In 2016, old-school computer isometric RPGs were resurging and Obsidian made 2 very well-received ones: Pillars of Eternity and later Tyranny. The latter’s core concept is that instead of being some hero fighting the forces of evil, the evil has already won – it is the ruling Empire and you’re a high-ranking official in it, serving Kyros the Overlord. It’s definitely a new and interesting idea…we’ll get to whether it plays out well.
To be specific on the backstory, you are a Fatebinder, which means you’re a deputy judge/jury/executioner for Tunon, the head judge/jury/executioner. Tunon adjudicates all law in the Empire, making him basically the second-in-command under the Overlord. So, basically, you’re third-in-command of the entire empire. Nifty.
As the game begins, Kyros has sent 2 armies to conquer the last corner of the continent (the Tiers) and you join the armies as a representative of the court. The first part of the game, Conquest mode, is basically just you making choices about which army to support and how you passed judgment during the campaign. I really enjoyed that introduction – and technically it’s just a small part of character creation.
Anyway, 2 years after the conquest, some Tiersmen in the nation of Apex decide to rebel against the Empire and Kyros sends the 2 armies to quell them. Fortunately for the rebels, the 2 armies are rivals and spend more time bickering with each other rather than crushing the rebellion. The Overlord “is not amused,” as the game informs you, and sends you to issue an Edict upon the region. The Overlord’s Edicts are essentially mega-magic-spells that affect an entire region of the continent. For instance, the Edict of Fire literally summoned a volcano out of nowhere to erupt from the ground to destroy an ancient library and everything around it.
Yeah, the Overlord can do that. In this case, the Edict is the Edict of Execution, which says that unless someone loyal to the Overlord takes the rebel stronghold by the end of the Month of Swords, everything – everything – in the region will die. So that’s the beginning of the game. You’re trapped in a region of the continent with a rebel force and 2 imperial forces all fighting each other, with a ticking clock toward complete annihilation from the Overlord’s magic. That premise hooked me pretty solidly right away.
From there it’s standard cRPG fare – build a character, interact with party members and NPCs, gain some sort of reputation, read a lot of lore – and Obsidian did a really good job with that last part. In particular, despite Kyros the Overlord being this omnipresent force in the game world, you never meet Kyros and nobody seems to know anything about Kyros except that the Overlord has pretty much conquered the world and if you resist you’ll probably get an Edict that will utterly destroy you. The NPCs don’t even agree on Kyros’s gender – although I’m leaning toward Kyros being female.
Speaking of which, I may be referring to Kyros as Cathy throughout this shrine.
…Anyway, that’s such a great way to build up a character who’s supposed to be godlike and mystical – tell the player next to nothing about her while letting in-game legends and reputation speak. Obsidian’s writing is generally top-notch and it shows here.
There are some flaws, of course, and we’ll get to one of the major ones later. Here’re some minor (read: personal nitpicks) ones:
Spire upgrades are idiotic
Over the course of the game you discover these skyscraper-tall Spires that have some sort of magical connection to one another. They also connect with you for reasons that are never explained (they did this on purpose since it’s supposed to be a mystery). The first one you find has a resonator atop it – this basically amplifies your will across the continent. Subsequent Spires have nothing on top of them, so the game lets you build stuff like a forge or a library.
…you build forges/libraries/training grounds/infirmaries on the top of a super-tall spire with no walls on the roof. Seriously. The top of each Spire is just a flat circle with little ledges jutting out the sides (that you hilariously can kick an enemy off of to his/her death at one point). Why didn’t I build these things in the bottom floor of the Spire rather than at the top? What if my Spire workers happen to slip near the edge? What if the wind blows a bit too hard on the library and the scrolls/books fly off into the distance? Do you really think it’s a good idea to bring sick people to an infirmary that’s like a hundred meters above the ground?
The NPCs are idiots
At one point I had to defend a town against some enemy troops. My allied troops surrounded the center of the town to protect it while I went around kicking ass. At the end, the enemy commander attacked me and I figured I’d lead her and her group up to my allied troops in the town center.
My allied troops just stood there. They did nothing while I fought the enemy commander right in front of them. I mean, I ended up winning, but…there were like 15 allied soldiers with their captain leading them. Why didn’t they help me fight?
