Torment: Tides of Numenera

Turn based turd. No real Planescape Torment game. No, thanks.

Torment is a weird game for me. A classic CRPG style game, but one that almost completely eschews combat as necessary like most of the old-school games in this category. I would not be surprised if I had less than 10 combats across the whole game. That is not to say that they aren't an option, but you can talk your way through most of this game. And that is a good thing because the combat is pretty bare bones compared to games like Baldur's Gate 3, Divinity Original Sin, or the recent Pathfinder games. The setting and story are what captured me the most about the game, with a very interesting set of plot points. The companions didn't really do it for me, besides the young slave-girl who I felt real bad about dragging through some of this game, and the amnesiatic assassin. The game does have some of the issue that most CRPGs have, where most NPCs that you can talk to want to tell you their whole life story when you come a-callin'. You don't have to ask every question, but sometimes there is some actual useful information buried in there, and so I feel compelled to go through all the dialogue options so I don't miss something. Biggest complaint I have is there is an interesting plot twist in the last hour of the game that is connected to a quest that you can ABSOLUTELY miss out on if you don't go down a specific dialogue option in the first city. I don't want to spoil anything big, but lets just say that your character will come back to life in-game, so if a option is available that you think might kill you, try it out. Even if it is not the specific one I am referencing, some of the 'deaths' are quite funny.

+

beautiful areas and engaging story, comat is a lil mid but the story and landscapes is where it really shines definitely worth ever cent

SUPER COOL FUN TO PLAY, GREAT TO KEEP PLAYING AND AWESOME TO PLAY EVEN LONGER THEN THAT

This is a dense, inspiring, and beautiful world that is worth experiencing for everyone, but it can be overwhelming, slow, and exhausting to get through depending on your stamina for complex/lengthy dialogue exchanges. If you’re looking for a combat heavy rpg with vast in-depth builds to try and extensive combat encounters to participate in, then this is not that game. Combat is just ok and should probably be avoided through speech more often than not. Exploration is like every other CRPG in that you click around to uncover the map and talk/interact with everything you see. Stories and worldbuilding are the main draw much like it’s predecessor. This area is equally it’s greatest strength and greatest hurdle. Dialogue is a dense, intriguing, complex tapestry of options, routes, and consequences that make you want to reload constantly to see “what if”? However, there is a ton of reading to get through and the UI can be slow to respond if you are trying to skip lines. If you are coming from a more mainstream game like BG3 then this will most likely wear you down but also may make such a game seem juvenile by comparison. This is for those hardcore CRPG nerds that have built up that slow burn stamina and value dialogue/world complexity over refined gameplay. Visually I think it’s beautiful but with not the highest quality assets. Soundtrack is great as well. Performance wise no issues since it is very easy to run. Some minor pathfinding bugs and sometimes the dialogue tree will come to a screeching halt, making you unable to progress a conversation (extremely annoying with how long some conversations are). This is one of those games where you wish it had the funding and extensive development time that others have benefited from. You see all the potential in the world but its interrupted by the fine frays of half steps, limited time, and smaller budget. Even though it could be so much more it is still a game that is so much as is.

Fans of Planescape: Torment and Disco Elysium will enjoy this game especially. If you haven't played those, just know this is a game you read more than anything else. Most of your hours will be spent on dialogue trees and quests. As a result, the combat in this game is clunky, but functional. I personally did everything I could to use dialogue trees to avoid combat, which you can do a lot. As a result, when there was a forced Crisis, it made me grimace. Still, I was able to get through them all with relative ease, even with my non-combat build. The writing was well-written and absorbing for the most part, but both the items and some of the characters you interact with are abstract to the point of confusion. After awhile, they started to blend together when I didn't forget them entirely. This happened a lot with certain side characters, who were all so bizarre that only a few made distinct impressions. Still, some of the side characters were the best writing in the game. As a fan of Pat Rothfuss, I especially liked Rhin's concept and writing, but it was when there was more concrete events happening and not just time-travelling mind-warping color-tasting that I got into the story. The main plotline had some powerful beats, but overall was a bit confusing, especially concerning the origins of the Sorrow and a meaningful background on the Changing God. By the end, I mainly just wanted some answers, and the ones I got were just okay. Overall, when the game was clear and concise, it was immersive and enjoyable. When it was trying to be hard to be abstract, it felt cluttered and took me out of the story. I played through it all and found enough content to make the experience worth it. Give it a try.