I enjoy the occasional RPG, but I’ll admit it, turned-based RPGs are not my personal favorite. With that said, when the opportunity was given to me in checking out Torment: Tides of Numenera I immediately was intrigued in checking out what this video game had to offer. With a game that focuses so much on player choice, is it worth the purchase? Here are my initial impressions.
Developed by inXile Entertainment, Torment: Tides of Numenera is a spiritual successor to the 1999 video game release, Planescape: Torment. The story is set over a billion years into the future where one man has successfully discover a way to live an everlasting life.
By creating human-like vessels, the creator was able to successfully transplant his consciousness into the vessel. With this new found ability he quickly became known as the Changing God. Unsettled by his current vessels, the Changing God sought to make the perfect body thus several vessels were crafted with his consciousness transferred to each, the latest always a bit more resilient than the last.
Though upon each transfer, the past vessel would receive its own conscious, unaware of its past events. These once used vessels would later be known as castoffs. At first, the Changing God became a father-like figure to these once used vessels though somewhere down the line, the Changing God began to see these castoffs as nothing more than old tools, ultimately leaving them to the wayside.
With the Changing God consistently cheating death, an ancient creature known as The Sorrow awakens and seeks to destroy each living castoff and eventually the Changing God. Players take on the role as the last castoff who is left in a world unaware of his life, surroundings, the Changing God, and already he’s fighting for his life after being hunted down by this ancient creature. This is where the story unfolds based on your choices.
While players are defined by a specific character in the world, InXile Entertainment does offer some options and customization before you actually take off on your journey. There are a number of different classes that are available to choose from which will ultimately adjust various skills and abilities from the start. This is another aspect that gamers can adjust in-game over time.
As you progress through the story and gain experience, new abilities and skills can be acquired. For instance, I opted to go through the game world as a Nano, a sorcerer which comes with abilities of teleportation and mastery of ancient technology.
Likewise, during your journey of gathering experience and finding out more about the Changing God, companions will offer a hand. Of course, it’s completely up to you if you opt to side with a companion and take them on your grand adventure, but by doing so, their abilities and skills become unlocked for you to use.
This can come in handy during combat,which is as mentioned turned-based, along with overall story progression. Speaking of combat, instead of going through a battle as simply a means of victory or death, the development studio offers a third option. Besides battling and moving characters around the makeshift arena grid, players can opt to speak to the enemy.
By using speech, players may learn more information and allow everyone to leave with their lives. If speech is out of the question and you’re out for blood then there’s really no need to worry about dying. Each time you die, your character will enter a Labyrinth located within its mind allowing you to once again regain consciousness, something that is explained early on within the game.
For the most part, it seems that combat is one aspect that can be overlooked or slightly encouraged to avoid during your travels thanks to the included narrative speech options. It’s because of this reason that fans who are looking for an in-depth combat system may actually feel a bit underwhelmed with Torment: Tides of Numenera.
Likewise, because the game is a bit more focused on narrative and story that I came across my real one big gripe with the game and that’s the lack of audio dialogue.
I really enjoy audio in video games and it’s generally something I actively seek out. This is one area that I found to be a bit of a downfall in the title. Hearing my character consistently repeat out the same phrases as I maneuver the map became repetitive and I really wished there was more voice acting in the game.
While I understand that not every NPC and quest would be fleshed out by audio, I certainly wished more audio dialogue was present. That’s not to say there wasn’t any voice acting present, but it’s quickly followed up by text alerting readers of what the character is doing visibly along with their statements and answers to questions. Furthermore, depending on what skills you have, there may even be additional narrative such as what a particular character is thinking.
Visually, the game doesn’t offer anything too impressive. Being an isometric RPG, you won’t find many fine details added within characters or levels though it does have some of the old charm from past isometric RPG titles released into the market over the years.
Overall, I can’t sway gamers to stay away from this game simply due to a real lack of combat focus mechanics or audio dialogue. Really, Torment: Tides of Numenera is a perfect solution for RPG fans seeking a deep narrative story filled with player choices. It’s certainly going to be a tough challenge to see everything through one playthrough as well which gives this latest release from InXile Entertainment’s some replay value.
As mentioned, Torment: Tides of Numenera has been available through Early Access on Steam, though the game is now available for purchase on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 platforms.
