Torment: Tides of Numenera

 PC
User Score
6.9

Mixed or average reviews- based on 441 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 250 out of 441
  2. Mixed: 88 out of 441
  3. Negative: 103 out of 441

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  1. Althorion
    Mar 2, 2017
    6
    It’s not a bad game. But it *is* a scam.

    Numenera was kickstarted four years ago, in March 2013. It promised to become Planescape: Torment spiritual successor, to be released in December 2014 and managed to achieve a number of stretch goals. It failed to deliver on each and every one of those. Let’s start from the end. Things that were promised include player stronghold, crafting    It’s not a bad game. But it *is* a scam.

    Numenera was kickstarted four years ago, in March 2013. It promised to become Planescape: Torment spiritual successor, to be released in December 2014 and managed to achieve a number of stretch goals. It failed to deliver on each and every one of those.

    Let’s start from the end. Things that were promised include player stronghold, crafting system, an additional major city of M’ra Jolios Oasis, alternate exit from the Labyrinth to another part of the world… None of those are in the game.

    Then we have the release date, postponed over two years. One would assume that because of that game is a pinnacle of polish, runs smoothly and is bug-free. Nope. On a modern machine, having no problems running, for example, Rainbow Six: Siege at max details with optional hi-res textures from the DLC enabled in 80+ fps, Numenera’s framerate is somewhere between 30 and 50. There are multiple bugs, though thankfully nothing severe—some formatting codes in the text, sometimes you can’t turn off a pop-up and you’ll experience plenty of inventory problems, including multiplicating gear, selling things that cost you money (sic!), drag’n’drop not working… The game is fully playable, yes, but it makes you wonder what exactly programmers did with those extra two years, especially when they used preexisting game engine used in Pillars of Eternity, which didn’t have any of those problems…

    Finally, we should compare Numenera to the original Planescape. The predecessor was narrative-heavy game with seven fully-fledged followers with interesting stories; complicated, unique and weird world that was a joy to explore and interesting, philosophical overarching plot. Most of those things are still here—there’s a ton of beautifully written text, long dialogs full of interesting stories, the world has a rich lore that you can explore etc. However, one of the things that made Planescape so good and memorable were the followers. Here, you have six, but they are not nearly as interesting as Planescape’s ones. They have very little to say, which you can explore *with a single dialogue* plus occasional one-liner dropped here and there. Their quests are a joke—they can be as simple and short as one single dialogue, reveal next to no information about them and be a chore (Callistege’s and Rhin’s especially; I don’t want to go into the spoiler territory, but when one character returns to you with something that could be an epic tale, they just give you one sentence that amounts to “too much to tell, so I won’t tell anything”).

    The first one third of the game (part which you could see and explore in the beta) is great, full of life, interesting quests etc. For this part only, I’d give at least 8/10. Unfortunately, that’s the best that game has to offer and it’s all downhill from there. Locations are rushed, NPC have next to nothing to say, quest quickly devour into “fetch me this thing from two locations from here, that’s not even heavily guarded”. And then there is the ending, which boils down to “here is the list of all possible outcomes, choose the one you like the most, done”. Nothing you did before that matters but for a quick recap in the epilogue.

    The game at this point is not worth its price. It’s not that long (it took me 20 hours to beat with *all* sidequests, but I read quickly and that is the most limiting factor; conversely, original Planescape was almost twice as long), quite bugged and not that fun overall. If you like reading in your games, you’ll like it, it is really well written. It just doesn’t feel too much like a game and I feel really sold short on the promises the developer made.    … Expand
  2. AcerolaOrion
    Mar 2, 2017
    5
    Mediocre at best.
    Awful sound design, had to turn off sound effects in several areas of the game.
    Minimalistic combat. Thats probably an understatement. Combat is not a relevant/positive gameplay element. Numerous tedious MMO like quests: go to A - go to B - go to A with minimal story to them. The writing is average at best in english (more details below), the german translation is    Mediocre at best.
    Awful sound design, had to turn off sound effects in several areas of the game.
    Minimalistic combat. Thats probably an understatement. Combat is not a relevant/positive gameplay element.
    Numerous tedious MMO like quests: go to A - go to B - go to A with minimal story to them.
    The writing is average at best in english (more details below), the german translation is atrocious! Someone literally copy pasted the original text to google translator and just went with it.
    Many minor annoyances like quest relevant information is often times not put into your journal AND even though the game gives the option to have characters repeat ever IRRELEVANT DETAIL about them, There is most of the time NO OPTION to have them repeat questrelevant Information. This is an issue that is so prevalent that i believe it was a design decision.

    Let me go into detail about the writing.
    First of all im not a native speaker but i have played both Pillars and Tyranny (and many older CRPGs) and ALWAYS found the writing enjoyable and relateable.

    In this game however there seems to have been a competition between the writers about who can come up with the most complex garbage.
    Youn cant read a single line of text without a metaphor, the words used are often times ridiculously uncommon, the punctuation is as annoying as it possibly can be hindering the flow of reading, there is a TON! of useless information in each conversation and in top of they added dialect for some characters which is represented by misspelling words (which is, as any half decent writer will tell you, the worst possible way to include dialect).

    In addition to that 90% of the characters in this game are special snowflakes but not a single one of them is ever fleshed out. So between the escaped pleasure Robot who has apparently met you in a previous consciousness and who gives you riddles (All of which is dealt with in only 5 boxes of dialoge). And the guy with the 3 faces who are apparently arguing but who is kind of fine but also not fine with being like that at the same time and who gives you a quest that you can finish in 1 Minute by literally just walking 7 meters and clicking a thing (all of which is dealt with in about 10 textboxes)

    I really stopped caring about all these "unique" characters. Every single one of them could be the protagonist in its own game but since not a single one of the characters is fleshed out or has anything interesting/plot relevant to say (they mostly just gibber idiosyncratic nonsense/super mega hyper science/mysticism)

    Its just bleh. The game actually managed to make me stop wanting to talk to NPCs because i knew their first line was going to be HOHOHO weve met before, also i can read your thoughts, also i am actually a robotghostninja.

    In addition to that the actual main story is incredibly short. If you skip all the pointless and annoying side NPCs you can finish the first major HUB Area in LESS THAN AN HOUR!    … Expand
  3. TidesOfBoredom
    Mar 1, 2017
    5
    First of all, this game has nothing to do with Planescape: Torment (which is what you absolutely want to play if you're looking for a truly great RPG).

    Torment: Tides of Numenera is not a bad game. I've seen much worse. But the whole "spiritual successor" thing was a scam. inXile made some very specific promises when they put the project on Kickstarter and most of those promises ended    First of all, this game has nothing to do with Planescape: Torment (which is what you absolutely want to play if you're looking for a truly great RPG).

    Torment: Tides of Numenera is not a bad game. I've seen much worse. But the whole "spiritual successor" thing was a scam. inXile made some very specific promises when they put the project on Kickstarter and most of those promises ended up on the cutting floor. Not only they kept the backers in the dark about their plans to make the game turn-based (PS:T, like all Infinity Engine games, was real-time with pause), they misled everybody with the stretch goals they evidently never even intended to implement.

    If you don't mind heavily consolized UI, forgettable music, so-so backgrounds, hideous character portraits, irritating voiceover and whole pages of redundant text, T:ToN is OK. It's perfectly playable. It's just not the holy grail inXile has been advertising all these years.    … Expand
  4. ShtKck
    Mar 9, 2017
    4
    grew up a high fan of all the infinitiy engine games. I backed Pillars. I backed Torment. I thought the new golden age of cRPGs was upon us. It had to be, these games had record funding.

    And they were incredibly poorly planned and managed. We saw some of these issues with Pillars but it's even worse with Torment. Much of the base game that was planned was cut. Entire stretch goals    grew up a high fan of all the infinitiy engine games. I backed Pillars. I backed Torment. I thought the new golden age of cRPGs was upon us. It had to be, these games had record funding.

    And they were incredibly poorly planned and managed. We saw some of these issues with Pillars but it's even worse with Torment.

    Much of the base game that was planned was cut. Entire stretch goals that we earned were cut. These cuts, while not only making the game significantly more shallow with significantly less replayability, are the antithesis of this RPG system. Go on, count how many companions shipped at launch, the laughable amount of focuses, literally no factions as we were promises, no crafting system.

    Kickstarter is allowing developers to deliver whatever they want. And that is something I'm never going to support again. If there would be a platform that binds the developers with a contract to fulfilll their promises and design targets, I would reconsider it but Tides, along with so many incredibly successful kickstarted games simply aren't delivering what they're promsing. What we paid for.

    InExile has had zero transparency about the entire thing, and will only acknowledge it after the fans make it into a scandal. Zero accountability. I am sorry I backed Bards Tale 2 and now I understand why they kickstarted the next Wasteland before this launched and blew up in their faces. Who knows how many dollars from this sinking ship they put into those more marketable games?    … Expand
  5. moonlight_shado
    Mar 2, 2017
    4
    - This is not Torment by any stretch of the imagination. Just comparing itself to the 1999 masterpiece, is anathema.
    - Extremely poor audio-visual presentation, even by indie game standards. For a 4.5 million dollar Kickstarter, this is a disgrace.
    - In spite of its rich world and lore, it utterly fails to create an emotional connection with the player or make us care about    - This is not Torment by any stretch of the imagination. Just comparing itself to the 1999 masterpiece, is anathema.
    - Extremely poor audio-visual presentation, even by indie game standards. For a 4.5 million dollar Kickstarter, this is a disgrace.
    - In spite of its rich world and lore, it utterly fails to create an emotional connection with the player or make us care about anything going on in the Last Castoff's story.
    - RPG mechanisms, character development, inventory acquisition and management are at amateur levels.
    - Meres and their sad, sad implementation. It would have been preferable to save some face and not include them at all.
    - The bitter aftertaste in players' mouths, that this was merely a tech demo for selling the Numenera world to prospective publishers for future projects. There is no game here.
    - The silently cut stretch goals of the Kickstarter campaign. In light of the project's extremely poor quality, the argument of "We wanted to focus on polish" seems even weaker. High tier backers should be furious.

    http://ragequit.gr    … Expand
  6. mindw0rk
    Mar 2, 2017
    4
    After several hours I gave up. Torment: ToN is nowhere near the quality of Planescape. While it has similar amount of texts, those texts are just boring to read which is a killer for this type of game. I wanted to like it but I felt like Im climbing on a wall of words that barely make any sense.
  7. Romanfiend
    Mar 7, 2017
    0
    "All flavor, no meat" is the best way to describe Torment:ToN.

    I should point out that I am one of the original backers from 4 years ago and loved the Original Planescape Torment - having played it a dozen times at least. The original Torment was reviewed by the New York Time which felt that it should be elevated to the status of literature due to the depth, beauty and originality of    "All flavor, no meat" is the best way to describe Torment:ToN.

    I should point out that I am one of the original backers from 4 years ago and loved the Original Planescape Torment - having played it a dozen times at least. The original Torment was reviewed by the New York Time which felt that it should be elevated to the status of literature due to the depth, beauty and originality of the writing - and I completely agree - the writing was that good.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/27/technology/game-theory-a-universe-where-ideas-can-trump-actions.html

    Not so much the sequel, Planescape Torment: ToN. I am not sure where to begin with all the problems this game has.

    1) Poor NPC introduction and character development. During this game I really reached a point of not really caring at all about my fellow companions. Mainly because there wasn't really anything compelling to care about. If you look at the original game, each companion is introduced to you from a space that matches who they are. Morte you meet in the beginning after you awaken in the Dusties mortuary. Fall-from-Grace in the Brothel Of Slaking Intellectual Lusts, Anna-From the Shadows you meet in the Beggar Kings domain surrounded by shadows and thieves, Nordrom is found in a tainted Modron construct and so on... They are all incredible well-voiced and have distinct opinions and personalities as well as extensive backstories that you have to dig out. They also are linked to you through a unified theme - that of being broken and/or creatures that defy their own nature. In ToN I felt the companions were just kind of there - not much to the backstory nor are they all that important.

    2) Way too much flavor without substance. There was just an exhaustive amount of shallow flavor interactions with this game that didn't have a whole lot to do with the main story. Although this feels like more a result of the universe - the Numenera - which is everywhere. The whole point of the Numenera is you never find out who made any of it or what its original purpose is/was - which can be fun in small doses but this game is lousy with that sort of thing. It just becomes one exhausting and unfulfilling interaction after another - wondering if this strange thing is important (usually not).

    3) Show don't tell - this has been said many times and it is spot on. This just doesn't feel like an RPG - more of a story we are being told and we have to click the screen a bunch to get to the next part. I lost count of the number of times the writing devolved into telling us what we should be experiencing and what we should know instead of showing us what is there to see and letting us figure it out. The original Planecape has been called literature - and I agree - it definitely hits that bar. ToN is barely storytelling - and at the juvenile level at best.

    4) The combat is terrible, boring and confusing. It actually ends up being a blessing that combat is so rare in this game (although it shouldn't be if the game was well made), because it is really unsatisfying. Thankfully mostly you can skip it.

    So basically there is a lot more but it comes down to this -it's pretty clear that the real genius behind the original Planescape Torment was Chris Avellone - who was not present on this project. Thankfully Chris is working on Divinity Original Sin 2 - so I have that to look forward to but I am done with Brian Fargo and InExile Entertainment. Wasteland 2 was just as weak and tedious story-wise as this title and its clear they don't have the writing chops to offer anything worthy of the titles and legacies they are pilfering just to make an extra buck.