Later, I attack the home base of that enemy I mentioned and confronted the general, who has maybe 20-something soldiers with him. I wondered how the hell my party was supposed to beat 20 guys plus the general, but then the general decided to send his troops at me in groups of 3-4 one at a time with everyone else just watching. After 2 groups, he himself attacked and his remaining soldiers just stood there. Like…I’m not necessarily complaining because that fight would basically have been impossible if I had to take on all of them at once, but…
Oh, by the way, after I killed the general, his remaining troops all spontaneously died for some reason.
Everyone seems to forget who I am (those idiots)
Like I mentioned above, I’m a Fatebinder and therefore my word is final. I am the voice of Cathy’s laws and only Tunon or Cathy the Overlord herself can override me. When I arrived in the Tiers, everyone should have reacted the way the goons on the second Death Star reacted when Vader visited them at the beginning of Return of the Jedi. Instead people talk to me pretty informally and the army leaders acted like they were still in charge. When I tried to order them to work together (since their inability to do so was what invited the Overlord’s wrath to begin with) they straight-up refused and ordered me to choose between them. Seriously they deserved what happened after (hint: I destroyed them both over the course of the game).
That being said, there is one small thing the game does VERY RIGHT. One of the most difficult battles in the game, at least for me, was the one against Bleden Mark, Archon of Shadows (he’s Cathy’s elite assassin). There’s a super-long trial sequence immediately – no save opportunity in between – before the fight and when I first lost I wondered if the game would make me go through that entire sequence again, since games have been known to do that.
No, actually…the game auto-saves after the sequence and before you fight Mark. It’s such a small thing but so very important for not making me explode in rage.
Anyway, onward! I beat the game on Normal difficulty (no Trial of Iron).
The character: Benamin, Archon of the Tiers
In Tyranny we have Might, Finesse, Quickness, Vitality, Wits, and Resolve. I defined Might as Strength, Finesse and Quickness as Dexterity, Vitality as Constitution/Charisma, Wits as Intelligence/Wisdom, and Resolve as Constitution/Wisdom. The numerical ranges in this game actually match D&D’s pretty well, so…
Might: 9-12 (C-rank) to 13-16 (B-rank)
Finesse: 9-12 (C-rank) to 13-16 (B-rank)
Quickness: 9-12 (C-rank) to 13-16 (B-rank)
Vitality: 7-10 (between D-rank and C-rank) to 11-14 (between C-rank and B-rank)
Wits: 13-16 (B-rank) to 21+ (S-rank)
Resolve: 5-8 (D-rank) to 21+ (S-rank)
…which resulted in…
To be specific on the backstory, you are a Fatebinder, which means you’re a deputy judge/jury/executioner for Tunon, the head judge/jury/executioner. Tunon adjudicates all law in the Empire, making him basically the second-in-command under the Overlord. So, basically, you’re third-in-command of the entire empire. Nifty.
As the game begins, Kyros has sent 2 armies to conquer the last corner of the continent (the Tiers) and you join the armies as a representative of the court. The first part of the game, Conquest mode, is basically just you making choices about which army to support and how you passed judgment during the campaign. I really enjoyed that introduction – and technically it’s just a small part of character creation.
Anyway, 2 years after the conquest, some Tiersmen in the nation of Apex decide to rebel against the Empire and Kyros sends the 2 armies to quell them. Fortunately for the rebels, the 2 armies are rivals and spend more time bickering with each other rather than crushing the rebellion. The Overlord “is not amused,” as the game informs you, and sends you to issue an Edict upon the region. The Overlord’s Edicts are essentially mega-magic-spells that affect an entire region of the continent. For instance, the Edict of Fire literally summoned a volcano out of nowhere to erupt from the ground to destroy an ancient library and everything around it.
Yeah, the Overlord can do that. In this case, the Edict is the Edict of Execution, which says that unless someone loyal to the Overlord takes the rebel stronghold by the end of the Month of Swords, everything – everything – in the region will die. So that’s the beginning of the game. You’re trapped in a region of the continent with a rebel force and 2 imperial forces all fighting each other, with a ticking clock toward complete annihilation from the Overlord’s magic. That premise hooked me pretty solidly right away.
From there it’s standard cRPG fare – build a character, interact with party members and NPCs, gain some sort of reputation, read a lot of lore – and Obsidian did a really good job with that last part. In particular, despite Kyros the Overlord being this omnipresent force in the game world, you never meet Kyros and nobody seems to know anything about Kyros except that the Overlord has pretty much conquered the world and if you resist you’ll probably get an Edict that will utterly destroy you. The NPCs don’t even agree on Kyros’s gender – although I’m leaning toward Kyros being female.
