Planescape: Torment, back in 1999, dumped the idea of exploring tombs of horrors and fighting dragons in favor of sort of wandering around, talking to people, and uncovering stuff. Torment: Tides Of Numerera continues the tradition, making it a different kind of RPG, albeit one that desperately needed more polish.
Torment: Tides of Numenera (PS4, Xbox One, PC)
Artistic Achievement
Hope you weren’t expecting the dev team to change things up, here, because things don’t change. Everything’s cleaner and clearer than it was in 1999, but that said, the art design is a bit generic “science fantasy” and the score is similarly unambitious. The framing story is no great shakes, either; you play a former vessel of “The Changing God,” who chucked you over like rotten fruit for some reason, and after you crash-land, you figure out why. The lack of creativity in some respects is probably because every iota of energy in the game was diverted into ensuring even the guy selling you healing items has a fascinating backstory; this game has a lot of story. And we mean a lot; it’s more of an illustrated, interactive branching novel than a traditional RPG.
Innovation
Like most throwbacks, innovation isn’t the name of the game here, but Torment does crib a system, which it calls “effort,” from the Call of Cthulhu tabletop games where you can build up points in various disciplines and spend those points to ensure your roll on a task is successful. But they don’t regenerate, unless you rest or use a rare healing item. Otherwise, though, the whole point is to feel like a followup to a 1999 RPG.
Execution
One of the nice touches here is that this is basically Undertale for self-styled “serious” gamers; not only should you talk to everybody, talking to people and choosing the right dialogue option is the entire thrust of the game. More or less you’ll spend the game talking to people, diplomatically working out solutions, or at least picking the least worst option. Really, the game is at its best when you’re exploring, unearthing little nuggets of personal stories or following up on a quest that fills in blanks.
So Torment, when it’s great, is spectacular. But when it’s half-assed or unpolished, it’s a total disaster. While we didn’t run into any real problems with our Xbox One review copy, PS4 players have reported game-wrecking freezes and other problems. Even without that, the fundamental issue is the game’s overarching plot is fundamentally uninteresting compared to all the neat stuff happening elsewhere in the game. Not helping matters is the effort system is effectively a mess; reasonably studious gamers will quickly rack up enough points in the three core areas that you can easily 100% a task with points to spare. That’s a huge problem since it means relatively early on, talking your way out of a situation becomes a snap.
Similarly, the turn-based “crisis” system, which is basically what happens if you’re a jackass, or at a few plot-specific moments, has some neat ideas hindered somewhat by execution. “Crisis” situations are basically turn-based scenarios where, for example, you can get in a fight or try to sneak away. The problem is a strategy might be glaringly obvious, but since the game doesn’t really make clear which skills and tools you’ll need, you might show up with exactly the wrong party. Add to that your party will often sprint like idiots into danger, and you’ve got elements of a throwback you’d rather not experience. Get ready to heavily save-scum and spend a lot of time buffing your party.
Staying Power
You can easily put fifty hours into this game chasing down every dialogue option and sidequest. It’s a rich, rich game.
Final Thoughts
Torment: Tides of Numenera is definitely both a welcome change of pace in RPGs and a reminder that they don’t all have to be about dungeon-delving. The focus on the role-playing part of the game is welcome and frankly needed more and more. That said, though, polish is also important, and this game struggles with that in a few key areas, keeping it from us giving it the highest marks.
Verdict: Worth A Shot
This game was reviewed on Xbox One with code provided by the publisher