    Skip this game and everything else form InExile - they are talentless hacks - all of them.    … Expand
  8. PMPB
    Feb 28, 2017
    9
    Like a lot of gamers who played Planescape: Torment when it released back in 1999 I was really excited to see if inXile Entertainment could provide us with a worthy successor. That they managed to actually do it is a testament to their love of the original game, isometric RPG’s and their undeniable talent. Torment: Tides of Numenera features writing that rivals the very best the genre hasLike a lot of gamers who played Planescape: Torment when it released back in 1999 I was really excited to see if inXile Entertainment could provide us with a worthy successor. That they managed to actually do it is a testament to their love of the original game, isometric RPG’s and their undeniable talent. Torment: Tides of Numenera features writing that rivals the very best the genre has to offer and it has the kind of satisfying ending other games can only dream of. It provides a lengthy campaign with little filler, engaging characters, replayability and is nearly bug free. It could have used some more combat and hopefully the cut stretch goals appear in some form via DLC or expansions. I really enjoyed my time with the game and it deserves to stand tall among the new crop of top notch isometric RPG’s.… Expand
  9. TheThirdEye
    Feb 28, 2017
    10
    When I first saw that Planescape: Torment, a game that shaped my outlook and expectation of games to come, was getting a spiritual successor I was worried. TToN has surpassed expectations and left me completely satisfied. This is a game that rewards and encourages the curious. This is a cool, sweet drink in a desert of games where story is only barely there because it is required. This isWhen I first saw that Planescape: Torment, a game that shaped my outlook and expectation of games to come, was getting a spiritual successor I was worried. TToN has surpassed expectations and left me completely satisfied. This is a game that rewards and encourages the curious. This is a cool, sweet drink in a desert of games where story is only barely there because it is required. This is art.

    --Garth Holden    … Expand
  10. Chomag7
    Mar 1, 2017
    6
    LOW BUDGET! This is what the game screams at you as you play it. First thing you will notice is that there are no cutscenes whatseoever, and the only thing coming anywhere near the notion of "cutscene" is the narrating voice that appears here and there. Another thing is that, unlike Planescape: Torment that had an assortment of cookie and bizarre companions, in ToN there are only boringLOW BUDGET! This is what the game screams at you as you play it. First thing you will notice is that there are no cutscenes whatseoever, and the only thing coming anywhere near the notion of "cutscene" is the narrating voice that appears here and there. Another thing is that, unlike Planescape: Torment that had an assortment of cookie and bizarre companions, in ToN there are only boring humans, there aren't even any Minsc and Boo nor some pompous Anomen, just boring, forgettable humans voice acted by the same crappy British voiceactors that you can hear in each and every low budget title. Obviously, making more playable models and with interesting personalities and proffesional voiceactors would have cost...you know...MONEY, and InXile just didn't have the funds for such fluff content.

    But let's say you get over all of the above. Another problem with this game is the...BOREDOM! Honestly, 99% of this game involves walking and talking to various NPC. Combat is almost entirely optional, there are no trash mobs to speak of and no elaborate dungeons. I think there is one small dungeon, though. Obviously, I didn't expect Diablo nor would I want a Diablo, but this game is nowhere near Baldur's Gate nor even the old Planescape: Torment in terms of combat content. In fact this game is more Adventure than RPG, and is more related to Monkey Island than to Planescape: Torment. It's quite ironic considering how many weapons and armor vendors are in the game, who turn out to sell stuff you barely ever use if at all, as you can easily talk your way out of each and every potential combat situation, and the only unavoidable combat is against the final boss.

    Unrelatable game universe. I dunno, this is an issue for me. The game's universe is so...BIZARRE! I'm always irritated when game developers make up strange names for regular things or make up entirely new and almost unpronouceble names (right, Obsidian?!). In ToN, get this, a warrior is not a warrior, it's a..."glaive", a mage is not a mage, but a..."nano". Seriously|!? Your universe is strange enough, did you really have to make up weird names for regular things?! Also the game has a ton more things that barely make any sense. If you thought the universe of Planescape: Torment was strange at times, you ain't seen nothing yet.

    I don't even know why do people say the game is related to Planescape: Torment. It has absolutely no connection with that game other than the interface. It's not the same universe, it's not the same story, there isn't even any mention of characters from Planescape: Torment, everything is entirely new, and the only reason they say it's the spiritual successor of Planescape, is to sell the game.

    Don't be fooled, guys, this game is extremely OVERHYPED!    … Expand
  11. night4
    Mar 1, 2017
    4
    Initial impressions: The game is TELLING me all about all kinds of events, past and present, but it's not SHOWING me much of anything. I wasn't expecting insane graphics, but even Baldur's Gate had a little graphic to go with, say, the dream sequences. There's so much nothingness here.

    I read, and if I wanted to read a book, I'd do just that. I'm playing a game because I want more than    Initial impressions: The game is TELLING me all about all kinds of events, past and present, but it's not SHOWING me much of anything. I wasn't expecting insane graphics, but even Baldur's Gate had a little graphic to go with, say, the dream sequences. There's so much nothingness here.

    I read, and if I wanted to read a book, I'd do just that. I'm playing a game because I want more than just text. So far this feels rather disappointing, but I'll update if I can make myself play again and it improves.

    Edit: Played more, lowered score from 6 to 5.

    I really don't understand the need to create a completely new vocabulary for everything. "Crisis" for "battle," "esotery" for "spell," "glaive" for "warrior," etc. A few here and there would be fine, but it's like I'm being forced to learn a new language, and I've constantly got to translate what they're talking about into terms I know.

    Along those lines, the game absolutely BOMBARDS you with technical mechanical details at character creation without doing much to explain any of it. I just know I'm going to have to restart after playing a few more hours and regretting my initial choices, which is disappointing.

    Edited again: Lowered from 5 to 4.

    The music is terrible, and the characters are ugly.

    I can't help but wonder where all the money went if this game was so well-funded. I didn't back this game, but I still feel betrayed by inXile.    … Expand
  12. przemeks1982
    Jul 19, 2019
    4
    An interactive book which cost 4 million USD. Where did all the money go to? This game is hardly a game - 95% of it is reading, and maybe 5% is actual action. Instead of seeing things actually happen you read descriptions. You don't get to feel, or experience stuff - just read what the authors wanted you to see/know at this point. I dont mind a good read, but when I sit to a computer toAn interactive book which cost 4 million USD. Where did all the money go to? This game is hardly a game - 95% of it is reading, and maybe 5% is actual action. Instead of seeing things actually happen you read descriptions. You don't get to feel, or experience stuff - just read what the authors wanted you to see/know at this point. I dont mind a good read, but when I sit to a computer to play a game I just expect it to be a game not an interactive book. Especially that the quality of the writting is not that good. The authors fail do deliver an interesting story. You get a lot of boring graphography, which in my case resulted in skipping most of the text. The whole experience was boring, tiring and frustrating. This game is nowhere near the original Torment. I really regret to see another kickstarter funded ripoff.… Expand
  13. ihavacoolname
    Mar 26, 2017
    7
    Before I say anything else, I should say that I can recommend this game. It's pretty in more ways than just the visual; it challenged me to question the motivations behind my decision-making paradigms and behind my moral reasoning. I especially appreciate the way that it enhanced my perspective on loss. I see loss as being much more personal now; in particular, I am more apt to think ofBefore I say anything else, I should say that I can recommend this game. It's pretty in more ways than just the visual; it challenged me to question the motivations behind my decision-making paradigms and behind my moral reasoning. I especially appreciate the way that it enhanced my perspective on loss. I see loss as being much more personal now; in particular, I am more apt to think of loss in the broader context of the experience of the individual who has taken the loss. My ideas about what makes things worth it and what makes things meaningful have similarly shifted because of this game, and I have stronger, less heavy-handed, and ironically simpler convictions now. I think that taking the game seriously will do that. Tl;dr: The game mostly succeeds in giving players the opportunity to enrich and sharpen their perspectives on Torment's themes.

    Those were the best things I have to say about T:ToN. What follows is basically a set of caveats to modify the impression that the above things might leave.

    The story's overall arc is better than most good games I've played but is still slightly disappointing; there isn't enough buildup and the climax is weak. That might be partly because the game is so short. I wanted to see more of the Ninth World - three to five times more, minimally. The experience wasn't satisfying enough because of the length.

    There were a lot of themes that could have been developed much more thoroughly. There were pieces of the lore that alluded to high technological mysteries that were never fully explored, so the game never felt epic in the way that it promised to feel. It also lacked cohesion; the different things that the player occupied themselves by doing were somewhat unrelated to the player's main pursuit. The pacing in the endgame didn't make much sense, but it was fine elsewhere.

    If the game had been longer; maintained roughly the same quality of the content that I saw; and used the greater length to develop the story more and give the player opportunities to do greater things and shape their place in the Ninth World, the game would have easily been an 8.5/10.

    The graphics are pretty but limited by the 2D isometric style. The combat is a chore, although it is better than Planescape's, thankfully, and it (the combat) is functional. I should mention that I ran this on a bleeding-edge consumer rig with a gtx 1080, 32gb of 3000 mhz ram, and a 4.0 ghz 6700k intel processor. Others have reported technical issues.

    I was fairly entertained all the way through, but I often found myself wondering why I was doing what I was doing in the game. A lot of things felt like distractions that I, personally, would have blown through if I were the last castoff. In that sense the game felt slightly too long - padded - for what it did, as it delayed giving you certain answers. I feel that it should have been more ambitious - in other words, that it should have had a denser and longer story. I actually said "lame" out loud when I realized the game was over. I was disappointed that it was over, which is good, but I did not feel satisfied, which is bad. If the game were a paper, it would have been half the length that it should have been and had a rushed concluding paragraph. Before you realize that the paper doesn't really finish, you will probably enjoy it and think it's fairly good.

    Alright, that's basically it. 7/10.    … Expand
  14. zzzdnk
    Jul 16, 2019
    4
    It might have been a decent novel but it fails both as a game and as a legacy of Planescape Torment. Halfway through I lost interest in doing any of the side quests and by the end I couldn't care less about the main story either.

    I didn't get any sense of closure upon finishing it at all. Hardly anything is explained, everything in this game is caused by "forces beyond comprehension".    It might have been a decent novel but it fails both as a game and as a legacy of Planescape Torment. Halfway through I lost interest in doing any of the side quests and by the end I couldn't care less about the main story either.

    I didn't get any sense of closure upon finishing it at all. Hardly anything is explained, everything in this game is caused by "forces beyond comprehension". Blah.

    I sincerely regret wasting my time and money on this game.    … Expand
  15. BackstabberDC
    May 23, 2017
    7
    Unfortunately, this is not what I expected from Planescape Torment spiritual successor. The game is far from bad, it's fun, there are many options and huge story, so don't think this is a bad review, it's just that if you want Planescape Torment 2, this is not it.
  16. BlakeArius
    May 28, 2017
    5
    For $45 this game is currently not worth it. The writing is good but not amazing like planetscape. The combat feels simple and dull compared to pillars or even tyranny. For me and many others i get complete GPU related system crashes every 25 minutes or so on average on a 980gtx.
    If you've played everything else similar and it's on sale and they've fixed this near game breaking bug I'd    For $45 this game is currently not worth it. The writing is good but not amazing like planetscape. The combat feels simple and dull compared to pillars or even tyranny. For me and many others i get complete GPU related system crashes every 25 minutes or so on average on a 980gtx.
    If you've played everything else similar and it's on sale and they've fixed this near game breaking bug I'd recommend it, otherwise, wait. It's currently worth 6.0/10 but with issues fixed and a better price i'd give it a 7.8, Pillars of eternity i'd give a 9.0 and 9.6 for planetscape for reference.    … Expand
  17. Kelembribor21
    Sep 13, 2019
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Comparison with legends like Planescape Torment and Baldurs Gate are detrimental to evaluating this very flawed game , which has glimmer of greatness.

    Mostly too much it relies on written text that with deliberate confusing narrative takes away from immersion especially in some important moments.

    Mechanic of combat, meres and use of skill mechanic attempts during dialogue, are not very satisfying, crisis moments are usually very simple or rare compared with huge amounts of descriptive trivial texts without lot of essence.

    Game could have done with some different fleshed out locations , like real Eternal War described in one of the meres, use of more of great trailers like story trailer, when talking with characters their portrait should be visible, some more voice would be needed in important dialogues, gear is really limited ( character can't wear headgear or interesting sets, no customization of voice, appearance or portrait, companions can't change much of the gear) and many quests or characters who start interesting turn really lackluster in the end.    … Expand
  18. mountnview
    May 20, 2017
    5
    I loved Torment and was very excited about someone creating a classic RPG around the same concepts and lore. Especially since these games aren't getting developed anymore. Numenera just over complicated everything that was good and fun about the original game - character creation is complicated and poorly explained. Skills stats and abilities aren't fully elaborated to the gamer. The storyI loved Torment and was very excited about someone creating a classic RPG around the same concepts and lore. Especially since these games aren't getting developed anymore. Numenera just over complicated everything that was good and fun about the original game - character creation is complicated and poorly explained. Skills stats and abilities aren't fully elaborated to the gamer. The story is good, dialog is good, and sure you have to read but that would be fine if game play was not so poorly executed. Bottomline if you want a complex "choose your own adventure story" this is great if you want to play an RPG just get "Torment" enhanced edition. To the developers if they read this --- we want to support games like this so keep trying!… Expand
  19. yavi
    Jul 5, 2017
    4
    This game fails to deliver on any of its promises and is a mediocre, reading-based experience. Its not strictly bad for an kickstarter non-aaa production, but it fails in every single comparison to the original - yes, even graphics are worse.
    You will read a lot of text, as the most advanced cutscene animation is *character walking*. You will need aother soundtrack, because the game has    This game fails to deliver on any of its promises and is a mediocre, reading-based experience. Its not strictly bad for an kickstarter non-aaa production, but it fails in every single comparison to the original - yes, even graphics are worse.
    You will read a lot of text, as the most advanced cutscene animation is *character walking*. You will need aother soundtrack, because the game has one that is below random flash game quality. You will wonder how a game like that can have loading screens everywhere after Skyrim, Like really, every small room.
    You will be thankful that you can avoid combat, as its so pointlessly boring.
    I can bash and bash it forever - but it has some fair writing, a bunch of nice ideas and a very promising first quest hub with a few story pieces worth reading.

