With such an intro you would expect to solve issues related to logistics, diplomacy or battlefields but instead the core of the game is the usual low-level RPG tropes most have come to expect.

The more interesting aspects of being an occupying force are sparse, but there are moments that shine such as the trial of one of your peers that killed soldiers engaging in sexual assault. The player can ignore this, condemn them out of loyalty or help them wiggle out via legal loopholes. This moment is just a bog-standard dialogue tree at its heart but it showcases the types of situations that should have defined Tyranny.

This is all the more disappointing since the reputation system is worthy of praise. It tracks multiple factions and individuals with all kinds of modifiers as rewards. There are impactful choices to make here, no doubt, unfortunately the writing is not up to snuff to make them feel meaningful. The vast majority of the time you engage with “badass” fantasy stereotypes which in turn paints over the more uncomfortable civilian situations relating to mass subjugation that naturally arise from the premise of Tyranny.

What is left is a game with a pitifully small enemy variety and whose battles become aggressively boring due to the large health pool of enemies and the repetitive nature of the cooldown-based abilities. And yet again, the potential is there: the spellcasting system is actually novel; modular spells are created via runes the player finds throughout the game but the encounter design to make this system shine just isn't there.

In the end, Infinity Engine games were, generally, fantasy adventures done well. In comparison, Tyranny is a game of conquest and political intriguing done badly. No number of peripheral changes will placate the discord between the creative vision behind the Fatebinder role and the loot & kill type of core gameplay.