Tyranny Review

If you trace Baldur’s Gate’s lineage all the way to the present, the outermost branch of this genealogy will be Tyranny. Tyranny, developed by Obsidian Entertainment, is the second game bridging the gap between the old and the new, the obsolete and the state of the art, the D&D-inspired text-based RPGs with crisp visuals, re-imagined combat and a new original universe. It’s fair to say that Tyranny does not re-invent the wheel – but it is the anti-slip tire.

Pillars of Eternity and Torment: Tides of Numenera resuscitated this genre over a year ago, and their success over Kickstarter and on the charts is proof of the wide and devoted fan base that craves these types of experiences. Whereas Pillars, Obsidian’s crowdfunded RPG, told a conventional story about an unexpected hero in a fantasy world, Tyranny turns this premise on its heels. Here, the Pangea-like world of Terratus has been conquered by Kyros, an evil overlord who enforces his rule through fear and an iron fist. You are a Fatebinder, a delegate in charge of overseeing Kyros’ Law – the supreme legal mandate for all territories.

As a Fatebinder, your name is wide-known, and already evokes respect, but whether it is earned through fear or loyalty depends on your actions. Throughout your journey you will find different factions, some of them loyal to Kyros, and others rebels from The Tiers, attempting to break free from his yoke. Caught in many of their conflicts, your resolutions won’t always please everybody. Especially the Disfavored and the Scharlet Chorus, Kyros’ two main armies with utterly diametric views on the war. The former are disciplined and submissive, low in numbers but surgical in their actions, like a scalpel extirpating a tumour. The latter embody freedom and independence through chaos, swarming enemy settlements like a virus taking over an entire body. And both of them are just as liable.

The childish spatters between these two uncompromising armies provide the leading dilemmas throughout the game, and the decisions you make can make each army either love you or hate you. Or both. As each army is so stuck in their ways, they refuse to meet halfways or heed your command, and dealing with them can be exasperating – an issue that persists with each faction. The Favour and Wrath meters, independent from each other, are filled depending on your words and actions, but sometimes a bit unpredictably. For example, killing a Scharlet Chorus deserter wanting to join the Disfavored will build up Wrath with the former and Favour with the latter. Once you reach a certain level of either with a faction, you will unlock a passive ability – a nifty little flavoured skill reflecting their support.

If you find it difficult to understand how these two meters are compatible at the same time, the Loyalty/Fear equivalent for main characters doesn’t make it any easier. You can pick up to three companions, out of a cast of six. Compared to the six-person party of Pillars, combat does get much more dynamic in this one, particularly with the implementation of combo abilities. Similarly to the passive skills granted by getting on well with each faction, combo abilities are unlocked once your companion fears and/or loves you enough – which doesn’t sound like a healthy relationship. They can even get abilities among them! For example, my character can throw my rogue companion up in the air where she starts shooting arrows to the enemy. It’s freaking badass.

This way, Tyranny attempts to circumvent the Paragon/Renegade spectrum which made so many people bang their head against the wall. On the one hand, it is good to see people reacting differently than others, but on the other, using two meters instead of one doesn’t not enhance the range of a person’s feelings very much. Particularly when these unlocked abilities become the main reflection of what they think, other than their casual and shoehorned references to previous events.

The prologue allows you decide how a series of skirmishes played out, dispositioning certain characters’ view on you from the get-go. However, after the first stage in the game, Vendrien’s Well, the game barely branches out by having several ongoing big quests. A quest always leads to another, rarely offering a secondary objective. What’s more, the pacing of these is confusing, with some characters having been thoroughly built but not showing up again for hours on end. Or even at all. It’s a pity that such an interesting premise and lore, which often pits you against your own impulses by only offering options a traditional hero would never make, loses momentum due to a messy structure.

It is hard to think about Kyros as a person, due to all your contact with him is through the Archon of Justice, Tunon, the ultimate judge of Kyros’ Law. And of course, the Edicts. Edicts are proclamations of the law through powerful spells that ravage whole territories. We spend most of the game trying to undo these Edicts, or casting them upon the land, while reconciling the two armies. These, as well as the ancient arcane Spires, which are large towers and source of power, are good trivia for the game’s lore, but barely tell a meaningful story. You never feel more than a pawn, and sometimes you wonder whether some parts of the story were worth telling at all.

All in all, Tyranny is a great game, but fails to deliver brilliancy in a few aspects. The few innovating aspects of the game don’t make it stand out enough, although it sets standards to inspire next games. As it is with previous games, the originality of the beautiful pre-rendered backgrounds and the catchy, orchestral and epic soundtrack tops an unforgettable adventure that will put you on your heels.