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Tyrant’s Realm is a roguelite action-adventure inspired by classic PS1 visuals. Tyrant’s Realm was developed by Team Tyrant and published by Skystone Games. Explore procedurally generated dark fantasy worlds, battling through dangers that evolve with each run. Learn from each depth and work your way through the maps to reach your end. Or end goal? Whichever comes first!
I could have just asked for the scroll nicely?
Tyrant’s Realm is now available on Steam with a 15% off introductory offer until 30th January. But is this worth £7.22? Let’s find out.
Gameplay
The gameplay of Tyrant’s Realm is very simple, with the same controls applying as for any soulslike game. Roll, block/parry, move and attack. Handily the controls are also displayed at the bottom right if you ever forget! They are very simple, but that’s all the game needs. Using the parry mechanic is very interesting as no matter what character you build, the shield is always equipped. This makes sure you make good use out of the one shot parry power up mechanic as your yellow bar fills for a funky killing animation.
The only thing I would really point out is the parry system only works on normal enemies and not bosses. I would have liked to have seen some animations for the bosses. So using the power up takes a small chunk of health for a exciting little viewpoint of stabbing a giant in the eye or something similar. There’s always room for improvement!
There is an upgrade system of course with all times of armour and weapons to try. You upgrade these using either Wrath, Humility or Greed, and is done via altars you find around the maps. Each upgrade gives less of a percentage which encourages you to try out different combinations! Different armour sets also have different abilities too. Such as the thief’s armour which allows you to steal extra gold from defeated enemies. I will admit I used this more than any other armour to max out all my stats and get all the different weapons!
Graphics
Tyrant’s Realm shines with it’s choice of style and aesthetic. It certainly did not fail to make me feel like a kid again playing my first soulslike game on the PS1. The many customisation options in terms of the graphics really turned up the retro factor especially the CRT filter and extra pixelation and borders! The style of the graphics really hit home and gave me a warm fuzzy feeling, although that might have been the fizzy drink I had earlier. This game is stylistic perfection for me. I really couldn’t have asked anything more to bring me genuine gamer happiness in terms of vibes and feeling.
Audio
All the environments were designed with care and love and it really shows, the small yet wonderful details were worth paying attention to, especially with the design of the gold coins. Every single time they hit the ground they bounce with a satisfying CLINK noise. Made me giggle every time. Rolling into every single barrel to hear the perfectly crafted sound was well worth it and the crunch of the snow area? Even better! The sounds of the other prisoner’s in the first area were so eerie. Gave so much more of a great atmosphere than I expected from an indie game. I do love those small details!
Steam Deck Compatibility
Tyrant’s Realm was an absolute joy to play on the Steam Deck. It ran perfectly with only some frame rate hiccups in the forge section of the game. This may be due to the lava within the level. Apart from this Tyrant’s Realm managed to keep a steady 60FPS on ultra settings with a few power tweaks. The controls were super easy and were very fluid. Plus everything still had that extra heft with the Steam Deck haptics.
Longevity
It took me a few hours to get to the end of the game. The map has different paths you can take after completing each area, so once you’ve completed this once you can return and pick a different path to take with different bosses and new challenges. The boss in the water area was definitely my favourite and was so unexpected!
Collecting all the scrolls and trying out new weapons in Tyrant’s Realm is what gives it its’ replayability factor. The amount of options and combinations to try out made me return again and again. I do find myself picking this up on my Steam Deck very often while I’m killing some time or just wanting a quick soulslike fix throughout my day. The little nods to soulslike games also help!
Final Thoughts
Tyrant’s Realm is a wonderful little gem. I enjoyed it so much it’s now a constant on my Steam Deck and I wil be playing it through to completion. The ability to try out different builds is one of the hit points for the game that will keep me returning. It really filled the everlasting void I have for soulslikes and roguelikes. With a roadmap in sight I cannot wait to see what the developer does and the updates they bring.
The only constructive criticism I have would be the controls being there in the corner constantly. Wish there was an option to turn this off. Just gets a little annoying an distracting after a while but honestly that is the only thing that stood out to me in terms of any issues.
So is Tyrant’s Realm worth it’s price? Yes. The game has incredible charm and really stood out for me.
With everything outlined above I have decided to give Tyrant’s Realm the Thumb Culture Platinum Award.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
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