[3] The Overlord Kyros, a god-like being of immeasurable power,[4] is close to completing their over-400-year-long campaign to conquer Terratus and impose order,[1][5] having already overtaken much of the land through force or intimidation.
[3] Tyranny takes place in the 431st year of Kyros' self-devised calendar in the region of the Tiers, the final major area to be conquered.
These include the Oldwalls, magically attuned spans of walls that run for hundreds of miles, and the Spires, monolithic towers that reach higher into the sky than most mountains.
A new rebellion has risen in the Tiers kingdom of Apex, in the region of Vendrien's Well, and Kyros has grown angry with her armies' failure to quell it.
Meanwhile the feud between Ashe and Nerat boils over into a fullscale civil war, the 'War of Archons', with the Disfavored and Scarlet Chorus battling for control of the Tiers.
Tunon summons the Fatebinder to his court in the Bastard City to account for their actions and tasks them with investigating both Archons for treason, as this civil war has jeopardized the pacification of the region.
By killing the newborn Regent of Stalwart, or exploiting an ancient legal loophole renouncing her claims to the throne, the Fatebinder ends the Edict of Storms that had ravaged the Blade Grave.
The Fatebinder can kill Ashe, Nerat and Bleden Mark individually or travel at once to Tunon's court to face justice.
At the court the Fatebinder must first present their evidence for the guilt of one or both of the Archons – a guilty verdict results in their execution by Bleden Mark, if he still lives.
If the player successfully argues their case Tunon will declare the Fatebinder a greater servant of law and order than Kyros and pledge his fealty.
The edict devastates the Imperial Throne; thousands begin to doubt the Empire's power and flock to the Fatebinder's banner as a new Overlord.
Tyranny is a computer role-playing game (RPG) using isometric user interface similar to Obsidian's Pillars of Eternity.
Several ideas from Defiance were used to craft a new concept for Stormlands, a game the studio successfully pitched to Microsoft as a potential launch title for the Xbox One in 2012.
[20] Obsidian was able to recover financially through the Kickstarter-backed role-playing game Pillars of Eternity, which allowed them to return to the concepts from Fury, Defiance and Stormlands and build out a new title, Tyranny.
[20] Urquhart stated that, with Tyranny, they refined the Defiance idea more to make sure that the player was clearly aware that evil has won and having their character being part of that conquest.
[3] Heins said that since most of the technical issues of graphics and rendering were also solved with Pillars, they were free to flesh out "a different type of [role-playing game]".
"[21] Much of the game involves making human non-player-characters suffer under the Fatebinder's orders; according to director Brian Heins, the team was prepared to handle the type of depictions of these acts, as many had worked on South Park: The Stick of Truth, which had similar levels of crude and vulgar humor.
[22] Tyranny was announced at the 2016 Game Developers Conference in March 2016,[3] and was exhibited in a playable demonstration form at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2016 that June; the E3 demo included the same battle though presented from three different scenarios based on the choices the player would have made earlier in the game, as to demonstrate how these choices affected combat and gameplay.