    Get it on some 80+% sales if you want, not worth more.    … Expand
  20. Asderout
    Jul 22, 2018
    4
    Deceived expectations, cut out content and no respect for players, it's all about Fargo's fake.
  21. mal957
    Jul 13, 2022
    2
    The only thing they had to nail is the story. And (surprise) is BORING! endless walls of pretentious text doesn't make a compelling story.
    The rest of game is just bad.
  22. Shamansdrum
    Jul 3, 2020
    4
    What a waste of backer's money this game is. Personally I'm a huge fan of both pen&paper Planescape and Numenera. Therefore I was very enthusiastic throughout the whole development process of this game. After finally playing it I realized that developer's promise about walls of text written for the game rang hollow. Turned out it was not quality writing. It's almost sad how uninterestingWhat a waste of backer's money this game is. Personally I'm a huge fan of both pen&paper Planescape and Numenera. Therefore I was very enthusiastic throughout the whole development process of this game. After finally playing it I realized that developer's promise about walls of text written for the game rang hollow. Turned out it was not quality writing. It's almost sad how uninteresting it is. Plus the game is badly optimized for both pc and ps4 - huge framerate drops . Better go play Disco Elysium.… Expand
  23. DeusXCom
    Mar 5, 2017
    7
    Wow, this one is hard to review. I'm a huge CRPG fan and original Torment is still to this day one of my favourite games of all time, so I was hyped for this. I loved all the new projects that resurrected the genre including Pillars Of Eternity, Wasteland 2, Shadowruns, Tyranny... But this one is where I'm the most conflicted.

    First, the good. Story, writing, dialogs, all of it is    Wow, this one is hard to review. I'm a huge CRPG fan and original Torment is still to this day one of my favourite games of all time, so I was hyped for this. I loved all the new projects that resurrected the genre including Pillars Of Eternity, Wasteland 2, Shadowruns, Tyranny... But this one is where I'm the most conflicted.

    First, the good. Story, writing, dialogs, all of it is superb. It's probably the best story of all the previously mentioned titles and in this field it really holds the candle to the original Torment. Another amazing aspect is the uniqueness of the world and the weird factor of everything. Not really a fantasy, not really a sci-fi, something weird in between. Creating a really special experience and atmosphere. Unlike most others, I liked the visuals, the backgrounds of the world and Mark Morgan did a decent job with the music, recreating that special Torment feeling a bit with reverbed pianos adding some new fresh flavours. I love the game for all of this and it was a great adventure.

    But then, there is the bad. Combat is absolutely terrible. Whoever thought that making this full turn-based is a good idea was just wrong. It made certain amount of sense in Wasteland2 or Shadowrun, with the cover system, snipers, grenades and it all felt like an X-Com light, all good. But here it's just annoying, it slows the game to no end, there is no way to outplay your opponent by skill, by the actual gameplay, it's all about stats and most importantly it's not FUN at all. And the final nail in the coffin - the bugs. Combat is completely and utterly glitched, Enemy characters stops doing anything, unable to progress the game, some battles overheat the GPU and a few solid freezes to top it off. I had to restart final battle like 10 times to progress further, without the option to save doing everything again, forced to suffer these horrendous combat mechanics. Ugh, price of being naive/hyped and buying the game on release I guess. Fortunately most fights can be avoided and solved via dialogs, so in the end I had like 6 fights in the entire game, which might be another massive let-down for some.

    Also, one of the most important parts of any RPG - character progression, is a complete fail. While I liked the fact that it tried to do something different with stat edges, efforts and so on. Everything else just falls flat. No good new weapons, spells are very few and mostly useless and cyphers ended up being just a junk that you collect and overload your characters with.

    Speaking of characters, that's another disappointment, most characters here are totally bland and forgettable and unfortunately I didn't really found any sympathies to my companions either, which is really bad especially if you compare them to the original Torment which had one better companion than the other. Thinking about it. You don't even really have much choice here, I just played the game with the same 4 guys I found in the first city and never met anyone else that would be interested or interesting for that matter. Zero to little voiceover doesn't help either. These games always had only the important parts voiced, but here it goes to the extremes of lackluster, I just wonder where all the budget went.

    Considering relatively short length. It took me around 40 hours to finish it, doing everthing, which is not bad, but feeling-wise, especially in the second half it felt a little rushed and unfinished. In The Bloom where I thought I'm somewhere in the middle it was basically the end.

    That said, despite so many bad aspects, I still love the game for it's story and the feelings it gave me. Story is fantastic and reading is what you will be doing here 90% of the time. It almost feels like this is more of a gamebook (especially the merecaster parts), and interactive reading experience, not a full RPG package. Considering what it promised to be and considering presenting itself as the most funded kickstarter RPG, it ultimately might feel like a disappointment for many. Disappointment that I actually loved playing through with absolutely fantastic story in a unique world, but still a disappointment. 7/10    … Expand
  24. thicc
    May 17, 2017
    10
    Don't listen to the idiots on steam. If you don't like reading, Torment is not the game for you. There are literally dozens of rpg titles out there with refined combat systems and great looking UI to choose from if those are your primary concerns. If you're looking for immersive world building, story, and compelling moral decision making tied together with very well done writing with a lotDon't listen to the idiots on steam. If you don't like reading, Torment is not the game for you. There are literally dozens of rpg titles out there with refined combat systems and great looking UI to choose from if those are your primary concerns. If you're looking for immersive world building, story, and compelling moral decision making tied together with very well done writing with a lot of love put into it than this will be perfect for you. Keep in mind the CRPG genre is a throwback nostalgia genre. Don't come into it expecting the latest Bethesda game. It kept me up at night and I literally could not put it down. Great experience.… Expand
  25. iBalkanizze
    Jun 9, 2017
    4
    YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO ADD TEXT TO YOUR GAME NOT GAME TO YOUR TEXT
    A reading simulator with very little combat (4/10)
    -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Let me say: I'm a big fan of these sort of games but this one just left me unsatisfied and disappointed. 1. This game is mostly about READING walls of text - even if you try to skip    YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO ADD TEXT TO YOUR GAME NOT GAME TO YOUR TEXT
    A reading simulator with very little combat (4/10)
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Let me say: I'm a big fan of these sort of games but this one just left me unsatisfied and disappointed.

    1. This game is mostly about READING walls of text - even if you try to skip reading, you can't - and there's just too much TEXT - it slows the game down to a halt and most of is not even interesting or crucial even though the writing is good

    2. COMBAT is really shallow or should I say inconsequential - and there's very little of it

    3. GRAPHICS are outdated, art style is good though. Character models look like crap

    4. You call this a climatic ending?

    5. There is enough content here to warrant a WAIT FOR DEEP SALE approach but you really, really need to LOVE reading
    .    … Expand
  26. kamaroff
    Oct 25, 2017
    6
    This is not RPG, it's more like an illustrated book with bad quality story-line. I'm quite disappointed that i payed a full price for the game which doesn't worth it.

    Better buy POE, dos, dos 2, Tyranny.
  27. Soujirop
    Mar 7, 2017
    7
    Due to a simplified character creation and progression, lackluster combat mechanics and quite annoying bugs scattered here and there, the overall experience will certainly not be as good as what you will get from other modern cRPGs like PoE and Tyranny. But if we were to talk –solely- about an interesting plot and well crafted party members, Tides of Numenera could very well be the rightDue to a simplified character creation and progression, lackluster combat mechanics and quite annoying bugs scattered here and there, the overall experience will certainly not be as good as what you will get from other modern cRPGs like PoE and Tyranny. But if we were to talk –solely- about an interesting plot and well crafted party members, Tides of Numenera could very well be the right choice. A pity that these two elements that constitute the best part of the game, are buried under moderate-quality, often tiresome, walls of text.… Expand
  28. Abyssal_Winter
    Mar 5, 2017
    7
    Some good, some bad. In stretches the writing is great, but overall, I failed to develop much empathy for the companions and the ending felt highly contrived. I am not a fan of the mechanics, either. Some of the art (portraits, character models) just felt bleh compared to the environments. Lest I sound too critical, I did enjoy the game, but it does not live up to its predecessor in mySome good, some bad. In stretches the writing is great, but overall, I failed to develop much empathy for the companions and the ending felt highly contrived. I am not a fan of the mechanics, either. Some of the art (portraits, character models) just felt bleh compared to the environments. Lest I sound too critical, I did enjoy the game, but it does not live up to its predecessor in my opinion.… Expand
  29. GreenFire
    Mar 29, 2017
    6
    Although I'm a die-hard fan of PS:T and pledged my support as soon as the TTON project appeared on Kickstarter, I can honestly say I approached this game with an open mind. I mean, when the game finally came out I wasn't really excited (it's hard to stay excited after a 4-year wait), I didn't expect or even want it to surpass or compare to PS:T (love of your life is by definitionAlthough I'm a die-hard fan of PS:T and pledged my support as soon as the TTON project appeared on Kickstarter, I can honestly say I approached this game with an open mind. I mean, when the game finally came out I wasn't really excited (it's hard to stay excited after a 4-year wait), I didn't expect or even want it to surpass or compare to PS:T (love of your life is by definition unsurpassable), I was only hoping the team that once brought us a unique and timeless classic would again give us sth imaginative and thought-provoking to enjoy. Alas, I was (maybe unsurprisingly) disappointed.

    The theme is familiar enough - immortality and lost memories/identity, but the story of the Las Castoff (and all the other castoffs) feels like ill-fitting clothes - crude and poorly made, thrown on you for want of anything better. The companions are a characterless bunch who you never know or care much about (and who don't have much to know about anyway, their backstory being so threadbare). These are the biggest let-down of TTON because from the people who created PS:T you'd really expect nothing less than great story, great characterization and great dialogs. Instead we have a lot of writing that tries too hard to be "deep," and very little about the characters, events, surroundings, etc. to actually explore by ourselves.

    At 30+ hours for my first playthrough (which is likely to also be my last, since the game has little replay value), I guess I can't really say the game's too short, but it did come as a big surprise when I realized the "final showdown" was imminent - like, What? This is it? This is what we have waited years for, and what the inXile SNS feeds never tire of telling us is loved and raved about by the media?

    As an early backer, I paid $28 for the game, which is about 60% of its current price, and which, incidentally, is what I feel the game is like - about 60% of what it could and should have been. And which is why I'm giving it a 6 out of 10.

    (First submitted 11 March 2017, 10/14 ppl found this useful; after editing to correct a few typos, the count starts from 0 again...)    … Expand
  30. froko
    Mar 26, 2017
    6
    Writing was lacking in substance, not entirely intuitive story arcs/ content exploration where a seemingly promising line of enquiry through an initial conversation would just fizzle off into nowhere.

    RPG mechanics and combat mechanics were underwhelming. This would be an acceptable indie game made on a smaller budget, but given the time and amount of funding, the quality of the game    Writing was lacking in substance, not entirely intuitive story arcs/ content exploration where a seemingly promising line of enquiry through an initial conversation would just fizzle off into nowhere.

    RPG mechanics and combat mechanics were underwhelming.

    This would be an acceptable indie game made on a smaller budget, but given the time and amount of funding, the quality of the game is nowhere near acceptable and refunds should be offered    … Expand
  31. korek_47
    Apr 15, 2017
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Many people here criticize terrible combat (that's true), amazingly bland companions (true), bugs and awful optimisation (true), broken promises, cut things and ugly behaviour of InXile (true) but you should avoid one terrible mistake - disregarding this all for the sake of "hey, at least story is good".
    No, it's absolutely not. Even disregarding all concerns above, this game is my horrible RPG disappointment just because of the botched story and writing. Before I tear those aspects to shreds, just let me tell you I am a great fan of Planescape: Torment and text-heavy RPGs.

    1) If T:ToM is what devs nowadays understand as "deep, high quality writing" then I'd prefer to play hack n slash, because surviving the writing style of this game was... torment.
    Planescape: Torment had a lot of wonderfully written, moving, wise, meaningful text. Torment: Tides of Numenera looked at this and the only thing it understood is "a lot of ANY text is good". The final result: the game is filled to the brim with verbose, overdescriptive, exhausting, pretentious, redundant, meaningless, writing. TTOM is proud of describing the most trivial **** in the most bloated, pseudo-intellectual way possible, and breaking rules of "show, don't tell" in every way. And trust me - I read a lot of books, so I'm not averse to a lot of reading - I simply hate meaningless writing which confuses quantity with quality.
    Maybe I would be less angry on writing in TTOM if next to this nonsense it actually bothered to be emotional in some aspects. But it has completely failed to move my heart and soul. In this game you will get 100 000 words describing how characters look, yet very very few words which even attempt to make you feel what those characters feel. You actually get more lines of text describing environment and looks of some side characters than dialogue interactions with any of your companions. Creators of this mess were so obsessed with impressing you with Numenera setting that they forgot to forge any kind of emotional connection between virtual characters and a player.
    2) Story.
    Another catastrophic failure, on a level completely separate from the horrible writing style.
    Planescape: Torment had story which was simultaneously personal, moving, emotional, philosophical and coherent.
    In this game, you spend 90% of it to "find x to get information on artifact y", waiting for hours for your questions to be answered - for some kind of reveal - only for this reveal to be super disappointing. Within first 15 minutes of the game, you ask yourselves a lot of plot questions ("What is Sorrow" etc) - none of them are really answered in a ridiculously rushed, chaotic mess of an ending. Main story of TTOM is hilariously desperate to be "philosophical" but it doesn't have anything genuine to say, so it indulges into pseudo-intellectual babble about Tides; it uses a lot of angsty metaphors, but when you look at them really closely you see there is nothing meaningful behind them.
    This is a game with no real main character, no real villain, no real intrigue, no closure, nothing except purple prose and pretentious ambitions.
    3) Nonlinearity, morality and endings
    My character was follower of compassionate, Golden Tide, so he got two extra lines of description on one of the static, ugly ending slides. That's it, folks; that's the impact your character has on the world of Numenera.
    4) Characters
    It's hard to say anything about characters of this game, because creators were far more interested in indulging in pseudo-profound metaphysical ******* rather than actually forging relationships between characters, or creating any relatable characters at all. The only exception from this rule is Rhin - the only being in this game who I cared about. The fun fact is, it was not written by devs but by the guest writer. What is even more hilarious, is that this character uses perhaps the simplest dictionary of all beings encountered across the game world, without thousands of half-baked pseudo-philosophical garbage, yet it works better than all of remaining ones combined - because you care about this little girl.

