Tyranny

黑曜石比较稳定的一点就是对派系刻画，不是扮演英雄也不是扮演反派，而是在一个依赖漏洞来运行的体制中，扮演要站队某个漏洞的意外变量。主角扮演钦差大臣，在抽象法和当地现实之间找到解释空间，将暴力翻译成合法性的语言，从而达成使命——这个理念很好，但是游戏中还是以 CRPG 的玩法为核心，Roleplaying 不如一件好装备实在。或许在永恒之柱2、宣誓、Pentiment 的种种实验后，黑曜石能够舍弃陈旧的 CRPG 设计，找到能发挥自己的长处的更合适的体裁。

God I love this game. I wish they'd made more. The combat is so fun, the spell casting is incredibly unique. I remember when this game came out, I was so excited, and it really lived up to the hype. Please make more!! I love Pillars more, but I miss this! It was such a cool world! *Edit* This game is soooooo good please make a sequel. More things that I love: the paths system. I don't think I've ever seen a CRPG that makes your decisions matter quite like this one. There's four paths you can take through the game, depending upon who you ally with. All of them have different goas and quests and interactions. Even different places you go. Missives, it's a fun little way to get more lore, and to make little decisions about how you interact with the other important characters while you do so. It really helps flesh out your character's personality. The way you level up, with skills gaining experience from use and your overall level increasing with your skills. It's incredibly cool. It means if you use a skill a lot, you'll be better at continuing to use that skill a lot. Why don't more games do this?! The random encounters as you travel. Reminds me a lot of Dragon Age and I love it. Loyalty and fear, and gaining those with your companions (as well as the corresponding ones with the factions) and how it changes the way they interact with you. Instead of just one axis of "do they hate or love you", you can have them be extremely loyal but also terrified of you. Really adds more depth to your relationships with them. The music. It's amazing. That's it. And the combat. I love the lack of classes, the flexibility, the way you can do anything and be anything. The talent trees let you specialize, but you can specialize in multiple ways in multiple things. I've played and loved Pillars and Pathfinder (I literally have a Pillars of Eternity tattoo), as well as many other less well-know CRPGs, and Tyranny really holds up to even the big names. I also think the fact that you're not the good guy is part of what makes this game so good. And that's coming from someone who always picks the nicest choices in any games that have them. I really do want to explore this world more.