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80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 67 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 655 Ratings

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  • Summary: In Tyranny, the grand war between good and evil is over – and the forces of evil, led by Kyros the Overlord, have won.

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Tyranny - Announcement Trailer
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 54 out of 67
  2. Negative: 0 out of 67
  1. Feb 20, 2017
    90
    If you are tired of same old fantasy setting in RPGs, you will absolutely fall in love with Tyranny. Another great isometric RPG from Obsidian.
  2. Nov 15, 2016
    90
    The work of Obsidian on Tyranny is absolutely brilliant, may it be in terms of story, characters, dialogues and universe. This is undoubtedly the best western RPG this year.
  3. Nov 14, 2016
    88
    With a rushed third act and a few frustrating quirks here and there, Tyranny falls just short of reaching the legendary heights of the games that inspired it. Obsidian has, however, once again delivered on their pedigree with an engrossing and inventive story of betrayal and tyrannical rule. This game is a must-play for fans of isometric narrative roleplaying games.
  4. Nov 10, 2016
    80
    This is not a game that can properly be played casually as it is simply too complex and too vast to get the full experience from fifteen minutes a day. Mastering the nuances of everything that is offered and learning how to best interact with each faction and party member will take time. For those who have the time and desire, however, this is one of the more rewarding time sink titles available. With the winter months on the horizon, Tyranny is a highly-recommended game to lock yourself away with while waiting for the weather to warm up.
  5. Dec 14, 2016
    80
    An excellent story RPG, which excels with scenario, the dark portrayal of the world and with the rejection of the traditional elements of game fiction.
  6. Nov 14, 2016
    80
    Despite feeling new and familiar, and at times plodding and rushed in turn, Obsidian are proudly wearing the mantle left by Black Isle and have crafted another enjoyable story for fans of isometric CRPGs.
  7. Nov 16, 2016
    60
    Tyranny offers a few fresh, well-thought-out mechanics and fragments of really engrossing story, between longer periods of terribly boring combat. Open ending is not good, either - all we get after 40 hours is a suggestion that the interesting bits were saved for a sequel.

See all 69 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 77 out of 137
  2. Negative: 23 out of 137
  1. Nov 10, 2016
    10
    So far a very sophisticated piece of game!
    If you just liked Pillars of Eternity you will LOVE Tyranny!
    Prerequisite is to have some evil
    So far a very sophisticated piece of game!
    If you just liked Pillars of Eternity you will LOVE Tyranny!

    Prerequisite is to have some evil in you. ;)
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  2. Mar 19, 2022
    10
    I played this game on a whim and it's one of the best games I've ever played. There's no other game that drew me into the rich lore and storyI played this game on a whim and it's one of the best games I've ever played. There's no other game that drew me into the rich lore and story than Tyranny. Hoping for a sequel. Expand
  3. Nov 2, 2017
    9
    Tyranny is better than Pillars of Eternity in almost every aspect, and PoE was a pretty good game already. One of the best experiences ofTyranny is better than Pillars of Eternity in almost every aspect, and PoE was a pretty good game already. One of the best experiences of playing 'Evil' protagonist ever made in videogames Expand
  4. Oct 19, 2021
    8
    По началу игра не зашла, но пересилив себя я потерялся в ней с концами. Бесила боёвка, но по итогу я привык и оно того стоило. ХорошийПо началу игра не зашла, но пересилив себя я потерялся в ней с концами. Бесила боёвка, но по итогу я привык и оно того стоило. Хороший представитель жанра. Expand
  5. Nov 30, 2016
    7
    TL;DR, a decent game which I'm rating slightly higher than Pillars of Eternity. It manages to fix some of PoE flaws, while developing a bunchTL;DR, a decent game which I'm rating slightly higher than Pillars of Eternity. It manages to fix some of PoE flaws, while developing a bunch of its own. Just another average RPG, seemingly suggesting that the era of AAA isometric role-playing games is slowly coming to an end. Very minor spoilers ahead.