    Other than things above, the game has terribly designed gameplay (combat, technical aspects, balance, pacing), has basically no soundtrack (absolutely nothing memorable - just bland ambient) and numerous other failures, I just wanted to focus on the story aspects.
    I give it 3 because of Rhin, few good ideas and visuals and few cool side quests.    … Expand
  32. Darian
    Mar 11, 2017
    7
    Decent and intriguing game in its own right, but definitely not in the same league as PsT and quite unworthy of the Torment namesake. For the amount of money it raised, the end product feels underwhelming; there are other Kickstarter games with less budget and development time that felt more fun and polished. IMO, this game is not worth the full retail price and it's better to wait for aDecent and intriguing game in its own right, but definitely not in the same league as PsT and quite unworthy of the Torment namesake. For the amount of money it raised, the end product feels underwhelming; there are other Kickstarter games with less budget and development time that felt more fun and polished. IMO, this game is not worth the full retail price and it's better to wait for a discount. I was an early backer, and I won't back any more inXile games, as I feel they lack the talent to make quality games and they were very dishonest about their Kickstarter.… Expand
  33. skohl
    Apr 8, 2020
    7
    The fact this game almost has a green user score, despite being unfinished and unpolished, shows how solid it is. I want to say it's underrated, but it's not! It has the score it deserves.

    Is it a spiritual successor to Planescape? It certainly scratches the itch, which you would hope for considering how much of Planescape it rips off, but no. Tides is a pale shadow of the game it cribs    The fact this game almost has a green user score, despite being unfinished and unpolished, shows how solid it is. I want to say it's underrated, but it's not! It has the score it deserves.

    Is it a spiritual successor to Planescape? It certainly scratches the itch, which you would hope for considering how much of Planescape it rips off, but no. Tides is a pale shadow of the game it cribs from.

    Is it worth playing though? Absolutely. I was surprised how decent it was in terms of party members and the combat system, given what some of the other reviews say.

    The technical problems are real, however. Game crashed on me a couple times, and it's riddled with small quality-of-life issues, such as the camera jumping to the wrong area of the screen at the beginning of each turn in combat - just to name one. At one point, taking a skill that made one character immune to flanked somehow made my entire party AND every NPC immune to all positive and negative status (this includes entering stealth, and buffing with cyphers), which I thought was permanent but lasted until I restarted the game.

    But let me say what I like about Tides of Numenera. The setting is ***ing gorgeous! I love the setting SO much, it's making me interested in the tabletop game. The environments you'll explore are alien, exotic, varied, and so, so gorgeous. It's better looking than Pillars 1 or Tyranny by far (all use the same technology).

    Its other major strength is reactivity. This is the most reactive CRPGs I've played, it's far more reactive (and less railroaded) for example than the much-praised Disco Elysium.

    So what's wrong with it? Well it kind of falls apart towards the end. A lot of what happens in the game's two city hubs don't make sense if you can't revisit them later, and you can't. And beginning with the second hub, it becomes clear the later portions of the game were not playtested as much as the early ones, because the coherency of the dialogue trees breaks down somewhat when the options at the bottom 'spoil' the responses to the ones at the top.

    Some of the quests aren't great either. My least favorite quest is one of the first ones, for recruiting the party member named Tybis. There is no way to save Ris while also punishing Tybis, which I found extremely bizarre and unsatisfying, given how much of a straightforward scumbag Tybis is immediately revealed to be by listening to his story when he gives you the quest. Somehow, for some reason, they didn't expect players to take issue with this un-charismatic, un-charming, unlikeable rogue. Thankfully most of the quests are not like this.

    What else is bad? The player can easily steamroll every skill check, starting around the midway point of the game when you've levelled up a couple of times. The battles are also pretty easy, but the biggest issue with that is how often the player is asked to resolve environmental interactions during battles, often with respawning enemies slowing them down.

    See, in this game you only have one action and one movement per turn. You can use your action to move further, but more often than not, you want your one action. Well, in many cases interacting with environmental objects during battle to resolve objectives requires consuming your action in dialogue after reaching and interacting with the object. This can become frustrating when you have to wait another turn to do the action, sitting through another turn for all the enemies on screen. At the very least it provides some tension and challenge, but I don't think it was tested much.

    Finally, there are choose-your-own-adventure sequences which play like visual novels. Most of them are optional, and some are fun, but they're removed from the rest of the game which makes me wonder why they're there in the first place. It feels like a consolation for cut content, and the art style of these sections is amateurish.

    So to wrap up, it's a decent game. I can't recommend it for full price, but if you've been sleeping on this one then it's worth checking out.    … Expand
  34. hazsch
    May 4, 2020
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Torment: Tides of Numenera is an excellent game. I It feels extremely similar in tone to Planescape: Torment (as it aimed to do) but creates a new and engaging story while doing so. Perhaps the biggest selling point for this game is its setting. The Ninth World is one of the most unique settings I've ever experienced and I absolutely love it. Everything you come across is weird and mysterious, and it's so much fun to check out every little thing. This game has a lot of dialogue and exposition in the form of text. There is over 1.2 million words in this game, so if you don't like reading then you're out of luck. Every second character you come across is fascinating and has their own personality and traits, as well as experiences to share. This is much thanks to the brilliant writing. If the writing was bad in a game of this scope then I'd be seriously concerned.

    There is a plethora of intriguing and likeable characters, and each companion I found captured my attention immediately. I particularly loved Aligern and Erritis. It's safe to say I was invested in the plot. I wanted to know everyone and everything about the world and the Changing God and the Castoffs. The story really keeps you guessing, and the multiple revelations and twists are surprising in a good way. I had multiple "Ohhhhh" moments as I discovered more and more and the pieces added up.

    Combat is clunky and boring at first, but luckily it's nonessential. I could count how many combat encounters I had on one hand. As you get further into the game fighting becomes less boring, if that's worth anything. There are only two encounters that I REALLY hated, and one of them was completely optional. The worst offender was probably the one on Miel Avest. One of my favourite sequences in the game was a non-combat crisis on the Anchorage when you have the option of stealing a device. It was the tensest I've felt when playing a game in a long time.

    My biggest complaint about the game is that it just has so much damn potential that it HURTS. I know limited resources and money are a factor but I just wish that this game was bigger. Longer and ever so slightly less densely packed, and with the ability to go back to old locations. I think that's the general consensus of this game. It's great, it has so much potential, but the ending feels rushed.

    The ending really hurt the experience for me. Look. I loved trudging around inside a massive organy fleshy disgusting beast, but that was HALF THE GAME. Then it was over. I didn't see the Oasis outside of the Fathom, I didn't see the Endless War, I didn't get to explore 80% of the intriguing and beautiful world that is represented on the map that I got with the Day One edition. I wanted to give this a 10/10. "How bad could the ending be?" I asked. The pacing of the second half of the game was almost depressing because every time I made progress I thought "huh... one step closer to the end" and I was dreading it instead of being excited about it.

    Also, the Sorrow should not have been the "ancient guardian" of the Tides. That trope is played out to all hell. The last game I was okay with that in was Neverwinter Nights 2. There was so much interesting potential with the Sorrow. It could have been the Tidal manifestation of the Changing God's regret for his daughter's death, and hatred of himself. The fact that he's "disgusted with himself" is hinted at in the Fathoms and I honestly believe that this was supposed to be a bigger plot point than it turned out to be.

    One thing I loved, though, was the merecasters. Changing someone's past through what was basically an interactive novel (though some may argue this whole game is an interactive novel...) was amazing. I loved reliving the final moments before the moon explodes through the Changing God's eyes. The revelation that he actually died only moments before the game started was great.

    At the end, we get the choice to merge ALL the thousands of Castoffs into one person, kill them all, or do a myriad of other things to stop the Sorrow. This *almost* feels in line with the game's question of "what is one life worth?", except instead of one life, we're juggling the lives of every one of the Last Castoff's siblings. In one ending, even the entire world. I suppose you could say that the question references the protagonist's life. How far would you go just to continue living? Would you sacrifice every one of your sibling's lives just to stay alive? This decision would mean more if there was an option to sacrifice yourself for the good of the Castoffs, but the only way to keep them alive is to make things go back to the way they were, with the Sorrow hunting them. So by letting them live, you're inadvertently dooming them to a painful death.

    I loved this game, despite the issues I had with it. It's only around 20 hours long but it has good replay value. I wish I could have given this game a 9 or a 10, though. Play it! Or better yet, play tabletop Numenera!    … Expand
  35. GrenadierPartha
    Mar 17, 2017
    3
    I am huge fan of Planescape Torment, and so I jumped at the opportunity to Kickstart this game. I was initially drawn in to the setting, however my patience with the game's writing has worn perilously thin and the gameplay has me on the verge of giving up (I am determined to finish it however, to see just how bad it is going to get by the end).

    I do not feel that this game presents    I am huge fan of Planescape Torment, and so I jumped at the opportunity to Kickstart this game. I was initially drawn in to the setting, however my patience with the game's writing has worn perilously thin and the gameplay has me on the verge of giving up (I am determined to finish it however, to see just how bad it is going to get by the end).

    I do not feel that this game presents particularly good writing. It does however provide a great example of a situation where an editor was desperately needed. A lot of the text that is presented is redundant, either with other text in the same presentation (suggesting a lack of proofreading) or with other graphical content (why describe features of the environment that are being shown on the screen?). So much emphasis is given to the setting and environmental characters that the companions are left poorly developed, and the motivation for why the main character is on their quest in the first place is lost. I guess there is a big bad that we are supposed to be afraid of? That others have successfully eluded for centuries? Where is the urgency?

    The crisis encounters are baffling. There are not many of them, but even those that were included are poorly thought-out. Turn-based combat does not mix well with throwing large numbers of enemies at the player. Even worse when there are NPC turns that they spend running around (this problem goes back to the original Fallout, at least). If there are six consecutive enemy turns coming up, can you not find a way to have them all act at the same time? Or perhaps do not create encounters with large numbers of characters?

    I am currently "stuck" on a crisis encounter (feels like I am 2/3rds through the game) where one character makes a heroic sacrifice to allow you to save others. The way they do so however consistently draws the enemy's large area of effect attacks to precisely the area where the characters I am trying to save are hiding. So far I have restarted the encounter three times. Figuring out how to game a poorly-designed system in order to succeed is not how great Friday nights are made.

    Finally the skill system (you will spend far more time dealing with this than with combat). The skill checks are frustrating. You spend effort points in order to increase your % chance. Initially these are quite limited (and resting can cause you to suddenly fail at quest objectives) so you will enjoy the frustration of putting a lot of intellect points into getting a high chance of succeeding on a skill check and then failing anyway (with that path now usually locked off). Do not worry however, by the time you have a full party of companions and a few level-ups under your belt you will never see another skill check in the game that you are not able to get a 100% success on.

    I feel like all of these problems would have been immediately obvious if the game had been play-tested. I do not understand how they are still in the game at release.    … Expand
  36. petmonster
    Mar 31, 2017
    2
    Worldbuilding: 3/10 has tons of mismashed ideas serve no purpose, isnt explained and makes no sense when you put everything together.

    Writing: 2/10: Purple Prose! Very amateurish, and not easy to read. A good editor would cut the dialogue in half, and game would make more sense even. Graphics are good but inconsistent. Gameplay: 2/10 There are super hightech beamguns but also    Worldbuilding: 3/10 has tons of mismashed ideas serve no purpose, isnt explained and makes no sense when you put everything together.

    Writing: 2/10: Purple Prose! Very amateurish, and not easy to read. A good editor would cut the dialogue in half, and game would make more sense even.

    Graphics are good but inconsistent.

    Gameplay: 2/10 There are super hightech beamguns but also wooden round shields that gives you 15% evasion... there are ultra high tech wrist thingies. 3 pool system doesnt work. resting costs money. pfff. when you die your hit points got refills but not stat pools. notjhing happens to your not immortal companions.

    Story 2/10. the writers tried too hard. but in the end its simple as f.

    Sounds and music 4/10 gots repetetive soon.