Speaking of which, I may be referring to Kyros as Cathy throughout this shrine.
…Anyway, that’s such a great way to build up a character who’s supposed to be godlike and mystical – tell the player next to nothing about her while letting in-game legends and reputation speak. Obsidian’s writing is generally top-notch and it shows here.
There are some flaws, of course, and we’ll get to one of the major ones later. Here’re some minor (read: personal nitpicks) ones:
Spire upgrades are idiotic
Over the course of the game you discover these skyscraper-tall Spires that have some sort of magical connection to one another. They also connect with you for reasons that are never explained (they did this on purpose since it’s supposed to be a mystery). The first one you find has a resonator atop it – this basically amplifies your will across the continent. Subsequent Spires have nothing on top of them, so the game lets you build stuff like a forge or a library.
…you build forges/libraries/training grounds/infirmaries on the top of a super-tall spire with no walls on the roof. Seriously. The top of each Spire is just a flat circle with little ledges jutting out the sides (that you hilariously can kick an enemy off of to his/her death at one point). Why didn’t I build these things in the bottom floor of the Spire rather than at the top? What if my Spire workers happen to slip near the edge? What if the wind blows a bit too hard on the library and the scrolls/books fly off into the distance? Do you really think it’s a good idea to bring sick people to an infirmary that’s like a hundred meters above the ground?
The NPCs are idiots
At one point I had to defend a town against some enemy troops. My allied troops surrounded the center of the town to protect it while I went around kicking ass. At the end, the enemy commander attacked me and I figured I’d lead her and her group up to my allied troops in the town center.
My allied troops just stood there. They did nothing while I fought the enemy commander right in front of them. I mean, I ended up winning, but…there were like 15 allied soldiers with their captain leading them. Why didn’t they help me fight?
Later, I attack the home base of that enemy I mentioned and confronted the general, who has maybe 20-something soldiers with him. I wondered how the hell my party was supposed to beat 20 guys plus the general, but then the general decided to send his troops at me in groups of 3-4 one at a time with everyone else just watching. After 2 groups, he himself attacked and his remaining soldiers just stood there. Like…I’m not necessarily complaining because that fight would basically have been impossible if I had to take on all of them at once, but…
Oh, by the way, after I killed the general, his remaining troops all spontaneously died for some reason.
Everyone seems to forget who I am (those idiots)
Like I mentioned above, I’m a Fatebinder and therefore my word is final. I am the voice of Cathy’s laws and only Tunon or Cathy the Overlord herself can override me. When I arrived in the Tiers, everyone should have reacted the way the goons on the second Death Star reacted when Vader visited them at the beginning of Return of the Jedi. Instead people talk to me pretty informally and the army leaders acted like they were still in charge. When I tried to order them to work together (since their inability to do so was what invited the Overlord’s wrath to begin with) they straight-up refused and ordered me to choose between them. Seriously they deserved what happened after (hint: I destroyed them both over the course of the game).
That being said, there is one small thing the game does VERY RIGHT. One of the most difficult battles in the game, at least for me, was the one against Bleden Mark, Archon of Shadows (he’s Cathy’s elite assassin). There’s a super-long trial sequence immediately – no save opportunity in between – before the fight and when I first lost I wondered if the game would make me go through that entire sequence again, since games have been known to do that.
No, actually…the game auto-saves after the sequence and before you fight Mark. It’s such a small thing but so very important for not making me explode in rage.
Anyway, onward! I beat the game on Normal difficulty (no Trial of Iron).
The character: Benamin, Archon of the Tiers
In Tyranny we have Might, Finesse, Quickness, Vitality, Wits, and Resolve. I defined Might as Strength, Finesse and Quickness as Dexterity, Vitality as Constitution/Charisma, Wits as Intelligence/Wisdom, and Resolve as Constitution/Wisdom. The numerical ranges in this game actually match D&D’s pretty well, so…
Might: 9-12 (C-rank) to 13-16 (B-rank)
Finesse: 9-12 (C-rank) to 13-16 (B-rank)
Quickness: 9-12 (C-rank) to 13-16 (B-rank)
Vitality: 7-10 (between D-rank and C-rank) to 11-14 (between C-rank and B-rank)
Wits: 13-16 (B-rank) to 21+ (S-rank)
Resolve: 5-8 (D-rank) to 21+ (S-rank)
…which resulted in…
I played more of a hybrid fighter/mage in this game since I actually used offensive spells. Speaking of spells, I love the spell system in this game – you choose a core sigil and customize it with other sigils to create a spell and then you name it whatever you want. To be specific…
The Kaio-ken spell is the Sigil of Vigor + Focused Intent (single-target, close to caster) + Strength IV (increased buff magnitude) + Timeless Form III (increased duration), which buffs my Might and Vitality.