    Pros:
    + Story - some say it's rushed at the end (maybe a little), but I liked it. The lenght is ok (around 30-35 hours), but I'm guessing Obsidian left something for upcoming DLCs or possibly a next installment (depending on sales).
    + Main character development - I like the fact that you can get quite powerful, and it feels. In PoE you were a character of legend, yet everybody kicked your butt at every turn. Here, you can get powerful enough to smother every opposition, even though fight still seem challenging at times (difficulty level Hard and above).
    + Being bad - it is the centerpiece of this whole game. In other games being good or bad means that you have to act like a boy-scout or a complete douchebag. You never get to be truly malicious, unless you take high-school standards and consider bullying others an act of evil and not misguided duchebagery. In Tyranny being evil means what it should, like you're doing your job for a steel-fisted tyrant. That is good.
    + Spell-system - Very cool. You combine runes to create your own versions of spells. Playing as a mage, I really had fun with this.

    Cons:
    - Only 4 character party - Why?! Apart from the fact that there are only 6 NPC playable character in the game, I see no reason to make the party so small. BG had six, PoE had six, and here we have four. What's worse, neraly all characters are pretty bland. I remember Planescape: Torment had only 6 NPC characters, but they were so brilliantly written that it didn't matter in the least.
    - No freeroaming - That ticked me off. You can only get to new places by receiving a quest. You cannot just wander around the map, because... we, f*** you, that's why. Also, during one gameplay you won't be able to visit all the places at once. For example, I played with a mage and there was this Burning Library, a place where a lot of arcane knowledge is stored. I though, allright! I'm gonna leave that for dessert. Then the game cut me off, and I couldn't go to the Burning Library no more. I mean, WTF?! It's not like it burned down completely. Even the neding said it still burned. Damn.
    - Skill dihharea - There are just TOO. MANY. SKILLS. You have 5-6 skills from leveling up. 3-6 skills from your companions. 6-10 skills from fractions. Even more skills from your artifacts, and then there are, of course, spells. All in all you have a s**tload of skills, and you won't be using more than 20% of them (excluding spells, because those you craft yourself to you liking).
    - Boooooring item system - What is this - Diablo 3? You find so much useless junk I just can't believe it. The loot system is just slightly better than in PoE, but it is still pretty bad. And don't get me started on those artifacts. They are often worse than regular stuff. What the hell?! I remember finding a +2 sword in the first Baldur's Gate - genuine excitement. Here, after I find an artifact, I ask myself why do I even bother looking at its stats for the hundreth time.

    I originaly gave PoE a 7/10, and I thought about giving this game an 8, which would place it in the green zone, but even though it's slightly better than PoE I just can't force myself to do it. Seven it is. You might like it, you might not, but it's certainly worth a look.
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  6. Feb 6, 2023
    6
    This game is relatively (it's an RPG, so it's still a doozy) short, but was clearly meant to be played several times.

    I love the unique
    This game is relatively (it's an RPG, so it's still a doozy) short, but was clearly meant to be played several times.

    I love the unique setting, the writing was... okay (there was no reason to have the INCREDIBLY out of place lezbos in Lethian's Crossing just so you could have lesbians in your game, obsidiots). There was also more than one occasion of a character talking to me about another character that I had not only not met, but WHO HAD NOT EVEN BEEN MENTIONED as if I was supposed to know who they were.

    The combat mechanics were somehow more annoying than poes.

    Also, there should have been UI scaling. I have a 4k monitor, and I had to set my resolution lower because I could barely see the buttons.

    Lastly the companions have neat portraits but they use the same ugly low budget 3d model they use for generic npc #3513 when you're talking to them, for no reason I can discern.
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  7. Sep 8, 2017
    0
    Forced Cutscenes mean that I gave it 30 seconds, still mashing away on the keys and the introduction kept going.... kept going.... kept going.Forced Cutscenes mean that I gave it 30 seconds, still mashing away on the keys and the introduction kept going.... kept going.... kept going. Unfortunately it kept going for longer than I have patience. Alt+F4. 1/10. Please learn to add "Skip this **** with any key". Expand

See all 137 User Reviews