    Also the game isnt stable enough to ship.
    low framerates. Freesing ai.
    equipment related bugs. etc.
    very low quality product.    … Expand
  37. defive
    Mar 5, 2017
    6
    Good but not great. A fair attempt at recreating the magic of Planescape:Torment, but ultimately fails due to terrible combat, poorly fleshed out characters and an overall feeling of being incomplete and rushed (the first third of the game is superb but the rest feels badly unfinished)

    All in all given the length of development and $4 million in funds it's a disappointment,
  38. Harpasa
    Mar 5, 2017
    7
    Im afraid this game is nowhere near Planescape Torments atmosphere and storyline. Characters not quite interesting and who the hell thought like ''lets do it turn based'' i really dont know. Im quite disapointed, still a good game though.
  39. HpfllyIRmbrThis
    Mar 7, 2017
    7
    SKIP! Not even near PS:T. Didn't know about kickstarter before buying and here's my pros and cons

    + Visuals (environment) are sometimes nice + Some interesting characters + Story is ok but quests are repetitive + Environment is quite interactive and can be interesting to discover + Bloom was visually awesome - Combat is buggy and just plain horrible. Did a "might" melee character    SKIP! Not even near PS:T. Didn't know about kickstarter before buying and here's my pros and cons

    + Visuals (environment) are sometimes nice
    + Some interesting characters
    + Story is ok but quests are repetitive
    + Environment is quite interactive and can be interesting to discover
    + Bloom was visually awesome

    - Combat is buggy and just plain horrible. Did a "might" melee character and in the end still couldn't fight off mobs of more than 5. This is mainly because turn-based mechanics
    - Horrific player models
    - Boring companions
    - Buggy
    - Weird camera movement
    - End was lazy
    - Feels unfinished
    - Wasted potential everywhere. Just look at those "boss fights"
    - Took ~12h to finish with min-maxing. Just steamrolled that effort-based system in the end; roll, sleep, roll, sleep etc.
    - Character customization is quite restricted
    - You can never really use your abilities in a combat    … Expand
  40. KeyboardPlayer
    Mar 10, 2017
    1
    no. no. no. no. NO!
    i'm a fan of the original torment. i was excited for this. THANK GOD i didn't back it up.
    too much dialogues. every character you meet as TONS of lines of dialogues. if someone told me this, i would have thought of it as a good thing... EXCEPT IT'S NOT. it's too much. you talk to a guy, you need to read a novel. You make 2 steps, talk to another guy: another nove. too    no. no. no. no. NO!
    i'm a fan of the original torment. i was excited for this. THANK GOD i didn't back it up.
    too much dialogues. every character you meet as TONS of lines of dialogues. if someone told me this, i would have thought of it as a good thing... EXCEPT IT'S NOT. it's too much. you talk to a guy, you need to read a novel. You make 2 steps, talk to another guy: another nove. too much. too boring. And they're all SUPER SPECIAL!
    and there are almost no animations for things that happen in the game. say, for example, the game writes "the characters makes a polite bow when you approach him"... BUT IT'S ONLY WRITTEN, NOT SHOWN. that character doesn't actually bow, it's only in the description. all the game is like that. it's a damn text adventure with backgrounds.
    "tell don't show"
    or when the game tells you that a character is "incredibly fat" but its sprite is just slightly larger than the others.
    there also are NO portraits of the characters that you're talking to. not even the most important ones.
    the game want to feel special at all times. the skill system is weird and overly complicated. cyphers are a stupid idea. all the vocabulary of the game just DOESN'T WANT SO BADLY to be like the rest, and you have different terms for things you already know. also the way you solve stuff by investing point... yeah, go on, keep trying to be original AT ALL COST: you're also being NOT FUN.
    combat is super boring and buggy.
    you can lose a VERY important skill and a companion in the city if you actually HELP HER by giving her money. and there is no warning for this, and no second tries. It's infuriating.
    this is a complete slander of the name "torment"    … Expand
  41. lastcorn
    Mar 7, 2017
    3
    Tides of Numenera copies Planescape: Torment, yet fails to realize what really made that game great.
    Lot of words doesn't equal good writing or storytelling.
  42. Jeb077
    Mar 3, 2017
    7
    This game has been in production forever. I was really expecting to be blown away but like most kickstarter games, it lacks in overall presentation and "polish". The dialogue in this game is abundant and complex, much like planescape, but at times the choices felt pretty random. By that I mean the "right" and "wrong" choices should have been made a little more apparent through either theThis game has been in production forever. I was really expecting to be blown away but like most kickstarter games, it lacks in overall presentation and "polish". The dialogue in this game is abundant and complex, much like planescape, but at times the choices felt pretty random. By that I mean the "right" and "wrong" choices should have been made a little more apparent through either the graphics or text before hand.

    Another detractor is no portrait of NPC speakers! Just a blank space where one should be. With a zoomed out isometric game, you can't really see them on screen so need a portrait (or at least I do) to make a connection. Otherwise everyone is virtually the same. This is something you might expect to see in Beta but not in the finished project. I would deduct one whole point for lack if this element.

    Combat is pretty basic and follows the rules of most turn based RPG combat. You get to move and attack in a turn. There are some really interesting abilities that liven up the combat especially with Cyphers. Lots of area and cone type effects. The way you can interact with the environment in combat also spices it up. Flanking exists and adds another strategic element. Animations and sound effects are fairly good. Characters will often do a voice plug relevant to the situation (for instance if flanked and they move will say "let me get out of here"). I was pretty happy with combat overall, others might not be but I liked it.

    I haven't beat the game yet so interested to see how many hours it will take. For a game in production so long I think 50 should be expected. I would recommend this to old school hardcore RPG players only. If you look at today's mainstream RPGs like Dragon Age, I don't think most of them will go for it even if they play tabletop Numenera.    … Expand
  43. Merostin
    Mar 14, 2017
    4
    Let's start with the PROs as there are only two:

    + The story is decent, although not mind-blowing. + Two locations are incredibly well-designed: Sagus and Bloom + Two interesting companions The CON list is endless, but I'll try to sum it up: - Character development is bad, really, really, really bad: no matter what skills you choose, you can click easily through all dialogues.    Let's start with the PROs as there are only two:

    + The story is decent, although not mind-blowing.
    + Two locations are incredibly well-designed: Sagus and Bloom
    + Two interesting companions

    The CON list is endless, but I'll try to sum it up:

    - Character development is bad, really, really, really bad: no matter what skills you choose, you can click easily through all dialogues.
    - Dialogues are often (but not always) boring: every character wants to tell you his own life story and I'm sorry, but it's often not exciting.
    - Combat is so tedious that you don't want to engage in any fights.
    - Decisions don't matter. No matter how you play, then ending is the same.
    - The areas between the main locations are terribly designed
    - Most companions are boring

    I could continue with this list: The game is filled with game mechanics that don't make any sense (e.g. the option to choose more cipher spots that you will never use).

    The developers made the highest promises and delivered a really bad game. If you add the fact that the game was well funded and took four years to develop and if you think about how quickly RPGs used to be made in the 90s, one can only scratch one's head.

    InXile has failed on all levels.

    I played through Numenera quickly and then started another Planescape Torment play-through - and it is so much, much, much better.    … Expand
  44. ZapRowzdower
    Mar 27, 2017
    0
    It feels bloated, while managing to be a horribly under-developed.

    It feels cheap, despite being a $5 million property that was entirely under the dev team's control. Combat feels awful, and every attempt was made to ignore and bypass it as a game feature. As an actual approach to game design, this **** sucks. If you decide a particular aspect is a drag, remove it, don't embrace its    It feels bloated, while managing to be a horribly under-developed.

    It feels cheap, despite being a $5 million property that was entirely under the dev team's control.

    Combat feels awful, and every attempt was made to ignore and bypass it as a game feature. As an actual approach to game design, this **** sucks. If you decide a particular aspect is a drag, remove it, don't embrace its drag-potential by just refusing to address it as anything any player would actually want to do. The team seemingly had the same idea about character graphics.

    The backgrounds are pretty. Gotta give them that.

    The game doesn't succeed or build upon PS:T. It mimics it. Badly. It sticks like glue to the idea of wordiness, as though that was genuinely one of the strongest features of the original. This is why the word "pretentious" exists. Everything feels like the Architect scene in the second Matrix.
    I get it, vocabulary. Cool.

    If you're willing to simultaneously forgive all of the errors in oversight, which arguably should've been fixed by giving the team 5 years to make this game, all the errors in lack of game immersion, which should've been fixed because the team consists primarily of veterans who ostensibly knew they were designing a GAME, if you're willing to be cool with a team that raked in kickstarter funds by promising strech goals that were removed without initially even letting backers know (and surprisingly didn't offer any refunds for), if you're willing to forgive empty attempts at "depth" through short-bus existentialist exposition, then...

    I don't know, read more? Still skip this game.

    *    … Expand
  45. nilsy
    Mar 5, 2017
    5
    What happens if you let a mediocre author copy a famous book step by step, do you end up with a second masterpiece?
    No you end up with mediocre book, but if this guy is clever he might call it hamlet 2 and suddenly every single hamlet fanatic gotto try it out.
    For those who have no clue what im talking about this game started as a kickstarter project which promised to deliver a sequel    What happens if you let a mediocre author copy a famous book step by step, do you end up with a second masterpiece?
    No you end up with mediocre book, but if this guy is clever he might call it hamlet 2 and suddenly every single hamlet fanatic gotto try it out.

    For those who have no clue what im talking about this game started as a kickstarter project which promised to deliver a sequel to a famous RPG cult classic game called Planescape Torment which for some reason never got anyone trying to copy is or made a 2 sequel.

    Kickstarter games are weird to review as they often sold before they produced and you can either grade the game removed from any promises they made or in a historical context.    … Expand
  46. Cleglaw
    Mar 4, 2017
    7
    story, lore etc etc are on an amazing level. very interesting and creative. im compelety okay with reading things but i have to agree that its a little bit too much. its indeed TELLING too much but not SHOWING enough. its like a book but not a game.

    low fps, wierd color contrast, pixel problems are also bad. it puzzles me why game has such problems after millions and millions of dolars    story, lore etc etc are on an amazing level. very interesting and creative. im compelety okay with reading things but i have to agree that its a little bit too much. its indeed TELLING too much but not SHOWING enough. its like a book but not a game.

    low fps, wierd color contrast, pixel problems are also bad. it puzzles me why game has such problems after millions and millions of dolars backed to the game.

    oh also, combats are one of the worst kindi ve ever seen to this day, and im a veteran CRPG player.

    i was expecting much more.    … Expand
  47. PresCthulhu
    Mar 5, 2017
    0
    This is such a major letdown. The world is completely plastic, every single quest has a forced deep philosophic element. I get that was partially in PS:T as well, but they really went overboard with it. The full game is 30 hours and I read everything and did almost all side-quest. The replay-ability is virtually non-existent as your choices are not really interesting. Picking your genderThis is such a major letdown. The world is completely plastic, every single quest has a forced deep philosophic element. I get that was partially in PS:T as well, but they really went overboard with it. The full game is 30 hours and I read everything and did almost all side-quest. The replay-ability is virtually non-existent as your choices are not really interesting. Picking your gender does literally nothing significant. There is literally no point to fight in the game almost everything can be solved without it. Yes I like when there is an option to skip fights especially when it is RP wise makes more sense, but here there is literally no point to do so. The characters are completely bland are overall a let down. The game went for an isometric view and despite that the graphics are still sub-par. It is painful to say, but Pillars of Eternity that came out way before this is a superior game to this (and I didn't like that much either, but at least it had an atmosphere). Normally I would give this like 3 points, but knowing the background of everything I consider this an atrocity against gamers and fans to the original so it well deserves a 0. Shame on the developer.… Expand
  48. Warden_Eternal
    Mar 2, 2017
    8
    Good:
    -Amazing lore and story
    -Supreme Art Direction
    -Total freedom of choice
    -incredible sub-quests
    -Deep world reactivity
    -VERY better fights than Planescape
    -Very good replaybility

    Bad
    -Shoter than aspectations
    -I didn't felt the touch of the master writher (Chris Avellone)
    -The soundtrack
    -The companions
  49. jarlaxle_95
    Mar 13, 2017
    0
    This review is coming from someone who has played RPGs, old and new, for countless hours. Planescape, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, KotOR to name a few.

    I loved Planescape. I even liked the combat. Nice hack and slash, spells and effects. Not the best by any means but, hey, the game was very enjoyable. The writing was astonishing, still not surpassed by anyone. And there was so, so much    This review is coming from someone who has played RPGs, old and new, for countless hours. Planescape, Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale, KotOR to name a few.

    I loved Planescape. I even liked the combat. Nice hack and slash, spells and effects. Not the best by any means but, hey, the game was very enjoyable. The writing was astonishing, still not surpassed by anyone. And there was so, so much of it. It never felt heavy though because every sentence had context and a reason to be there.

    This game is an abomination. I lasted 3 hours, desperate not to fail in giving this game a chance. I am their target audience, this game was supposedly made with me and other like minded people in mind.

    I hope this travesty was made with honest intentions cause the execution is so poor it actually made me sad. The premise is interesting but that's the only positive I can find.
    -Story/writing: Oh boy, this game challenges you not to break your screen. Text upon text upon text. Boring infodumps everywhere that just can't stop. The player needs to be given a reason to care, to get emotionally invested in the story. This is neither a game, nor a book. It's the worst of both worlds.
    -Audio/visual: Great graphics are not needed for a game. Nor sound. Artistic direction is what's needed. There is none here. The game looks horrible. PoE didn't look that great either but the colors they used weren't such an eyesore.
    -Gameplay: Nonexistent. This isn't a game by any means. Maybe after 5 hours there is some gameplay where I can actually do stuff that's cool, who knows.

    Save yourself your hard earned money. Old school RPGs are never coming back and maybe that's a good thing. Cause when they do try to come back, they remind you how great the sex was, but now you are just a dude in your 60s who can't get a hard on. Let's just keep those memories and move on with the times. Find yourself a blowup doll and play the witcher or something. Shoot me now.    … Expand
  50. BladyKolega
    Mar 16, 2017
    9
    That is a good game, cant stop playing.
    Graphics are quite okay - if you are not the kind of garphico-holic you will definitely find yourself accomodarted in world of Numenera ;)
  51. Voukras
    Jun 5, 2017
    9
    This game has been unjustly rated lowly two groups of people:
    - People who have let their elitism get to their head and consider Planescape Torment to be absolutely perfect and that any comparison is sacrilege.
    - People are those that rightfully blast the developers for failing to deliver on promises. But failure to deliver on promises should not factor into an analysis on whether a game    This game has been unjustly rated lowly two groups of people:
    - People who have let their elitism get to their head and consider Planescape Torment to be absolutely perfect and that any comparison is sacrilege.
    - People are those that rightfully blast the developers for failing to deliver on promises. But failure to deliver on promises should not factor into an analysis on whether a game is actually good or not and rating it lower based on that is outright _childish_. While I don't claim to be objective, these people have abandoned any attempt at objectivity to air their frustrations. Giving a game like this 0 is absolutely disgraceful and downright moronic, even with all its flaws.

    If you judge this game based solely on its own merit, beyond the drama, you will find a rare game with a very well thought out story, a unique and enchanting universe unlike almost any you've ever seen. The combat system, while not the best, is still rather smooth. Unlike most RPGs it manages to not wear out its welcome and become annoying and repetitive, which has been my experience with numerous RPGs. RPGs where only specific enthusiasts manage to actually stay engaged in the combat system while everyone else rolls their eyes and sighs at having to kill yet another group of mooks, wasting more of your time. The combat system by itself is mediocre, but the devs carefully balanced a wide variety of encounters, environments, types of enemies and consumables to keep things interesting.

