The Shrine

I had a decent amount of fun futzing about in the first part of Pillars of Eternity with several characters but the gameplay never grabbed me and I never got into the story enough for that to stop mattering.

Tyranny is basically another attempt at a completely original world with the soul of isometric RPGs of the past (Planescape Torment and Baldur's Gate) with what has been learned with the latest attempts at cRPGs. I think the result is the best one so far (having not played the Planescape Torment beta).


Tyranny is a good answer for people who are tired of playing the good guy in RPGs. You often have to go out of your way to do the nice thing and people will almost always be surprised when you act humanely. It's much more natural to play a fairly evil character. The game is kind of the opposite of things like Bioware RPGs where you're always forced to at least by somewhat good... in this game you're doing some pretty shitty things even when you're trying to do the right thing.

The gameplay is much improved from Pillars of Eternity. The combat is paced very well and the skills are fun to use. They didn't neuter companion stats (still something that confuses the fuck out of me in PoE) and their stories are all fantastic and interesting.

The game took me about ~20 hours to beat and ends on a bit of a cliffhanger for the as-of-yet unannounced sequel. The review I read complained that the combat got repetitive but at the end the things you're doing are so cool that it's hard to care.

I think this is probably my favorite game this year. Definitely my favorite new IP since Dishonored.

Launch trailer

Hmmm, I didn't bother posting about it, because I really didn't enjoy it (and who, more than me, would enjoy playing the bad guy....?!). Like Pillars of Eternity, I find Tyranny to be a sluggish bore; a throwback in style but without the gameplay improvements. The ending felt like the last 3rd of the game was simply removed.

Don't get me wrong, there were some positives:
- it appears there were genuine branching paths (though I only played through once, so I can't confirm)
- the lore is potentially cool, I really enjoyed the parts that had me dealing with court intrigue in the Bastard City.

But I was mostly bored playing the game.

The second act has a whole other region of areas you can explore (the choice being either the library or Lethian's crossing) depending on a choice you make. Also there are multiple ways you can go through the game mainly .

Picked it up, enjoying it so far. Find it better than PoE, as I feel Tyranny moves along at a better pace.

Story is OK, but this is no Baldur's Gate. I realize being able to draw upon the Forgotten Realms' IP is a big leg-up for BG and BG2 when comparing to other non-FR isometric RPGs, but I regard those games as the bar, and so far, it has not been met.

I'm in act 2 so far.