The Flamethrower spell is the Sigil of Fire + Channeled Strength (cone in front of caster) + Strength IV (increased spell damage) + Reaching Grasp III (increased range in front of caster) + Cyclical Energies III (reduced cooldown) + Frostfire (somehow makes a fire spell inflict freeze and an ice spell inflict burn), which blasts everything in front of me with fire.
The Curaga spell is the Sigil of Life + Focused Intent (single-target, close to caster) + Strength IV (increased amount healed) + Reaching Grasp III (increased range) + Cyclical Energies III (reduced cooldown), which…well, heals.
I also made a Force Lightning spell using the Sigil of Lightning, but that spell was always lackluster for some reason and also the lightning effect was only present for a split second, kind of like a static shock rather than the POWER OF THE DARK SIDE so I didn’t really use it.
I had 5 notable items on me at the end of the game, which were the Tempest, the Gravebow, the Steadfast Insignia, the Silent Archive, and the Alchemist’s Gloves. In particular, the Tempest’s unique ability rains down thunderbolts randomly around you and I love that attack. I think I could have exploited something to forge more stuff, but I got tired of it and decided not to. Lastly, while I wanted to use my bow more in this game, I could never really get any sort of effective archer strategy down and most fights devolved to me buffing, charging in to hit the enemy in melee, and then casting Flamethrower on them when they bunched in front of me.
Major decisions
So…this game heavily emphasizes choice on the part of the player. Indeed, just the decisions you make during that short Conquest mode I described up there has far-reaching effects on the game. But…after you make one choice in the end of Act I, the game sort of locks you into one of 4 paths and you really can’t change after that. It’s pretty jarring to enter a game emphasizing choice so heavily and then get put on rails after the first act. That said, there are still a few decisions that you get to make, and here’s how I dealt justice to the Tiers in the name of Cathy, the Overlord.
Conquest decisions
The first city we attacked was the Bastard City. After wondering why anyone would name their city that, I chose to sneak inside the city, sabotage their stuff, and assassinate a bunch of nobles. The people inside got so terrified they surrendered immediately when the imperial forces arrived. The other choices were to challenge the defenders’ leader to a duel or to block the gates while setting the city on fire and I decided those choices were stupid. If you don’t need an explanation as to why, congratulations: you’re smarter than the imperial forces were.
Next, I could either govern a mining town somewhere or join the campaign against the nation of Apex. I went to Apex and learned that the enemy wished to negotiate terms of surrender. I spoke with them peacefully and secured their surrender rather than the other option of taunting their queen until she attacked me, thereby giving us an excuse to go in and kill everyone. Look, I don’t consider myself that nice of a guy in these games, but why would I slaughter everyone when I didn’t even really need to?
Finally, I chose to aid the forces attacking Stalwart, the best military power in the Tiers. To make a long story short, Cathy got impatient with that campaign and had me proclaim the Edict of Storms on Stalwart, which basically summoned a giant permanent tornado to destroy everything. This isn’t just any tornado, either – the winds are so forceful they fused a guy’s armor around him and that guy is one of the companion characters, Barik. The options were to proclaim it immediately or warn the enemy and give them time to escape. Come on. That wasn’t hard. Why would I tell the enemy what I’m about to do? I had those guys eating tornado before most of them had gotten out of bed.
Which faction to support in Act I
If you recall, Cathy the Overlord decreed that unless one of her servants takes the rebel stronghold by the end of the Month of Swords, everyone in that region would die. Her 2 armies in the region at the time were the Disfavored, led by Graven Ashe, the Archon of War; and the Scarlet Chorus, led by the Voices of Nerat, the Archon of Secrets. I won’t really go into detail on what all that means except to say that Ashe and Nerat spent (far) more time arguing with one another than actually attacking the rebels, a habit they continued even after I arrived to tell them that Cathy was most displeased with their apparent lack of progress and that I was sent to find new ways to motivate them.