    The game's plot is subtle and if you're more into heroic tales played straight you will not enjoy this game. If you don't like reading dialogue and descriptions, you will not enjoy this game. While the game has enough content, if you're expecting a game with lots of sidequests and a huge world to explore, then you will be disappointed.

    If you expect an indie RPG with a unique, enchanting plot that brings a breath of fresh air in the RPG scene, with tiny little secrets for you to discover as the universe opens itself up to you then you will enjoy this game. For all the complaints about its story, the story is similar in style to Planescape: Torment, it's just unique in its own right. A spiritual successor of Planescape could never be a sequel or an imitator, that goes against the very essence of Planescape.

    The game is flawed. It could use more follower development and interaction. It could use more development of your RPG character. It could be a bit longer and meatier. But it is still fundamentally good.    … Expand
  52. username1222
    Apr 2, 2017
    8
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I couldn't fit all that I wanted to say into one review so here is part 2: Let's talk about the maps:

    1) Saugus, typical cRpG town, not as good as Atkathla (from BG2) but ok.

    2) The valley of dead heroes: total rip off, small courtyard very boring then teleportation to areas that all looks the same. Total let down. Did enjoy the design of Miel Avest and the quote from my mad brother

    I asked *Can we destroy the things that dwell here* and he replies *better two ants declare war on the seasons* that was **** top notch.

    3) The bloom: Phenomenal idea, we're inside some sort of trans-dimensional, mega huge monster that's entirely made of flesh and teeth and tendons, it's a total blast to explore it, decide what you want your relationship the map to be basically. I've never EVER seen a map come alive like that. Literally :) That' probably the BEST thing about this game. Honestly you even forget about the rest of the story. I mean **** the sorrow give me a game about this trans-dimensional monster with entire societies living inside of it. Goes from medieval villages inside of a stomach to mutant hideouts into space ships. TOTAL BLAST. This game is worth it for the bloom alone. It's over too quickly is all I can say.

    4) Mental map, Labyrinth. I'm gonna be honest, HATED IT.    … Expand
  53. Tatar
    Apr 2, 2017
    5
    Why only 5 ? Hmmm I like every veteran of Planescape, waiting for this game long long time and at end I realize it's no a Torment I was waiting for. Power of old Torment was in absolute delighted story, magnificent characters (personal for me best was always Anna - romance with her was something absolute true and her last word was for always written in my memory), wold with was somethingWhy only 5 ? Hmmm I like every veteran of Planescape, waiting for this game long long time and at end I realize it's no a Torment I was waiting for. Power of old Torment was in absolute delighted story, magnificent characters (personal for me best was always Anna - romance with her was something absolute true and her last word was for always written in my memory), wold with was something new (when You don't know nothing about this AD&D setting) but it was very easy to get inside it and background stories about Sigil was brilliant.

    In Tides of Numenara main plot and background stories are few steps behind Baldurs Gate, quest are rather simple and world is I think too strange, without interesting background or this background is to philosophical without any emotions. Companions are no interesting, someone write that Minsc and Boo from BG2 was more interesting and this is absolute true, they are far away from Morte or Anna, or from Gloria from Shadowrun:Dragonfall. For me Tyranny was a better game (but no perfect for sure), with brand new idea for main plot.

    So that's why only 5/10.    … Expand
  54. Aneczka
    Nov 17, 2020
    10
    As a fan of Torment, both Baldurs, Icewind Dale etc...I would highly recommend this game. It takes few hours to get used to the mechanics, but once passed, gameplay is amazing. Battle, thought avoidable and not often encounter feel very good. You will start complaining about how much text you have to read, to actually miss it later once all conversations are done. World feel right forAs a fan of Torment, both Baldurs, Icewind Dale etc...I would highly recommend this game. It takes few hours to get used to the mechanics, but once passed, gameplay is amazing. Battle, thought avoidable and not often encounter feel very good. You will start complaining about how much text you have to read, to actually miss it later once all conversations are done. World feel right for Torment universe and story is very, very interesting.… Expand
  55. Lordgrey
    Mar 2, 2017
    6
    Game not bad. But its not 4 million dollars project. Too many bugs, have no atmospheric art or music, have no interesting NPCs, ugly GUI and many false claims and false promises. It not spiritual successor of PE:T at all. But Numenera still be interesting pulp fiction for one or two evenings.
  56. CrameBender
    Mar 6, 2017
    0
    1. Constant crashes, bugs and glitches.

    2. Writing is very weak, the superficial complexity and excessive focus on minor details in dialogues hide generic and bland personalities of various NPCs, lack of interesting and immersive options for the PC. Usually you have only one proper course of action with no flexibility whatsoever. 3. Roleplaying system is also bland and pathetic, you    1. Constant crashes, bugs and glitches.

    2. Writing is very weak, the superficial complexity and excessive focus on minor details in dialogues hide generic and bland personalities of various NPCs, lack of interesting and immersive options for the PC. Usually you have only one proper course of action with no flexibility whatsoever.

    3. Roleplaying system is also bland and pathetic, you can easliy stack all of the social skills and get access to every option possiblwe, leeting you companions win every battle for you.    … Expand
  57. ebo974
    Mar 6, 2017
    3
    Big deception. This is not fun at all to play. Absolutly no action, not enough fights or exploration. BG or the first Planescape were far better...
    Technically very old and ugly.

    A big fail.
  58. godunow
    Mar 4, 2017
    8
    Torment is a rare gem. With focus shifted from combat and story as A to B journey to worldbuilding, metaphysics and meaningful choices.

    My biggest praise goes to conversations - ones made with lots of text - but in contrast to its predecestors (Pillars of Eternity, Tyranny) where you could just skip to conclusion, here these walls of text really make an interesting read and create    Torment is a rare gem. With focus shifted from combat and story as A to B journey to worldbuilding, metaphysics and meaningful choices.

    My biggest praise goes to conversations - ones made with lots of text - but in contrast to its predecestors (Pillars of Eternity, Tyranny) where you could just skip to conclusion, here these walls of text really make an interesting read and create immersion.

    Combat is dull and boring (despite I love turn based combat), but game gives you lots of options to simply avoid it. But be warned - if you prefer hack and slash with bit of story pasted on like PoE, this may not be your cup of tea.

    World is great - in my opinion much more interesting than it was in Planescape. A lot of scenes are described in text and are not shown to the player - but it forces to use your imagination and allows to create scenes otherwise impossible. But of course it can be flaw for someone.

    One minor complaint would be that character graphics are definately worse than PoE, Tyranny and inXile previous game Wasteland 2. With beautifully crafted backgrounds, models can really stand out. But it is really minor flaw of this otherwise wonderful game.    … Expand
  59. ColonelEgz
    Mar 21, 2017
    8
    The beauty of Tides of Numera can really only be gotten for all the thought-provoking characters spread around the world.

    It's not an action RPG, doesn't have lots of level exploration, and the character system is minimalist. And that's why this game is so good, because it focuses on what matters: realistic characters that spark your imagination and amaze you at every turn, and the    The beauty of Tides of Numera can really only be gotten for all the thought-provoking characters spread around the world.

    It's not an action RPG, doesn't have lots of level exploration, and the character system is minimalist. And that's why this game is so good, because it focuses on what matters: realistic characters that spark your imagination and amaze you at every turn, and the interaction you can have with them, along with all the accompanying choices and consequences. The fact that it dedicates itself so well to that particular aspect makes me thing this might be one of the most groundbreaking RPGs of all time.

    Fair warning, this is not Planescape 2, it's not done by the same people, it doesn't use the same setting or the same rule-set (thank the gods!) and it doesn't play the same.    … Expand
  60. Samum
    Mar 5, 2017
    4
    Ugly russian localization, no DLC Outfits for Steam, very bad graphics, not Planescape legacy, not interesting companions. Very ugly user interface...
  61. New_Neo_72
    Mar 22, 2017
    8
    InXile ha avuto grande coraggio e un pizzico di follia nel sviluppare un GdR estremo come questo. La sfida più grande è stata quella di essere il seguito spirituale di quel capolavoro senza tempo che era e che è ancora Planescape Torment.

    Nel contesto di oggi, il possibile insuccesso di un GdR come questo può dipendere da recensioni superficiali e poco approfondite e da una comunità non    InXile ha avuto grande coraggio e un pizzico di follia nel sviluppare un GdR estremo come questo. La sfida più grande è stata quella di essere il seguito spirituale di quel capolavoro senza tempo che era e che è ancora Planescape Torment.

    Nel contesto di oggi, il possibile insuccesso di un GdR come questo può dipendere da recensioni superficiali e poco approfondite e da una comunità non avvezza a leggere una mole di testo molto elevata. Se ad un mese dalla pubblicazione è stata esclusa la localizzazione italiana, possiamo comprendere in parte la rabbia dei giocatori nostrani, anche se non sempre è giustificata.

    Dietro ad un mole immensa di parole troviamo un GdR molto solido con una un'intercapedine mostruosa di scelte e conseguenze che pochi titoli delle stesso genere possono offrire. Una struttura più semplice, ma allo stesso tempo ben implementata e moderna legata a combattimenti ben fatti e dal buon tasso strategico, lo rendono più alla portata di tutti.

    La mole dei dialoghi rappresenta sia la forza che la debolezza di un gioco che non lascia spazio a compromessi: o lo si ama o lo sia odia. Ma se un giorno avrà la localizzazione italiana aggiungete, a vostra scelta, dai 5 ai 10 punti in più al voto finale.

    Non vi scandalizzate se da qui a qualche anno questo GdR potrebbe diventare di culto, anche se non un capolavoro assoluto come il titolo Black Isle del 1999. Noi ve l'abbiamo detto in anticipo, quasi ad essere profetici...

    Recensione all'indirizzo ---> http://www.gamesark.it/mostra_rece.asp?c=21320170012135488&p=1&a=0&f=1&s=1    … Expand
  62. LevArris
    Mar 3, 2017
    9
    This game is something you can't compare with most of the other (C)RPG's. Its built to blow your mind by challenging your imagination. For people don#t knowing this it can be frustrating and it makes dissappointed Reviews understandable.
    Yes. Fighting mechanics are terrible (in Comparison to others). But a trashmob fighting Simulator in CRPG-Style is not the Goal of this game.
    The Goal    This game is something you can't compare with most of the other (C)RPG's. Its built to blow your mind by challenging your imagination. For people don#t knowing this it can be frustrating and it makes dissappointed Reviews understandable.
    Yes. Fighting mechanics are terrible (in Comparison to others). But a trashmob fighting Simulator in CRPG-Style is not the Goal of this game.
    The Goal is to tell a story. To make people thinking about different point of views and bizzare thesis. The goal is to design a different world and make it alive in the brain of the gamer.
    This goals are all achieved. It is true. It's hard to get in and read text over text. But the reward for this is extraordinary. Why 9 instead of 10?
    The cutted stretchgoals and the fighting mechanics. no matter if it is a goal or not. Fighting could be a bit more fun and complex. This would make the game 10.    … Expand
  63. kozzy420
    Feb 28, 2017
    10
    If you want an rpg with amazing writing this game is for you, simply amazing so far! Great writing, interesting setting, great atmosphere and a wonderfully created gameworld. Pick this up asap if you love roleplaying and good writing!
  64. RattlyTekMek
    Mar 1, 2017
    10
    It is just Wonderful! For the first time since 2002, when I started playing Planescape: Torment at that time, I have felt a sudden thrill of the upcoming adventure. Wonderful graphics, speeches, backgrounds. It is a nice change from so called RPGs available on Xbox One and games which you can play for max 12-13 hours offline. I'm giving 10 out of 10, even if game has crashed on my XboxIt is just Wonderful! For the first time since 2002, when I started playing Planescape: Torment at that time, I have felt a sudden thrill of the upcoming adventure. Wonderful graphics, speeches, backgrounds. It is a nice change from so called RPGs available on Xbox One and games which you can play for max 12-13 hours offline. I'm giving 10 out of 10, even if game has crashed on my Xbox back to main screen 4 times and Polish translation written with linguistic errors. InXile Entertainment did a great job with.… Expand
  65. hairyscotsman2
    Mar 10, 2017
    9
    Story, dialogue, art and setting are everything I could have wished for in a Torment game :D. Absolutely delighted with this RPG gem. It's also providing a well executed implementation of Monte Cook's pen and paper Numenera RPG.
  66. keemt
    Mar 16, 2017
    10
    This game is awesome. If you need great graphics and flawless execution to like an RPG, you'll never be happy. If you want an interactive great story, then this is it.
  67. badirontree
    Mar 2, 2017
    10
    OLD school RPG with heavy on the story and in TEXT ....
    If you Don't like reading you will hate it :D

    Needs a lot more bug-fixing and performances enhancements

    Its crazy as *****
    The world is Unique
  68. Risax
    Mar 2, 2017
    8
    I finished Torments: Tides of Numenera way earlier than I expected. Not that I’m complaining. Like Planescape: Torment it managed to suck me in and kept me playing until late in the night. Solving quests and conflicts in ways that didn’t necessarily have to end up in combat was cool and fun, and having even stuff that seemed like vendor trash being able to raise your stats was pretty neatI finished Torments: Tides of Numenera way earlier than I expected. Not that I’m complaining. Like Planescape: Torment it managed to suck me in and kept me playing until late in the night. Solving quests and conflicts in ways that didn’t necessarily have to end up in combat was cool and fun, and having even stuff that seemed like vendor trash being able to raise your stats was pretty neat and was a good excuse to read all the blurbs the writers had crafted.

