Tyranny is a flawed gem. While in some points it feels ridiculously robust and of superb quality, it falls utterly flat in others. And yet, I love it to death. It is one of, if not my favorite cRPG I've played, and much of it is thanks to the intriguing worldbuilding, vivid characters and factions, and of course, the way it reacts to your actions. Tyranny is one of the few games where your choices truly matter, even those that you make before you so much as create your character. The writing is solid, and it is (usually) fun to read the massive walls of text the game throws at you, doubly so when you chat with your companions. As of the weaker points, it would be the visuals, somewhat boring in everything other than the menus and drawn cutscenes; combat, which is far more limited than cRPG combat usually is, often boiling down to just pressing the same buttons over and over, all the while being annoyingly hungry for your attention and requiring micro-management; and the ending, which is a complete and utter cockblock, likely caused by the development time getting cut in favor of Pillars of Eternity; as well as some specific quests and plot points. With all that in mind, however, I can still safely say that if you like the more chill kind of RPGs with a lot of reading and, well, roleplaying, Tyranny is a must try: you might like its better sides more than you'll dislike its worse ones.

Disorganized ramblings ahead. Subjectivity is implied.

- Gameplay is really fun, especially on Brutal difficulty, where both yours and enemies' damage is increased. Combat is not the most challenging in the world, but it's tight and responsive, requiring a lot of decision making. Exploration is alright, with some ubisoft-esque collectible hunts. Everyone already talked about how good the orc commanders and the Nemesis system are, so I'll just say that I wholeheartedly agree. Sieges are also much fun. The first few times.

- Story is painful to rate. On the whole, it's a fairly interesting and often touching narrative that I have pretty much no issues with. However, if you zoom in, it just falls apart. Plot holes upon contrivances upon illogical character decisions upon pure bullshit, which all happen in the land of Scuffed Mordor, where retcons are more frequent than even orcs. And I would be willing to overlook it if it didn't just drag on and on and on for so far more than it should have.

- Art direction and music are stellar, no issues with them. The in-game world is well designed, both gameplay- and visuals-wise. Voice acting is kinda hit or miss. The orcs are amazingly well voiced, and so is Celebimbo. But I'm not a huge fan of most human characters, including (I'm so sorry Troy) Talion.

- Speaking of human characters, I didn't care for any single one of them. An entire story arc leans into them so much but they're just so bland and boring. I guess Baranor's kinda cool.

- DLCs are pretty good. Didn't care for Eltariel's one that much because it was just more of the same game, but Baranor's one was an interesting change of pace.

- There used to be microtransactions in the game, which dramatically impacted the game's ratings, but I've only played it after they were removed, so I guess there's that.

To round it up, I'd enjoy the game much more if it didn't drag on for so long and focused a bit more on fleshing out the main story instead.

Disorganized ramblings with slight spoilers ahead. Subjectivity is implied.

- The characters may start out rough but they get really well fleshed out later on. Reflecting, I'm positive that I enjoyed pretty much every single character of the main cast. Floor masters and other dolls are also entertaining, if sometimes a bit boring (looking at you, Gashu). Also Ranger's hot.

- Presentation is kinda hit or miss, but most of the time it's really well done. Mini games and puzzles are certainly the worst part of the entire VN, often feeling like an afterthought rather than an actual part of the story, but even they usually help bond with characters or whatnot. The minigames in the second Act are a good enough pacing device, and I should mention that they're designed with fair balance in mind: I completed most minigames on my first try, with the exception of just a few, and found many of them much less annoying after enabling the in-game autoclicker in settings. Puzzles can be painfully obtuse, with no cause and effect relation, so you're left just clicking things until something works. I really wish they were more like the very first puzzle in the doll room. The hallucination segments and discussions are executed brilliantly, on the other hand.

- I really like the way the game approaches its core themes. Can't say much without delving into big spoiler territory, so I'll just say that it's surprisingly mature about them, without falling into the edgy or cringey extremes.

- Sara is an amazing protag. Starting out as your usual "Let's do this everyone!" bullshit anime prototype, she gets more and more development as the VN progresses.

- Dialogue writing is generally good, especially if you account for some translation issues. The story has pretty good pacing, and most of the questions and mysteries are smoothly resolved as the story goes on. Sometimes the game does feel railroaded, but it usually lampshades itself right away. This gets even more noticeable on your second playthrough, but it's not a big deal. Also, especial thanks to the creators for (almost) never getting horny, unlike 99% other Japanese VNs out there.

- I really enjoyed the visual design. Despite the slightly janky, obviously indie look, it's well put together: the artstyle stands out, character sprites are expressive, so on.

- The music could definitely use longer loops. From what I've heard, it mostly uses default Garageband loops, so I guess it's a good enough way out if you want music in your game but don't want to commission it. Nevertheless, it does its job well enough and honestly, I don't mind it.

Comparing it to the obvious counterpart in the face of Danganronpa, I'd prefer YTTD over any of the DR games. Looking forward to the epilogue.

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*Something that Keiji should do pops up*
Keiji: Sara should do it lmao

This is genuinely one of the most fun games I've played in a while.

The gameplay is similar to games like Hollow Knight or Dust an Elysian Tail (don't tell Maddi I mentioned Dust), featuring DMC-like style mechanics. Even though, truthfully, some edges of it are still rough, it's still a great experience. Controls are well put together, enemies are responsive and challenging (doubly so for the bosses), the skills and combos add a lot of depth to the learning curve. My only complaint would be the blocky level design, but that's whatever.

Act 1 is not super long. It will probably take about 4-6 hours on your first playthrough, depending on how quickly you can learn the mechanics. Current speedrun time is about 40 minutes, if that helps. Then there's also the Reaper difficulty, but we don't talk about that.

Story and worldbuilding so far are very intriguing, and I adore the main cast and their banter. Following acts promise more insight into the Nest and other reapers so that's something I'm hyped for. Too bad they'll probably release about the same time as Silksong or JA's Witcher 3 video.

The music and art are probably the strongest parts of the game, honestly. Each stage has its own soundtrack in two variants, for exploration and for combat, and each one rocks. Same goes for the art. The game exudes its own unique style, especially so in enemy and character design. Just look at Blucher's portraits.

And do keep in mind, all of the above was made by just one person (sans for the cutscene art).