Tyranny is one of the first CRPGs I have played. The first one I have beaten. I’m not sure if it’s a perfect beginner CRPG though it’s a good start.
One of the main drawing points of the game is that you play for the conquerors here. We are the evil Empire, while the game takes place in the last part of the world that hasn’t been broken and defeated. You are a Fatebinder which the games explain in detail, but for brevity, you go and declare what needs to be done and, in your case, find a way for it to be completed. If you have played a CRPG or know what to expect from the genre, you have a lot of choices on how the game’s story can play out, Tyranny being no exception. Each path you take is different enough to warrant multiple playthroughs. The world and lore are captivating making you feel like there is so much beyond the places you are allowed to go. The story is interesting, albeit the ending sadly leaves on a cliffhanger, and it looks like there won’t be a sequel anytime soon.
The characters and companions that you see through the game range from very interesting to mostly bland. My favorite characters were the Voices of Nerat (an Archon, that has stolen hundreds of souls throughout the centuries, making him just a bit unstable) Lantry, a companion in the game, and Verse. Some of your companions have a quest attached to them, but sadly not all which makes some more interesting than others. The voice acting, when present, also helps the characters a lot, and the banter between them makes conversations fun.
The combat system is decent, but I wouldn’t say it’s fantastic. At the start, it’s challenging making it fun, but when the pathfinding of the characters screws up it can become frustrating very fast. You get combo abilities with your companions, which makes combat a bit more fun although, at around 2/3 of the game, you become a train and smash through every combat encounter. Though I was playing on normal difficulty, so on higher difficulties, this may be different. I didn’t play around with the magic system though it was intriguing, and from what I have read, it can be very broken, so if you like to play mage characters, this will be the game for you.
All in all, I enjoyed Tyranny a lot. Story, world, and lore make the whole place feel alive and fun to explore. The cliffhanger ending is a big letdown, but the story up to that point was great. The combat could have been better. It’s an underappreciated game that hopefully, gets a sequel at some point, though I doubt that.