Tyranny, the Infinity Engine-esque RPG Kickstarted by Obsidian that isn’t Pillars of Eternity, is hands down one of the finest RPGs I’ve ever played. It takes the familiar template Bioware laid down with Baldur’s Gate and does interesting and innovative things with the world and story, all wrapped up in a relatively lean thirty-hour playtime. Unfortunately, I’m the only bugger who’s played it.
Yeah, yeah, I know. Some other people must have played it, obviously. There’s a review on this very website. The problem is that no-one I know has played it, so I can’t discuss all the twists and turns with anyone. It’s very frustrating, so I resolved to do something about it.
Friends, I have made it my life’s mission to get people to play this bloody game, and the fine folks at Eurogamer have allowed me to use their fancy digital grimoire to spread my message. I won’t tell you how many fetch quests I had to do for them first.
The unique selling point of Tyranny is that you get to be the bad guy. It’s nothing new per se, plenty of RPGs let you kick puppies and threaten peasants for a few extra coppers, but Tyranny is entirely structured around your position as an agent of the evil Overlord Kyros, the same way The Witcher is entirely about witching. Witchering. Whatever.
Tyranny – Launch Trailer Watch on YouTube
In reality, very few people actually think they’re evil and that’s very much reflected in the game. You’re not required to engage in cackling pantomime villainy and even the more extreme NPCs are presented as well-rounded individuals who have very good reasons for doing what they do. Do you want to side with the murderous, yet staunchly equal-opportunities sorcerer, or the cheerfully avuncular fascist?