As such, I decided that both of these buffoons were incompetent traitors who put their own agendas and egos above their duty to the Overlord. To this end I got the rebels to serve me and then at the last minute I guided them in fighting back both the Disfavored and the Chorus. I killed the Disfavored lieutenant and when the Chorus lieutenant accidentally appeared on top of the Spire with me, I wrote a note on a piece of paper saying that I had taken the rebel stronghold in the name of the Overlord and everyone was to GTFO immediately. I proceeded to affix the note to the lieutenant and kick him off the Spire. The note survived the fall. He did not.
Which faction to support in the beginning of Act II
With the (former) rebels now under my command, I solidified my hold over that area of the Tiers. Tunon then tasked me with gathering evidence that either Ashe or Nerat were actively sowing discord and interfering with the conquest of the Tiers. Back in the Tiers, my new allies advised that we needed more allies to stand against either Ashe or Nerat for any lengthy period of time.
To this end we went to Lethian’s Crossing, where we could support some magic blacksmiths or a mercenary group that worshipped these supernatural horror-energy-things (they’re called the Bane but nobody, including myself, knows what exactly they are). The mercenary group wasn’t actually all that bad, except their leader went batshit insane and then followed up by going even more batshit insane. He kidnapped the leader of those smiths and I had to destroy him to save her. She then informed me that under no circumstances was she to work alongside the mercenaries, again despite the fact that I’m the one in charge around here. Anyway I was forced to choose between them, so I chose the smiths…since I already had a fighting force in the former rebels and I needed to get them equipment.
Resolving the Edict of Storms
Cathy’s Edict said that the winds in Stalwart would continue ravaging the nation until the Regent’s bloodline was no more. In the game, my coalition advised I seek out the remnants of Stalwart’s army and recruit them to the alliance. I found them, murdering a bunch of Disfavored goons along the way, and they told me they would serve me if I ended the Edict (meaning…I needed to end the Regent bloodline). So I got into the fortress, found the Regent, listened to him give a pompous monologue, and killed him with fire.
The Edict remained and I discovered that sometime before I came into the picture, Ashe’s daughter Amelia had a daughter with the Regent’s son. Anyway, Amelia’s daughter is now the heir to the Regency, so the bloodline still exists, which is why the Edict didn’t stop.
I (in real life) actually figured out a solution to this before I tried to tackle it in-game and I was happy to see the game actually let me do it. Essentially, since Amelia’s daughter is still a baby, she can just abdicate the throne on behalf of her daughter. So I had Amelia do that and the Edict ended immediately. The Stalwart forces, in gratitude, became my newest vassals.
Resolving the Edict of Fire
Elsewhere in the Tiers, the armies of Cathy couldn’t take over a library for some reason so Cathy decided to issue the Edict of Fire on the library, which is that perpetually-erupting volcano I mentioned before. This time, she decreed in the Edict that as long as there was any forbidden knowledge within the library’s walls, the flames would continue to rage.
To exacerbate matters, the sages of the library tried to save their knowledge by casting a “stop time” spell within the library, meaning the fire couldn’t actually destroy the library (since presumably without that spell the entire place would’ve burned down a long time ago and the Edict would’ve fulfilled itself).
To make another long story short, I went into the library, killed all the Chorus goons inside, and found this magic scroll called the Silent Archive, which contained everything the sages ever learned. All I did was bring the thing outside the library’s walls…which fulfilled the Edict (there is no longer any forbidden knowledge within the library’s walls, since the knowledge is now outside with me).
The sages decided to join my coalition.
Which Archon to convict
I decided to convict Nerat since he’s a chaotic evil force of chaos…and evil. Tunon accepted my judgment and sentenced Nerat to death. The ending would later say that just about everyone across the continent celebrated that event with unbridled joy. The Chorus, on the other hand, dispersed without a leader and passed the time doing nightmarish things (the game’s wording, not mine).
…I’d like to think that after the events of the game ended I destroyed them all. Can’t be having those guys going around raping the goats. That’s what the game was implying, right?
Related: at one point in-game someone actually calls another character a goat-fucker. Tyranny refreshingly doesn’t hold back on the language.