    But while the older Fallout games, and inXile’s recent Wasteland 2: Director’s Cut games kept me busy for about 50 to 60 hours, I got about half of that out of Torment: Tides of Numenera. That doesn’t make it a bad game, though. Still, even though I no doubt missed some stuff that might have kept me entertained longer, I feel as if the game wasn't as fleshed out as promised. For example, wasn't the Labyrinth supposed to be far more complex? And if I remember correctly, wasn't there supposed to be an underwater city after we had hit a stretch goal? Whatever the case was, the game left me wanting more and even if it isn't quite as grand as the original Torment, I'd definitely recommend it.    … Expand
  69. Willmoy
    Mar 13, 2017
    9
    I am glad they are starting to make games where your decisions ACTUALLY impact the game.The combat admittedly lacks some things to be desired,but that's really not what Torment is about. Long story short,if you don't like narrative driven games, Torment is probably not for you. However, if you are like me and like games with a lot of lore and story, Torment is a gem.
  70. brindle88
    Mar 9, 2017
    0
    I purchased this game on steam and I stopped playing it fairly early on because it was just to boring.

    The main concern I have with torment is that I think the game has absolutely no direction and it becomes lost in its own weird little universe. I must criticize the following: - the combat is terrible. No effort has been put into this to make it enjoyable. - there is WAAAYYY to    I purchased this game on steam and I stopped playing it fairly early on because it was just to boring.

    The main concern I have with torment is that I think the game has absolutely no direction and it becomes lost in its own weird little universe. I must criticize the following:

    - the combat is terrible. No effort has been put into this to make it enjoyable.
    - there is WAAAYYY to much scripting and it is BOORINGG!!!
    - Character progression is redundant, pointless and non-fulfilling
    - World is not immersive
    - Gameplay is not fun

    I am stunned that the developers released this game and I don't think it will sell well. If anything it will be another game riding of the back of the success of Pillars Of Eternity (which it is nothing like)    … Expand
  71. firkraag79
    Mar 16, 2017
    0
    No game. Ugly bad combat/game mechanics. Fair writing. Okay main story. Too much athmo/background bla-bla. Not in any way as funny/good/philosophic/thoughful/reflective writing as we had in Torment:Planescape. Don't buy this unless you want to read 30 hours of background/athmo dialogs. No replay value. Very little game for the money. Rather play the original planescape:torment a dozenNo game. Ugly bad combat/game mechanics. Fair writing. Okay main story. Too much athmo/background bla-bla. Not in any way as funny/good/philosophic/thoughful/reflective writing as we had in Torment:Planescape. Don't buy this unless you want to read 30 hours of background/athmo dialogs. No replay value. Very little game for the money. Rather play the original planescape:torment a dozen times and have fun with Morte, Anna, Nordom and *Dakkon* ! This game is an abomination. **** animations. Bad sounds, but okayish writing. But in no way a sequel not even by a far cry to P:ST. They did not even implement all the stretch goals they announced. What a scam and money grab.… Expand
  72. ohioastro
    Mar 2, 2017
    9
    I'm a Kickstarter backer and long-time RPG player; this game is a creative breath of fresh air that I strongly recommend for the right people. If you want flashy cinematics, don't like text, and want lots of tactical combat you will probably be disappointed. If you've constructed some unrealistic fantasy of an ideal game or put the original Torment on a pedestal of perfection it won'tI'm a Kickstarter backer and long-time RPG player; this game is a creative breath of fresh air that I strongly recommend for the right people. If you want flashy cinematics, don't like text, and want lots of tactical combat you will probably be disappointed. If you've constructed some unrealistic fantasy of an ideal game or put the original Torment on a pedestal of perfection it won't match up. If you take it on it's own terms it's great. Strong points for me are first and foremost strong and interactive writing and an overall vibe that captures the spirit of the original for me. You are not led from quest to quest, there are multiple approaches for solving problems, and failure can even be interesting (e.g. no need to save and reload until you get the "good" results.) Character development is logical and opens up interesting options. Combat is not necessary most of the time but works well when you use it; I appreciate not having to role-play a serial killer. The interface is good, the sound and graphics are effective and appealing. The lore is interesting without being overwhelming and your decisions have consequences, sometimes surprising, down the line. I dinged it a bit for not having a central story line (or those of the henchmen) that grabbed me as much as the precursor (no Morte here...) I liked the effort system but found it more effective for dialog than for combat, which does create a bit of a game system bias against fighting (basically, you invest points for higher success, which you need more in fights than you do in dialog for mechanical reasons). Despite quibbles, highly rated and worth the wait for me.… Expand
  73. MunchkinX2000
    Mar 2, 2017
    9
    Torment: Tides of Numenera nails the old Fallout 1&2 / Baldurs Gate / Planescape Torment CRPG format.

    It's what I hoped Pillars of Eternity would be. There is SO much to read and learn about the world, the game oozes with history, lore, personal stories, mystical beings and throws these at you at a overwhelming pace at first. But then you are able to set in and understand that this    Torment: Tides of Numenera nails the old Fallout 1&2 / Baldurs Gate / Planescape Torment CRPG format.

    It's what I hoped Pillars of Eternity would be.

    There is SO much to read and learn about the world, the game oozes with history, lore, personal stories, mystical beings and throws these at you at a overwhelming pace at first. But then you are able to set in and understand that this world is strange and complex and you are supposed to feel overwhelmed by all the quirky weird billion years old tech gadgets and multidimensional hivemind wizards. The quality of writing is magnificent and the quantity of it is simply immense (as can be expected for a Planescape Torment "sequel").

    While the engine is dated, and graphics are not the focal point of a game that is so rich in story, the graphical design is really beautiful.

    The Numenera rule-set is quirky and different from what Im used to but I think that sits well with the quirky and different from what Im used to world that the game takes place in.

    Combat so far has been a bit boring, but that part honestly is the least of my worries in a story driven game like this.

    In ~7h of play I've experienced 1 crash.. and I've read some people are experiencing them more.

    I made a promise to my self to never pre-order / kickstart / indiegogo another product if this one falls flat on its face, but it doesn't. It delivers on what I wanted and more. Now I gotta get back to playing the damn thing.    … Expand
  74. NathanGPLC
    Mar 11, 2017
    9
    9/10
    If you want a game focused on story (with 1.2 million words of text), you're in the right place; If you want combat or to spend your time min-maxing a battle system you'll use extensively, look elsewhere. As a fan of Planescape: Torment and tabletop roleplaying in general, this was exactly what I wanted.
    Overall: An excellent example of Inifinity-engine style storytelling in the    9/10
    If you want a game focused on story (with 1.2 million words of text), you're in the right place; If you want combat or to spend your time min-maxing a battle system you'll use extensively, look elsewhere. As a fan of Planescape: Torment and tabletop roleplaying in general, this was exactly what I wanted.

    Overall: An excellent example of Inifinity-engine style storytelling in the mold of Planescape: Torment. One of the biggest strengths of TTON is that it is without the excess weight of some elements that (while fun) don't contribute to this particular kind of narrative RPG; specifically, excess grinding and extra-story combat. On the downside, of course, some people will miss those things, and some will be further disappointed at the fact that this really is a specific story with a lot of beautiful text (ala PS:T), and not a free-form RPG like Baldur's Gate, where you can build a character of your choosing. However, the limited choices when it comes to character creation are still quite robust, and I didn't feel like the story was missing anything for not having, for example, more than three Focus paths to choose from.

    Major Pros:
    -Tight narrative that allows for MUCH more reactivity than I expected, making choices that felt thematically or logically correct actually have impacts (sometimes extremely significant impacts) to gameplay. Unlike BG/BGII or even PS:T, for example, sometimes a quest item is actually as useful as the person who asks you to retrieve it claims it to be...
    -Interesting characters with personal motivations beyond "You seem trustworthy; allow me to join YOUR noble quest!"
    -An interesting character with personal motivation that is EXACTLY: "You seem trustworthy; allow me to join YOUR noble quest!"

    Minor Pros:
    -Beautiful music and art
    -Background item descriptions blend into interactivity and actual bonuses/powers; be sure to examine all the Oddities carefully.

    Major Cons:
    -The final act was so tight that I'm willing to bet anyone who doesn't play a heavy-Intellect/Lore/etc character, AND strive for finishing side-quests, will feel like it is lacking. The major narrative is strong and well-implemented, but I think it would be easy for someone playing a different kind of character to miss some things I found and enjoyed (though, I suppose, I could be wrong, depending on the usefulness of Smashing/Quick Fingers/etc as skills to find other ways around problems).

    Minor Cons:
    -Voice acting didn't hold up to the music and art; I was OK with it, but some characters were much weaker than others in this regard.
    -I was surprised there are only 4 character tiers (sort of the equivalent of levels, or level-brackets) in the game, as I was assuming it would have the baseline 6 from the tabletop game. I was certainly not under-powered at the end, but when I stopped advancing, I had to go and check to see if that was a bug.    … Expand
  75. TheRulesLawyer
    Mar 28, 2017
    5
    This game came off feeling like it was developed by the intern team. The story line is interesting enough, but the game just feel unfinished which is shocking given how many years past the original release date it came out. It plays more like a particularly interactive choose your own adventure than a traditional RPG. Min/Maxing stats trivialised most encounters. Particularly mental statsThis game came off feeling like it was developed by the intern team. The story line is interesting enough, but the game just feel unfinished which is shocking given how many years past the original release date it came out. It plays more like a particularly interactive choose your own adventure than a traditional RPG. Min/Maxing stats trivialised most encounters. Particularly mental stats as almost all combat can be avoided. If you really like planetscape torment its worth a play, but it doesn't reach anywhere near its level of perfection. If you're more a fan of RPGs in general I'd give it a pass. Divinity Oringinal Sin 2 is way better.… Expand
  76. odintsaq
    Mar 16, 2017
    6
    Torment: Tides of Numenera is an OK cRPG, from which we expected much more, according to what was said in the funding campaign. It certainly is not a spiritual successor to Planescape: Torment, and the omission of the Torment word from the game title in almost all the article is not accidental . It is a pity that such a good writer cast didn't achieve something more memorable, but as it isTorment: Tides of Numenera is an OK cRPG, from which we expected much more, according to what was said in the funding campaign. It certainly is not a spiritual successor to Planescape: Torment, and the omission of the Torment word from the game title in almost all the article is not accidental . It is a pity that such a good writer cast didn't achieve something more memorable, but as it is the first attempt in a relatively new world, perhaps in the future they could create something better, since the background for stories exists.

    On the positive side we have, briefly, the interesting, although new, world, beautiful graphics and a different way of character development.

    On the negative side we have Sound, the GUI, dialogues without special depth and purpose , the meager items and not so impressive plot.

    Overall you can finish the game with all side quests in 30-40 hours, depending on how fast you read the dialogues....ehhhh.. how fast resolve the quests and Crisis.

    You can read my full review on the matter at:

    http://thegeeksociety.gr/torment-tides-of-numenera-review-en/    … Expand
  77. RMDsilva
    May 1, 2017
    8
    Cool story, cool characters (not too many though), combat system from numenera is cool too, nice flow to it
    Not so good is that it's still very text based, not too much interaction - maybe even more combat could be cool.
  78. Ogi79
    Apr 16, 2017
    9
    This game is not for everyone. If you like superb story ,story oriented game with little combat ,then you will enjoy it.World of Numenara is fantastic.
  79. ikaragi
    Jan 22, 2018
    10
    I haven't followed the stretch goals that inXile might promised however I think that a lot of people tend to underestimate the amount of time that is needed to develop a brand new game with such a rich story. I think that the overall quality of the game is high and it fully justifies its budget.

    To get this out of the way, the game has a LOT of text. So if you tried another game like    I haven't followed the stretch goals that inXile might promised however I think that a lot of people tend to underestimate the amount of time that is needed to develop a brand new game with such a rich story. I think that the overall quality of the game is high and it fully justifies its budget.

    To get this out of the way, the game has a LOT of text. So if you tried another game like this and got bored of reading this is not a game for you.

    One issue with the game is that the character models do not look good however this might be acceptable for a small company which does not have the technological advancement of the large players of the industry. However the background world is exceptionally well drawn and I found myself many times stopping to just admire its beautiful details.

    Having played all of the classics like BG2, Fallout, the original Torment and many more, I honestly think that the story of this game is one of the best. I didn't got tired of the amount of text at any single point in the game and I was totally consumed by it. I also found the mechanics of the skill check during dialog really interesting.
    The combat of the game is turned based. You have many different strategies to use in order to overcome your enemies and overall is very enjoyable. The problem is that there are maybe too few encounters and if you know what you are doing, you will rarely need to replay a battle. This is also a more general issue with the game as it lacks a difficulty setting and it might feel easy to some people.

    The strongest point of the game is its atmosphere. Every little bit of it is trying hard to draw you into it and it certainly achieves that. It has a unique feel and character that I have never encountered in the past. I think that it is a truly worthy successor of Planescape: Torment being also a totally different title with its own soul.

