Tyranny Preview and Podcast Interview

Previews and interviews for Tyranny have dried up now that more or less all the materials shown at GDC have been intensely scrutinized, but for the sake of completeness, we’re going to do a last round-up including a preview and interview.

MonsterVine has a write-up:

Obsidian breaks tradition this time around in avoiding the good vs evil trope and instead places you in a world where evil has won. Meaning the player’s character lingers in a sort of gray area as a subordinate of the overlord Kyros. Starting in a position of authority is a path less traveled in storytelling, and as a Fatebinder, the starting state of the world is shaped through your decisions. Set in the fictional backdrop of the transition between the Bronze and Iron Age, the stylized characters and environments reflect the harsh landscape ravaged by war, greed, and corruption.

Our hands-off demo walked us through two scenarios in Plainsgate, or Halfsgate, an area you’ll encounter in the game. In the first, Plainsgate is portrayed as a fertile cropland devastated by people. A public trial held by the Scarlet Chorus regarding a captured beastmen offers selecting alliances, gaining reputation, and progression via a choice based classless system. You can either side with the villagers who see the beastmen as a threat, let the Scarlet Chorus handle, or take the control of the situation as an authority figure.

While USGamer has an interview with project director Brian Heins as part of its “Axe of the Blood God” podcast. The interview starts at the 42:25 mark and touches on the game’s premise, its unique moral perspective and how it will influence the choices offered to the players, the factions in the game and the protagonist’s specific role, the faction alliances and how they will open and close questlines, combat and how often it can be avoided, the presence of a stronghold system, and more.