Ending the game
By the end of the game you’ve become incredibly powerful via your link to the Spires, to the point that you’re able to issue Edicts (before, only the Overlord was able to do that). At the end of the game Cathy sends a third army south to the Tiers. Different characters speculate different things on why she does this, but the choice at the end of the game is either (1) use the resonator to issue an Edict across the empire, annihilating that army and a lot of other things; or (2) use the resonator to declare your fealty to the Overlord.
I chose the latter since…well, that’s how I played this game. I decided to convert the rebels because Ashe and Nerat were egocentric morons who had fallen from Cathy’s favor. I diplomatically recruited the other factions of the Tiers so I could unify them, creating a peaceful region within Cathy’s empire. I never really wanted to oppose Cathy…
…which brings me to a final word on Tyranny’s concept. Remember how this is the game where evil has won? Sure, Cathy’s methods are pretty extreme and those two generals aren’t really benevolent to the Tiersmen by any means, but the empire’s laws aren’t evil at all. There’re the basic laws keeping the peace, laws saying that trade must be regulated, laws regulating the distribution of food during bountiful and lean harvests, and laws about how nobody can name anything after the Overlord (in fact, you cannot name your character Kyros). Honestly, that seems like a fairly stable government and if an everyday citizen doesn’t oppose the Overlord, he/she gets to live a pretty peaceful life with the government supporting the masses. I didn’t really feel like I was the hand of an evil Overlord…just a diplomat sent to work things out in the Tiers. As such, even playing true to my Neutral Good concept I felt no need to oppose Cathy.
Random things to note
As far as I know, there’s no optional superboss in this game, but I do want to note something cool. Remember the Edict of Execution? It says that unless someone loyal to the Overlord takes the rebel stronghold by the end of the Month of Swords, everyone dies.
Cathy’s calendar works similarly to the real-world calendar – there are 365 days in a year containing the various months. The game begins in the Month of Swords; you proclaim the Edict and then you have until the end of the month to complete Act I, or the game ends with the Edict of Execution. Well…I wasted time until after the Month of Swords was over before proclaiming the Edict, which meant that the “end of the Month of Swords” was a year away. So instead of ~8 days to beat Act I, I had a year (the Overlord never specified the year in the Edict).
That wasn’t necessary, by the way; 8 in-game days is very generous for beating Act I, to the point that I didn’t even fault this feature (normally, a time limit in an RPG gets an automatic mark of disapproval from me). I did it all the same because I found it hilarious.
The Kaio-ken spell is the Sigil of Vigor + Focused Intent (single-target, close to caster) + Strength IV (increased buff magnitude) + Timeless Form III (increased duration), which buffs my Might and Vitality.
The Flamethrower spell is the Sigil of Fire + Channeled Strength (cone in front of caster) + Strength IV (increased spell damage) + Reaching Grasp III (increased range in front of caster) + Cyclical Energies III (reduced cooldown) + Frostfire (somehow makes a fire spell inflict freeze and an ice spell inflict burn), which blasts everything in front of me with fire.
The Curaga spell is the Sigil of Life + Focused Intent (single-target, close to caster) + Strength IV (increased amount healed) + Reaching Grasp III (increased range) + Cyclical Energies III (reduced cooldown), which…well, heals.
I also made a Force Lightning spell using the Sigil of Lightning, but that spell was always lackluster for some reason and also the lightning effect was only present for a split second, kind of like a static shock rather than the POWER OF THE DARK SIDE so I didn’t really use it.
I had 5 notable items on me at the end of the game, which were the Tempest, the Gravebow, the Steadfast Insignia, the Silent Archive, and the Alchemist’s Gloves. In particular, the Tempest’s unique ability rains down thunderbolts randomly around you and I love that attack. I think I could have exploited something to forge more stuff, but I got tired of it and decided not to. Lastly, while I wanted to use my bow more in this game, I could never really get any sort of effective archer strategy down and most fights devolved to me buffing, charging in to hit the enemy in melee, and then casting Flamethrower on them when they bunched in front of me.
Major decisions
So…this game heavily emphasizes choice on the part of the player. Indeed, just the decisions you make during that short Conquest mode I described up there has far-reaching effects on the game. But…after you make one choice in the end of Act I, the game sort of locks you into one of 4 paths and you really can’t change after that. It’s pretty jarring to enter a game emphasizing choice so heavily and then get put on rails after the first act. That said, there are still a few decisions that you get to make, and here’s how I dealt justice to the Tiers in the name of Cathy, the Overlord.
