Tyranny is a Computer RPG.

The Choose your own adventure bit at the start is only the start. The point of it is to set up the world that you will adventure through. Some locations will be present, or destroyed, based on your choices in that starting story. Also, different people and groups will already have an opinion of you based on your actions during that section.

The rest of the game is a normal Computer RPG.

The story is quite reactive, in that you can influence a number of important things.

There is quite a lot of combat. I found it acceptable. I think it was interesting enough, and able to be understood relatively easily. I found it ok enough to continue with, but I wouldn't play Tyranny just for the combat. You run around in a party and kill people, just like other party based RPG's ie Baldur's Gate. It is pausable Real time Combat. The vast majority of skills in the game work on countdown. One of the main unique features is the spell crafting system. You learn spell cores(elements such as fire or force) and spell expression(which determines range and other features of the spell shape), and accents(which provide some extra special elements to modifyt the overall spell). These different bits of spells are learn't across the course of the game, and allow one to make various types of spells. As a result, every Player character and follower is a mage of varying quality, with spells that you create for them. The only difference is how powerful they are at casting various spells, and how many they have access to at a time in a battle. There is quite a bit of combat, so if you find it truly a problem of being too much of it, then you should turn the difficulty down. If you hate the combat, you will have problems, because there is quite a lot of it.

Your character is an important person in the Hierarchy, in that they have the right to question people, and make judgements on issues of law. You are a part of an existing social order, and not the usual wandering hero who has no past. You exist within an already existing hierarchy, which is what makes this game interesting. You basically already start off with responsibility and are already aligned with somebody. You are part of the invading army. Also, you are dealing with a land that is in a state of disorder and chaos, that is being formed into a new order. This also separates it from other games, in which the hero is usually somebody who holds the status quo against change. There is no real status quo you are protecting. You are in the middle of great change, and there is no real way to keep everything the same as it was. The best you can do is shape it towards the end you think is best.

I think it was very interesting. Quite often in stories, good and evil are more synonyms for order and change. As in, the current social order is peaceful, and some evil overlord appears to disrupt the peace through their conquest. Defeating the change/evil, returns the world to order/peace. This makes the good guy an agent that prevents and undoes this disruption and returns the world to its former peaceful state. This is impossible in Tyranny. The best thing is that since the world is in a state of disorder, and there is no status quo, that also means that you aren't really doing good or bad things, in an easy sense, based on some concept of undoing what happened, so much as doing what you think is best, based on the circumstances. This means that there isn't a simple heroic or evil pathway through the game. You are more so making the best of a bad situation, rather than fighting evil or something like that. So you can take a number of pathways and be somewhat justified. You are creating a new order in the realm, and not returning it to a previous perfect state. That element of no status quo is very important, and I think it defines the experience of Tyranny.

I don't think there is so much twists and turns to the story as reactivity to your choices. You move through the world, changing it is significant ways. So it isn't really a linear story that has particular twists and turns that you make your way through. There aren't really secrets to be revealed. It's more seeing the results of what you do, like relationships with various groups or people. The interesting part is what you decide to do. Certain rather important things become clear, and are explained as the story continues, and there will be surprises. But it is not a game full of scripted twists and turns, more a world that reacts to your choices.

The best part about the followers is that they have two bars to show your relationship with them, Loyalty and Fear. The reason this is good is because many games that feature a companion system have one meter. What this means is that if you want to maximise your benefits with a follower, you have to pick things they like to say, because saying wrong things reduces their like of you. This is not a problem in Tyranny. If you take a stand on something, you can raise either Loyalty or Fear meters, and both have bonuses, or change your relationship with the character. The reason this is good is because it removes the guide reading that sometimes can accompany the experience, because disagreeing with your companions doesn't just become a way to lose favour with that person and lose any bonus you may have wanted. Both Loyalty and Fear also provide a reason for the companion to follow you, so you won't just lose companions because they don't like you. So I found this set up a great alternative to other systems which usually penalise you for saying things the follower disagrees with, either by losing favour or making them leave the party when you didn't intend to do so. The two aspects system applies to factions as well, with those named Favour and Wrath. So your actions will increase one or the other, and produce some kind of consequences. Once again, you don't have to worry about not making good choices to increase favour, you will head down paths and get one or the other to go up, which leads to story implications or bonuses when either aspect is raised.

I personally think it is worth it to play. I really enjoyed it.