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Tyranny is an isometric RPG with an intensely focused experience that gets right to the point without holding much back. It's an adult story with text, so it is not for hack-and-slash game fans.
If you've ever been curious about trying games of this genre and want to experience a good story, I highly recommend you give Tyranny a chance.
Positives:
+ Tyranny has a fantastic world mixed with multiple events, branching paths, and decisions from start to finish that affect the surroundings, characters, and endings.
From big decisions to small ones, Tyranny, while shorter than other isometric RPGs, uses this to its advantage to give the player as much influence and choice as possible, and, while not perfect, it does outclass other RPG games by eliminating the illusion of choice in favor for consequence.
+ Plot as I understand and to simplify it for newcomers without spoilers:
There's something of a dark God called Kyros that's immensely powerful and has conquered an entire continent. Once upon a time, powerful beings called "Archons" opposed him but ultimately failed and were given a choice. Perish or join Kyros. Most chose the latter. The Archons became the most powerful and influential individuals in Kyros' service and continued leading armies to conquer in Kyros' name. You begin your story by serving an Archon and are dispatched to the warring region of the Tiers, the last bastion of human kingdoms that still rebel against Kyros' will.
You have to decide how to deal with the conflicts thrown your way, uncovering the secrets of the continent, Kyros, various factions that oppose him, and more. This world is filled and enriched by an incredible role that plays a part at every turn.
The story's dark, really dark in some parts. If you like games that delve into the darkest parts of wars, family, pride, etc. you'll enjoy this.
The "hyperlinks" are another great thing added to the game. From the first moments, characters speak using in-world proverbs and refer to the events that the player may not be aware of. If so, the only thing you need to do is hover over the sentence, and it'll give you a brief description that will fill in potential gaps or misunderstandings.
+ The combat's pretty good with nice-looking spells, various weapons and armor, and party members that you can engage with, develop bonds, and use skills together in battle to overcome each challenge. It allows pre-buffs, your character has six skill trees from which you can pick skills, and the members of your party have their own unique trees.
+ The game's clearly meant for multiple playthroughs, as you will 100% miss certain events, significant choices, etc.
It took me around 30 hours to beat the game on one playthrough, so these can vary. Regardless Tyranny doesn't lack in content. The more you play, the better you get and understand.
Even for a single playthrough, you'll end up satisfied by the end.
+ The line between good and evil is blurred in the game, and the writing is fantastic.
The music exponentially adds to the emotional tone and is well-composed and congruent with the atmosphere. I get to choose what kind of bad guy I am. Bloodthirsty and ruthless? Cold and practical? Reluctant? Unwilling to be a bad guy at all? All valid choices. I like how the game shows a big game of politics, diplomacy, and law enforcement instead of a typical RPG adventure-type character.
+ You can recruit a variety of companions that are well-crafted and well-written. The majority, are well constructed, and their loyalty can be gained and lost depending on the choices you make while being in your party or the conversations you're having.
You can further develop your relations with all factions in the game, gaining either appreciation or wrath. This will impact what dialogue choices, are and how they'll react upon encountering you.
+ Each area of the game is contained. Do not imagine a bloated open world riddled with fetch quests, even though they had ample opportunities to do so. Most of the time spent in the game concerns important or interesting quests. Choices you make play out in a way that is logical and consistent with the game world and lore.
Negatives:
- I had to turn off the voice acting.
First off, it's pretty scarce. While the voice acting is somewhat acceptable, it doesn't do the characters justice. It was pretty odd to hear a character that's supposed to be intimidating sounding like a 20-year-old university freshman. I recommend turning off the voice sound. It'll improve your experience and imagination.
- The Final Act is short and comes too suddenly with little to no warning.
It makes me believe that they had more content coming, but they had no way of implementing it in an organic way, so they just said "F it" thus shoving in as much as they could. You get new mechanics that seem like you're going to be using, but the time of Act III sums up probably two hours of gameplay if you finished exploring. Even so, most areas become blocked during that time anyway, so your path is limited.
Tyranny's a great political, warring game that doesn't overstay its welcome and is considered to be one of the underdogs in isometric RPGs.
There's no reason not to give this a try especially on a sale if you want more "Game of Thrones" type of stories.
It doesn't drag on for too long and it's a pleasant, condensed experience.
Not perfect, but great games are always sprinkled with imperfections.
8/10 in its genre.