Tyranny

This dark, morally gray RPG has plenty of depth and replayability for players to embrace their inner villains, if they're willing to put up with some technical flaws. Tyranny is a unique take on the standard adventure theme because you're not the hero, nor are there any to be found in this game. Since evil has already won before the game starts, every action you and your squad of companions make has some dirt or blood on it in service to Kyros' terrible rule. While you wouldn't expect that choice has a large role to play under a barbarous lord, the decisions you make as a player throughout the entire game affects and determines the fates of the lives of thousands. For example, you can burn libraries full of knowledge or murder a queen in front of her subjects. Players can even choose to make the game harder on themselves by eliminating their own companions or facing off alone against enemies, fully taking on the role of arbiter wandering the wastelands. In fact, each faction or character will express a fear or favorability level based on your choices, which can actually unlock new abilities and powers that can be wielded against enemies daring to attack you. This reinforces the feeling that the world is constantly evolving in your wake, making you feel like a force of nature instead of a caricature of an evil figure.

Unfortunately, while you may want to fully engage in your darker fantasies, Tyranny has a lot of issues that interrupt the malevolent fun. It's plagued with an incredible amount of technical flaws. Saved games and progress seem to be disregarded frequently, forcing repeated loading attempts in the hopes that you don't have to completely start over from the beginning. Key items and characters will sometimes disappear in the aftermath of battles, so you may need to reload a checkpoint to advance the plot. Plus, as you get farther in the game, there's a definite issue with pacing, as if the majority of the development went into the establishment of the initial setting and factional conflict. As you get closer to the end (involving the use and awakening of some powerful artifacts), the story and action feel a bit rushed and passed over, as if the real explanation for what happened is being saved for a future expansion pack or a sequel. But, if you can look past these hiccups, you and your henchmen can truly enjoy wreaking havoc across a landscape that's tailor-made for you. After all, you broke it -- now it's time for you to rule it.