Conquest decisions
The first city we attacked was the Bastard City. After wondering why anyone would name their city that, I chose to sneak inside the city, sabotage their stuff, and assassinate a bunch of nobles. The people inside got so terrified they surrendered immediately when the imperial forces arrived. The other choices were to challenge the defenders’ leader to a duel or to block the gates while setting the city on fire and I decided those choices were stupid. If you don’t need an explanation as to why, congratulations: you’re smarter than the imperial forces were.
Next, I could either govern a mining town somewhere or join the campaign against the nation of Apex. I went to Apex and learned that the enemy wished to negotiate terms of surrender. I spoke with them peacefully and secured their surrender rather than the other option of taunting their queen until she attacked me, thereby giving us an excuse to go in and kill everyone. Look, I don’t consider myself that nice of a guy in these games, but why would I slaughter everyone when I didn’t even really need to?
Finally, I chose to aid the forces attacking Stalwart, the best military power in the Tiers. To make a long story short, Cathy got impatient with that campaign and had me proclaim the Edict of Storms on Stalwart, which basically summoned a giant permanent tornado to destroy everything. This isn’t just any tornado, either – the winds are so forceful they fused a guy’s armor around him and that guy is one of the companion characters, Barik. The options were to proclaim it immediately or warn the enemy and give them time to escape. Come on. That wasn’t hard. Why would I tell the enemy what I’m about to do? I had those guys eating tornado before most of them had gotten out of bed.
Which faction to support in Act I
If you recall, Cathy the Overlord decreed that unless one of her servants takes the rebel stronghold by the end of the Month of Swords, everyone in that region would die. Her 2 armies in the region at the time were the Disfavored, led by Graven Ashe, the Archon of War; and the Scarlet Chorus, led by the Voices of Nerat, the Archon of Secrets. I won’t really go into detail on what all that means except to say that Ashe and Nerat spent (far) more time arguing with one another than actually attacking the rebels, a habit they continued even after I arrived to tell them that Cathy was most displeased with their apparent lack of progress and that I was sent to find new ways to motivate them.
As such, I decided that both of these buffoons were incompetent traitors who put their own agendas and egos above their duty to the Overlord. To this end I got the rebels to serve me and then at the last minute I guided them in fighting back both the Disfavored and the Chorus. I killed the Disfavored lieutenant and when the Chorus lieutenant accidentally appeared on top of the Spire with me, I wrote a note on a piece of paper saying that I had taken the rebel stronghold in the name of the Overlord and everyone was to GTFO immediately. I proceeded to affix the note to the lieutenant and kick him off the Spire. The note survived the fall. He did not.
Which faction to support in the beginning of Act II
With the (former) rebels now under my command, I solidified my hold over that area of the Tiers. Tunon then tasked me with gathering evidence that either Ashe or Nerat were actively sowing discord and interfering with the conquest of the Tiers. Back in the Tiers, my new allies advised that we needed more allies to stand against either Ashe or Nerat for any lengthy period of time.
To this end we went to Lethian’s Crossing, where we could support some magic blacksmiths or a mercenary group that worshipped these supernatural horror-energy-things (they’re called the Bane but nobody, including myself, knows what exactly they are). The mercenary group wasn’t actually all that bad, except their leader went batshit insane and then followed up by going even more batshit insane. He kidnapped the leader of those smiths and I had to destroy him to save her. She then informed me that under no circumstances was she to work alongside the mercenaries, again despite the fact that I’m the one in charge around here. Anyway I was forced to choose between them, so I chose the smiths…since I already had a fighting force in the former rebels and I needed to get them equipment.
Resolving the Edict of Storms
Cathy’s Edict said that the winds in Stalwart would continue ravaging the nation until the Regent’s bloodline was no more. In the game, my coalition advised I seek out the remnants of Stalwart’s army and recruit them to the alliance. I found them, murdering a bunch of Disfavored goons along the way, and they told me they would serve me if I ended the Edict (meaning…I needed to end the Regent bloodline). So I got into the fortress, found the Regent, listened to him give a pompous monologue, and killed him with fire.
The Edict remained and I discovered that sometime before I came into the picture, Ashe’s daughter Amelia had a daughter with the Regent’s son. Anyway, Amelia’s daughter is now the heir to the Regency, so the bloodline still exists, which is why the Edict didn’t stop.
