros who has the task of enforcing the law in all conquered territories. Needless to say, this is, to say the least, very difficult. As a member of this group, you are answerable to only one person, called a Tunon, who serves as the Archon of Justice. There are several magistrates, each with a title that refers to their “special power”, so to speak – they are the handful of people who could, in theory, defy Kyros.
Among these magistrates, besides Tunon, two are of utmost importance: Graven Ashe, magistrate of war and leader of the Underprivileged, and The Voices of Nerat, magistrate of secrets and leader of the Scarlet Chorus. In a Game of Thrones analogy, they are roughly equivalent to Jaime Lannister as army commander and Varys, master of secrets. The difference is that Varys has a head and not a weird spectral shape that encompasses multiple spirit masks (yes).
Well, without even knowing what to do, you are thrown directly into enemy territory and between the two magistrates mentioned above. They were already waiting for his arrival for a reason: the judges are able to declare special decrees whose origin is uncertain, but which, when read, cause great damage of different kinds in the region. In Conquest, you, for example, declared the Decree of Storms, which practically destroyed an entire region and killed many people, ally or enemy.
Usually decrees are issued under difficult circumstances, where defeat by Kyrios' forces, a rebellion, or a serious affront to the law is certain. There are few who manage to declare one of them, and even fewer who live to see them resolved. Needless to say, this is one of the engines of the narrative, present from the beginning. It also goes without saying that because you are a kind of judge of God himself, everyone will try to either manipulate you or use you in one way or another.
The strongest part of the game is the story, of that there is no doubt. If you want to enjoy Tyranny to its fullest, be sure to read all the dialogue, talk to the partners, ask questions of other characters, do the side quests, and check out the journals. It's an all-encompassing and very curious world, mainly because, in this scenario, evil won. It's up to you to decide how to play with that premise - whether you're going to perpetuate it, as your mission dictates, or whether you're going to face it, whether from within or in open rebellion.
The first time, I sided with the Disadvantaged and tried to dismantle all organizations from within, without breaking the law. Having won enough favor with all regions and most factions—with the exception of the openly rebellious ones, which I had to crush to seal my “loyalty”—I was able to reverse Kyros' dominance, as far as possible, and pursue my own agenda. The game gives you a lot of freedom in that sense, even offering several possibilities throughout the story to take one path or another.
The choice part is especially challenging because Tyranny makes a point of throwing in your face what are the concepts of that universe. Two decisions weighed heavily on me — I won't comment specifically on which ones to avoid spoilers, but one involved a baby and the other a heinous crime committed against a girl who, because she was part of a rebel settlement, was not protected by justice.
In short, these are decisions that seem simple to us, who are in such a distant and different reality, but which, if placed in a timeless perspective, end up becoming questions that are even too close. Through this, Obsidian gets it right throughout the story, making (or trying) the player to understand everything before making several decisions.
The problem with all of this is that the ending doesn't live up to expectations. The story is so great and so good, whether the main story or that of its partners (like Barik's dilemma or Verse's desire for revenge) that the ending seems silly compared to how it all unfolded. It kind of ends too fast. I don't know if this happened only in the two endings I did and, therefore, I was unlucky, but I missed a more forceful development in the final half of Tyranny, mainly when taking into account all the political machinations present in the first acts.
Some might think this ending takes all the credit out of the story, but I'm not of that opinion. There were decisions there that made me stop the game, get up and take a breath – not because they were theoretically complex, but precisely because I knew what to do and I knew the consequences of that. At those times, I was grateful for having to take that kind of attitude in a virtual game, not in real life. And it's that kind of thing that makes Tyranny a pretty memorable game.
Conclusion
Fans of isometric RPG's, Tyranny is a rare gem that didn't get enough attention on its release.. Due to its dense mechanics, it may not be the most suitable for players new to the genre - but, if the story seems interesting, there is a simpler game mode that allows the player to enjoy the story without much problem at the time of combat. .
The graphics aren't spectacular, but they don't disappoint either. They even represent very well the originality of the game as a whole, whether in the design of the characters or in the scenarios. It is also worth adding a brief comment about the soundtrack, which does not stink or smell; the home menu music is more iconic than anything else within the game itself.
Although finished in a not very satisfying way, Tyranny's strong point is the story. Whether alongside the disciplined Underprivileged, who value quality over quantity, the savages of the Scarlet Chorus, where the strongest rises in rank and the weakest dies, or the rebels of the Guard of Vendrien, the Unbroken, and so many others. , you will have to make many difficult decisions that will impact the entire narrative.
If you picked up the game on a weekly spurt of cravings for free products, be sure to play it one day, it's worth it, even if it's just to get to know.
Be sure to follow the site's review section for more relatively unknown games offered by the Epic Games Store. If you want to buy the game for R$ 57, visit the official website of Paradox, publisher of Tyranny.
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