Torment: Tides of Numenera

Inspired by the all-time classic "Planescape: Torment", "Tides of Numenera" is a worthy return to a long dead pseudo-genre that bridges RPG and text adventure. This is the only game in town (literally) if you enjoyed PS:T, or if you haven't played the classic but are: a) not afraid of reading in the context of a PC game, and b) attracted by the notion of a game driven by a strong narrative and crafted with almost baroque attention to detail. The sometimes incoherent "Numenera" setting is surprisingly used to good effect, the game's own setting is well developed and original, the themes explored interesting, the reactivity and attention to detail extraordinary. Note that the charisma of the companions, the emotional resonance of the narrative, and the climactic ending that defined its forebear don't make a return. But still, the narrative and reactivity stands stories above what you'll find in even the more story oriented of today's RPG offerings. The developers also made some interesting design choices that, while didn't make everyone happy (I liked them personally, but I'm weird that way), showed their commitment to break new ground. For instance: "crisis events" with possible non-combat resolutions instead of plain combat situations, failed skill checks that bring interesting and beneficial effects, mix of party-supported and main-character-only skill checks, "chose your own adventure" text sequences that make sense in the setting, and so on. While not the second coming of PS: T, this is the only game that tries to pick up where it left off and evolve from there. As a return to form, a promise of things to come and a fun game in it's own right, this game is a triumph, and as such it's a very worthwhile addition to any RPG fan's library.

You know, the Anechoic Lazaret quest (one of the first in the game) is still bugged after 3 years of tech support, so I truly hope the devs will rot in the fiery hell that is their community's disdain. Thank god I didn't back this when it kickstarted, I'd rather cut a ball than give a penny to lazy developers. Writers on the other hand can truly be praised. That's no Disco Elysium, but it has decent writing, excellent setting and overall incredible feeling when you're trying to immerse. But... You know. InXile Entertainment. Don't expect much of them from now on.

I found out abut this game almost right before it was released. I was not a backer for it and I can understand the disappointment some of the backers had. That being said, I think it's quite unique. The combat can be tedious and if you don't like to do lots of reading, as I do, you may want to avoid this game. I felt that the game presented a convincing world and a compelling story line and it has decent re-playability. IMHO I'd say buy it if its on sale.

It's easy to say that fans of Planescape:Torment will judge Tides of Numenera unfairly. However, let's consider the criterion by which one judges such a game. First, this is an isometric view rpg where the gameplay always reduces to percentages at some level. Whereas the games that motivated it simulated Advanced Dungeons & Drangons, 2nd Edition, which recasts there probabilities as dice rolls, this game shows itself to deal in percentages, reporting to you directly the percentage chance of success. This is not a bad thing in itself. I bring this up only to point out exactly the game play you should expect. What Tides misses is uniqueness, either in character ability or in story. Obviously, one can't translate a game like this into Halo. If the character were given well beyond super-human abilities and told to go kill, it would simply be a process of monitoring stat levels and times to recover. Such a game is no fun. The problem here is that this game attempts far too hard to be like Planescape: Torment, but only captures this superficially. In P:T, your character knew nothing of himself and learned of his own Greek tragedy over the course of the game. Your character had history that was discovered and incorporated into the gameplay. In Tides, your character comes from apparently nothing and is then told of an origin and destiny at the very front of the game. The game then amounts to fulfilling the steps laid out before you ahead of time. Yes, all games of this sort layout a set of conditions ahead of you, but Tides reveals nothing in these steps beyond more arbitrary lore of the world. Whereas P:T invited you to learn more about who this character was, Tides takes you down a false mystery. It is a mystery perhaps only to the writer, who had no reason to make these different events take place. This game fails at what it advertises itself as: being the spiritual successor to Planescape: Torment.

Still a ton of quest-breaking and game-breaking bugs, but devs are done with this game, because, quoting them "No artistic work is ever truly finished" - wonderful. They should start doing PR for EA instead of making video games. Content promised to Kickstarter backers is still missing and it's never going to be added. InExile are just a bunch of greedy assholes who found out their own great niche for sucking off people money - using nostalgia. Don't buy their products, don't bake their games on Kickstarter or any other platform.