Obsidian's new RPG Tyranny will let you build your own magic spells

Obsidian Entertainment's upcoming role-playing game, Tyranny, has a heavy classic vibe to it. Its isometric view, band of mages, rogues and warriors, and dungeon-diving fantasy gameplay will feel instantly familiar to anyone who's played games like Baldur's Gate or Icewind Dale — with some exception. The game will include a creation system for players to build their own magic spells.

At Gamescom 2016, Polygon got the chance to test out spell creation and its results in battle. There are a few key components: First, a player must pick the core of their spell. This is essentially its element — frost, fire lighting and so on. Once selected, you can set the expression of the spell, or how it will appear in battle. A bolt will offer a solid long-range choice, for example, while a cone adds  more damage to enemies in a wider space. 

Once created, players can buff their abilities with accents, which add attributes that can increase damage, add additional range, buff stun times or more. As you pile on accents, however, the lore cost for each item will increase; if your character lacks the lore to match, they'll be unable to use it.

Spell creation is a fairly simple process that adds a sense of personalization in battle. By choosing the shape of my spell — a bolt, for example, or an area-based cone —I was dictating how I wanted to play. Do I want to hang back and shoot off well-timed bolts? Probably not. I'm a little too sloppy for that; the more area I can hit, the better. Each enemy has different sets of resistance, which makes tailoring your spells to your party and play style important to success.

Tyranny launches for Linux, Mac and Windows PC later this year.