I (in real life) actually figured out a solution to this before I tried to tackle it in-game and I was happy to see the game actually let me do it. Essentially, since Amelia’s daughter is still a baby, she can just abdicate the throne on behalf of her daughter. So I had Amelia do that and the Edict ended immediately. The Stalwart forces, in gratitude, became my newest vassals.
Resolving the Edict of Fire
Elsewhere in the Tiers, the armies of Cathy couldn’t take over a library for some reason so Cathy decided to issue the Edict of Fire on the library, which is that perpetually-erupting volcano I mentioned before. This time, she decreed in the Edict that as long as there was any forbidden knowledge within the library’s walls, the flames would continue to rage.
To exacerbate matters, the sages of the library tried to save their knowledge by casting a “stop time” spell within the library, meaning the fire couldn’t actually destroy the library (since presumably without that spell the entire place would’ve burned down a long time ago and the Edict would’ve fulfilled itself).
To make another long story short, I went into the library, killed all the Chorus goons inside, and found this magic scroll called the Silent Archive, which contained everything the sages ever learned. All I did was bring the thing outside the library’s walls…which fulfilled the Edict (there is no longer any forbidden knowledge within the library’s walls, since the knowledge is now outside with me).
The sages decided to join my coalition.
Which Archon to convict
I decided to convict Nerat since he’s a chaotic evil force of chaos…and evil. Tunon accepted my judgment and sentenced Nerat to death. The ending would later say that just about everyone across the continent celebrated that event with unbridled joy. The Chorus, on the other hand, dispersed without a leader and passed the time doing nightmarish things (the game’s wording, not mine).
…I’d like to think that after the events of the game ended I destroyed them all. Can’t be having those guys going around raping the goats. That’s what the game was implying, right?
Related: at one point in-game someone actually calls another character a goat-fucker. Tyranny refreshingly doesn’t hold back on the language.
Ending the game
By the end of the game you’ve become incredibly powerful via your link to the Spires, to the point that you’re able to issue Edicts (before, only the Overlord was able to do that). At the end of the game Cathy sends a third army south to the Tiers. Different characters speculate different things on why she does this, but the choice at the end of the game is either (1) use the resonator to issue an Edict across the empire, annihilating that army and a lot of other things; or (2) use the resonator to declare your fealty to the Overlord.
I chose the latter since…well, that’s how I played this game. I decided to convert the rebels because Ashe and Nerat were egocentric morons who had fallen from Cathy’s favor. I diplomatically recruited the other factions of the Tiers so I could unify them, creating a peaceful region within Cathy’s empire. I never really wanted to oppose Cathy…
…which brings me to a final word on Tyranny’s concept. Remember how this is the game where evil has won? Sure, Cathy’s methods are pretty extreme and those two generals aren’t really benevolent to the Tiersmen by any means, but the empire’s laws aren’t evil at all. There’re the basic laws keeping the peace, laws saying that trade must be regulated, laws regulating the distribution of food during bountiful and lean harvests, and laws about how nobody can name anything after the Overlord (in fact, you cannot name your character Kyros). Honestly, that seems like a fairly stable government and if an everyday citizen doesn’t oppose the Overlord, he/she gets to live a pretty peaceful life with the government supporting the masses. I didn’t really feel like I was the hand of an evil Overlord…just a diplomat sent to work things out in the Tiers. As such, even playing true to my Neutral Good concept I felt no need to oppose Cathy.
Random things to note
As far as I know, there’s no optional superboss in this game, but I do want to note something cool. Remember the Edict of Execution? It says that unless someone loyal to the Overlord takes the rebel stronghold by the end of the Month of Swords, everyone dies.
Cathy’s calendar works similarly to the real-world calendar – there are 365 days in a year containing the various months. The game begins in the Month of Swords; you proclaim the Edict and then you have until the end of the month to complete Act I, or the game ends with the Edict of Execution. Well…I wasted time until after the Month of Swords was over before proclaiming the Edict, which meant that the “end of the Month of Swords” was a year away. So instead of ~8 days to beat Act I, I had a year (the Overlord never specified the year in the Edict).
That wasn’t necessary, by the way; 8 in-game days is very generous for beating Act I, to the point that I didn’t even fault this feature (normally, a time limit in an RPG gets an automatic mark of disapproval from me). I did it all the same because I found it hilarious.