Retro Roguelike Experience - Tyrant's Realm Review

While i was browsing the web, i came across a game that was said to be "Souls-like and Roguelike". I thought I had found a game that could calm my hunger for FromSoftware games -by that I mean a game like the Soulborne series-

Unfortunately i have to say this to soul players: No, this is not the game you that can calm your hunger. Because Tyrant’s Realm is not a souls-like game; in fact its hard to call it a souls-lite game. Of course this does not mean its not a good game, I just wanted to warn anyone who wants to play this game because of the souls-like genre tag.

Tyrant’s Realm is a game made by adding trace amounts of souls-like elements to a roguelike game. If I had to give an example for this genre of game “Dead Cells” would make the most sense. In Tyrant’s Realm we try to move on to new rooms while killing enemies we come across, just like in the example I gave. After every room we get to a rest space where we can unlock some temporary or permanent upgrades. The permanent ones will make it easier for us in our next playthroughs.

These upgrades can allow you to get new equipment and unlock new shortcuts. These features -even though they arent anything original- makes the game feel more satisfying as a roguelike. I have a few more things to say about the roguelike content but first let’s talk game mechanics.

Tyrant’s Realm is a 3rd person roguelike game that uses Playstation 1 graphics and game feel to make the player feel nostalgia. Theres a tutorial at the start of the game which i find very useful for new players and makes the game more understandable but it also reduces the soulslike aspects.

When Miyazaki was a kid, he would fill in the parts of the story he didnt understand because of his limited English with his imagination. And he carried this part of him to his games. Even though souls games are known for their gameplay, their abstract storytelling caused any other game from coming close to them is terms of game feel.

Almost every game studio of today has tried to replicate Miyazaki’s creations by just copying the mechanics and putting a bland, simple story on the background. Because of this they couldnt get close to the feel of souls games. In Tyrant’s Realm there isn’t any storytelling, let alone an abstract one. After completing the tutorial it didnt feel like I was playing a complete title, it felt like i was playing a demo. For me these were things that distanced Tyrant’s Realm from the souls-like genre.

Going back to game mechanics: We start the game with the clasic sword, shield and armor trio. The sword -just like every weapon- has a light and heavy attack. The shield allows us to block and parry. The “perfect block” is used as the parry mechanic; if you manage to block just as the enemy is about to hit you, they will be stunned.

However unlike in classic souls-like games you cant just perform a critical hit on a stunned enemy. You have to fill the skull shaped bar on the top left corner by damaging the enemy and once its full you can one-shot the stunned enemy with a short animation.

Another mechanic that caught my attention was rolling: When you roll at the right time it slows down time and it adds a level of cinematic feel to the game. However since we cant cancel our attack animation, using the roll mechanic becomes quite difficult. Because of this you can get hit by even the easiest of enemies at the beginning of the game. But as you start getting used to the game these become less noticable.

One thing you can see in this genre of games is equipments get assigned colors based on their type. In Tyrant’s Realm red equipments are more offensive, green ones are defensive and yellow equipments are more agile compared to the other ones. You can upgrade any color of gear using the alters you can randomly find while roaming the rooms.

As i said earlier, once you finish a room you get a rest space where you can unlock some upgrades. These upgrades may increase the replayability of the game but i had a problem while playing: I finished the game in less than 4 hours without any upgrades.

I unlocked increase in health potions because i thought it was most important but this resulted in me beating the game without getting to try any uniqe gear. I dont know if this happened because I am used to souls-like mechanics. Of course many souls-like games can be beat fairly quickly but most of the time they offer a way to continue but i didnt see any in Tyrant’s Realm and I dont plan on replaying it.

If you are looking for a roguelike game that can challenge you even if you dont like souls-like gameplay and mechanics or if you think you cant play that well, i advise you to check out Tyrant’s Realm. Its old pixel art style and dark nature can make you enter the games universe and spend hours inside it even without a story!

Pros

PS1 graphics go well with the gameplay

You can play the game without getting overwhelmed by the mechanics

Cons

Gameplay time and upgrade mechanics dont scale well, you can finish the game without experiencing most features

There arent many enemy variants and some areas tend to get repetitive