    I believe that inXile made a great job with this one. Thank you for the wonderful experience.    … Expand
  80. batmaster
    Mar 2, 2017
    3
    I am very disappointed. Game is boring, Too much text, too much persons, no emotions. Confusing user interface (journal, inventory, skills ...). Poor graphic and music. Sometimes less is better. I give up. :(
  81. rbt53
    Mar 2, 2017
    10
    Действительно интересная история, неоднозначные квесты и выборы и конечно же сеттинг. Вообще довольно интересная игра, но не без огрехов. К минусам могу отнести средненький перевод (объяснимо, там текста на добрую AAA типа ведьмака), фиговую оптимизацию (Unity 3D по другому и не умеет) и не отсутсвие карты.Действительно интересная история, неоднозначные квесты и выборы и конечно же сеттинг. Вообще довольно интересная игра, но не без огрехов. К минусам могу отнести средненький перевод (объяснимо, там текста на добрую AAA типа ведьмака), фиговую оптимизацию (Unity 3D по другому и не умеет) и не отсутсвие карты.
  82. misiaczek
    Mar 15, 2017
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I can't really understand complaints about missing cut scenes and poor combat. That is not what this game is about. It is all about detailed writing, reading through a lot of lore info and using imagination(some people forgot they have it and expect everything to be shown to them). Story is on similar level as in spiritual successor, shorter one but with many choices that close out other routes(I like it the same way I liked it for Tyranny, it is a good direction). On the negative side: cut content was little disappointing and I expected Sorrow to look like in story trailer.… Expand
  83. SeTiDaYeTi
    Mar 11, 2017
    10
    A worthy sequel to the original Planescape: Torment. Intriguing, entirely nonobvious world, with a masterful writing and choices that have an impact on the environment. A lot of reading involved, as in the original and as expected. Don't wine if that's not your cup of tea.
  84. uVimOvil
    Mar 21, 2017
    8
    el resumen de este juegazo es decir que es un gran libro de texto un best seller jugable, dialogos muy densos y constantes durante todo el juego es mas basicamente los combates son con dialogos apenas se entabla combates si tu no quieres y casi mejor porque las mecanicas de combate son bastantes capadas intento de innovacion fallido para mi gusto asi que mejor combatir con palabras y aunel resumen de este juegazo es decir que es un gran libro de texto un best seller jugable, dialogos muy densos y constantes durante todo el juego es mas basicamente los combates son con dialogos apenas se entabla combates si tu no quieres y casi mejor porque las mecanicas de combate son bastantes capadas intento de innovacion fallido para mi gusto asi que mejor combatir con palabras y aun asi se hace increible el juego esta muy cuidado en todos sus detalles se merece una gran nota es un trabajo exquisito echo para gente paciente, no podria ni imaginarme a un ñiñito jugando a esto por eso nunca vendera mucho y aun asi a salido el proyecto adelante, digno de admirar.… Expand
  85. TheWebCoder
    Mar 15, 2017
    8
    Torment: Tides of Numenera is a collection of paradoxes. As a fan of the tabletop RPG, T: ToN does capture the key things about the Ninth World: it's weird, fantastic, and mysterious. The writing is outstanding, but unless you have an massive vocabulary you may need a dictionary to make any sense of it. The scenery is alien and attractive, but I wish the assets were in HD so it lookedTorment: Tides of Numenera is a collection of paradoxes. As a fan of the tabletop RPG, T: ToN does capture the key things about the Ninth World: it's weird, fantastic, and mysterious. The writing is outstanding, but unless you have an massive vocabulary you may need a dictionary to make any sense of it. The scenery is alien and attractive, but I wish the assets were in HD so it looked nicer on my Retina monitor. The companions are colorful, but some are missing from what was promised. As a whole, the Kickstarter was handled pretty well, but InXile had to reduce content in order to make the launch date. They've promised the rest of the content for free to backers, so hopefully all in good time.

    I played the entire game through and it never crashed once. In fact, I can imagine Brian Fargo telling his team, "all I care about is that it doesn't crash. Then we can launch." But while it was stable on Mac, it still felt unpolished. It desperately needs some patches to clean it all up, especially combat which is the weakest point. Fortunately, you can solve nearly every situation without violence. Even if a fight doesn't go your way, death is just another story arc. The game designers realized that with quick save, death in an RPG is basically an inconvenience, so instead of having to reload the story continues. Usually.

    All in all, I imagine that six months from now when the game is fully patched it's going to be legendary.

    InExile, if you're reading, please...
    • Complete the Kickstarter content
    • Patch the game repeatedly
    • HD graphical assets
    • Review combat
    • Make it so I can give my companions armor    … Expand
  86. niknik324
    Mar 5, 2017
    10
    Потрясающая игра.
    Не без недостатков, но когда мы говорим о произведении искусства, технические огрехи не имеют никакого значения.
  87. Solaris123
    Dec 26, 2019
    0
    This is a joke, the rating is too high for this thing, the new "torment" is the most boring rpg that was created in this decade, the story is about anything already overrated and boring pillars were better
  88. flg
    Mar 8, 2017
    10
    Игре удалось сохранить все плюсы своей предшественницы. Отличный сюжет; замечательно проработанные персонажи, реагирующие на происходящие вокруг события и общающиеся с некоторыми NPC; исследование уникального, по-хорошему безумного мира; интересные квесты с несколькими вариантами их прохождения; философские размышления на тему жизни и смерти. В Torment: Tides of Numenera есть всё то, заИгре удалось сохранить все плюсы своей предшественницы. Отличный сюжет; замечательно проработанные персонажи, реагирующие на происходящие вокруг события и общающиеся с некоторыми NPC; исследование уникального, по-хорошему безумного мира; интересные квесты с несколькими вариантами их прохождения; философские размышления на тему жизни и смерти. В Torment: Tides of Numenera есть всё то, за что я люблю PS:T.

    Смог ли новый Torment превзойти, или хотя бы встать в один ряд с Planescape: Torment? Нет. Является ли из-за этого Tides of Numenera плохой игрой? Ни в коем случае! Это действительно классная RPG. Для меня – лучшая за последние лет десять.    … Expand
  89. Milinko
    Jul 20, 2017
    9
    Magnífico juego, con una historia fantástica y en un universo fascinante como es el de Numenera. Alejado de todo RPG isométrico que conjuga combate y diálogos, Tides of Numenera es un juego que incide en el desarrollo de tu personaje en habilidades que van mucho más allá del combate, lo que te permite distintas vías para superar las diversas crisis sin necesidad de ir partiendo cabezas aMagnífico juego, con una historia fantástica y en un universo fascinante como es el de Numenera. Alejado de todo RPG isométrico que conjuga combate y diálogos, Tides of Numenera es un juego que incide en el desarrollo de tu personaje en habilidades que van mucho más allá del combate, lo que te permite distintas vías para superar las diversas crisis sin necesidad de ir partiendo cabezas a todo el mundo y enemigo. El "effort system" es mucho más parecido a los juegos de rol y mesa, donde dependiendo de tus habilidades tendrás un porcentaje de éxito en las acciones que hagas.

    Lo único malo que he encontrado en el juego es que después de tanto tiempo desde de su salida, aún mantiene algunos bugs molestos que no inciden en la trama principal, pero si afectan a algunas misiones laterales que impiden completarlas.    … Expand
  90. Sidian
    May 10, 2017
    10
    Great game that completely meets and even exceeds expectations. Amazing writing, memorable characters, great exploration. Do not listen to the people jumping on the bandwagon and complaining over nothing; they are angry because of cut content which happens to all games, except in this case it was publicised more. They're not judging the actual released game, only comparing it to aGreat game that completely meets and even exceeds expectations. Amazing writing, memorable characters, great exploration. Do not listen to the people jumping on the bandwagon and complaining over nothing; they are angry because of cut content which happens to all games, except in this case it was publicised more. They're not judging the actual released game, only comparing it to a theoretical version in their heads. It's not as good as Planescape: Torment, but it's a worthy successor nonetheless.… Expand
  91. teshia
    Aug 21, 2020
    8
    Wow, what a bizarre game. Took me a bit to get into because most of the time I was trying to figure out what to do or what was even happening but it eventually started to make sense the more I played it. This game really thought outside the box. I feel like they didn't just wanted to make an RPG but, rather, create a new kind of RPG system or framework. I mean, this game is prettyWow, what a bizarre game. Took me a bit to get into because most of the time I was trying to figure out what to do or what was even happening but it eventually started to make sense the more I played it. This game really thought outside the box. I feel like they didn't just wanted to make an RPG but, rather, create a new kind of RPG system or framework. I mean, this game is pretty bizarre and niche. Very far out but very interesting if you're looking for something different. Pretty cool stuff overall. A few bugs but nothing awful during my playthrough.… Expand
  92. Teleman
    May 27, 2017
    8
    Still playing, not my final verdict. I had no business in kickstarter stuff, nor have I played the original Torment but I played all titles in NWN series and found out about this just this week.

    I like the text based gameplay, in fact I like it a bit too much. But my main gripe with it is that there are too much filler stuff in dialogues which makes me do things that I never have done    Still playing, not my final verdict. I had no business in kickstarter stuff, nor have I played the original Torment but I played all titles in NWN series and found out about this just this week.

    I like the text based gameplay, in fact I like it a bit too much. But my main gripe with it is that there are too much filler stuff in dialogues which makes me do things that I never have done during all these years of fantasy reading: skipping large portions of it. The problem is, there is too much of "He said this while looking down on his ding dong. His hands were slowly grabbing and yet there were tears of regret coming out it already", and what I just made up is probably more exciting and in context of what it is supposed to be.

    Edit: Finished it. Left with a feeling that the game is uncomplete. The ending is weird.

    One thing I can definitely say is that combat is extremely lacking, scarce and shallow.

    The story is well thought but the implementation is lacking. The world feels artifical. Substance is somewhat lacking. But overall, not that bad.    … Expand
  93. DraperMoxham6
    Dec 16, 2019
    8
    Wonderful, gripping, and well-written story carry this game through to the end. The world of the Numenera setting is rich and fascinating. Given that the game play is definitely retro, and occasionally janky, I whole-heartedly recommend this experience to anyone.
  94. Fikthenig
    Sep 22, 2017
    8
    Although I never played Planescape: Torment, I thought it would be nice to hear a review from newly fresh eyes. I thought, from a new players perspective, that it delivered pretty nicely. I thought the storyline took a little too long to get into but was great nonetheless. Combat was very nice and really brought all possible scenarios that a player could take advantage of to defeat theAlthough I never played Planescape: Torment, I thought it would be nice to hear a review from newly fresh eyes. I thought, from a new players perspective, that it delivered pretty nicely. I thought the storyline took a little too long to get into but was great nonetheless. Combat was very nice and really brought all possible scenarios that a player could take advantage of to defeat the enemies. The level and skill system, as well as the different classes, was not explicitly explained to the best that could be but with experience one can affiliate themselves with the mechanics very nicely. As others may have mentioned, I thought there was a little too much text to explain some of the simplest of things but I guess that was more of an artist's point of view. Overall, it's a game that was worth getting this 2017. Good Luck and A Daring Adventure!… Expand
  95. TheGamingN00b
    Oct 11, 2017
    10
    Okay, a 10/10 score is maybe a little too high, it's more like a 9, but I felt the need to crank it up a bit, because lots of people all over the internet have been unreasonably mean to it in my opinion.
    Sorry, couldn't help myself.
    First of all, I get the negative responses for this game, I really do. It can be quite exhausting and the combat is downright terrible. But If, somewhere in    Okay, a 10/10 score is maybe a little too high, it's more like a 9, but I felt the need to crank it up a bit, because lots of people all over the internet have been unreasonably mean to it in my opinion.
    Sorry, couldn't help myself.
    First of all, I get the negative responses for this game, I really do. It can be quite exhausting and the combat is downright
    terrible. But If, somewhere in your heart, you have a soft spot for Planescape: Torment (The best RPG of all time imo)
    and/or enjoy reading AND games with an emphasis on storytelling so extreme that the dialogue itself can be qualified as gameplay, you owe it to yourself to play this game. Because it succeeds completely as a Spiritual Successor to Planescape and, even though it is not as good, it evokes he feeling you have/had while playing that game, especially for the first time, in a beautiful way. That is why, over the course of this entire game/book, a warm smile of wonder graced my face, which lasted to the very last letters of the closing credits. The atmosphere and story of this piece just come together and, if you are prone to mental cinema and posess the ability
    to really immerse yourself, grabs you by the.. you know ...and doesn't let you off the hook
    until you've finished it. And that makes this game a truly memorable experience.
    The Arc Words 'What does one Life matter?' will stick with you for a long time after you
    turned it off.
    If you want to break it down to one sentence:
    Torment: Tides of Numenera is ultimately a worthy 'sequel' to Planescape and a, nothing if not sincere, love letter to all the people who truly appreciate the role playing aspect in the so
    called role playing games.    … Expand
  96. Archound
    Jan 31, 2018
    8
    Much better than PoE. Much worse than Planescape, but very similar in several aspects. Companions are too flat, think Dragon Age II level. Story & the setting is great, but the narration and pace seems a bit off.
  97. Mickelangello
    Feb 24, 2018
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. You can get this game with 9 other high rated games (Broken Sword 5, Shadowrun series, Age of Wonders III, Wasteland 2, Xenonauts, Dreamfall Chapters...) on humblebundle for 15$ until the 6th of March.

    This is full review, for conclusion jump to the bottom of the text.

    Origin
    Game is marketed as the spiritual successor of the Planescape: Torment and spiritual is the important word here so don’t expect sequel. P:T is based on D&D campaign Planescape, this game is based on Monte Cook’s tabletop RPG Numenera which was inspired by Planescape...a bit. It’s set a billion years in the future in post-apocalyptic world. There are remains of extinct civilizations everywhere like technology and machines that nobody knows if or how they are working. You will meet robots, ghosts, synthetic people, all kinds of interdimensional creatures etc. The science-fantasy setting is original and interesting.

    Audiovisual
    Graphics is not bad, some locations look pretty cool. What I don’t like are characters animations and models. Especially your main character looks like a potato which is far from his portrait...which is some genderless queer. And no, you can’t change your looks or you portrait. I have seen better uses of Unity engine. Sound is mediocre, music is not that bad but nothing worth remembering. Game has quite good atmosphere but again, don’t expect Planescape: Torment. This whole section could be described by one word – average.

    Story/Narration
    You start the game falling from the sky remembering nothing (typical morning after party, eh?). You survive impact (obviously) and two adventurers nearby will tell you that you are probably the last Castoff. What does that mean? Well, long time ago some man found out how to use ancient technology to create new body and put his consciousness into it, so basically achieving immortality. But everytime he switches body, the old body gets it’s own consciousness with only small pieces of memory. Over time people started calling him the Changing God and his old bodies Castoffs. The problem is that his actions woke up powerful interdimensional being called Sorrow that is trying to kill him...and all the Castoffs along the way. The story is great and it’s the main reason why people play this game.
    Narration is worse. For some reason authors thought it would be cool to invent new words and names so e.g. spell is „esotery“, mage is „nano“, father is „sire“ etc. A lot of NPCs use words you don’t know, speak in a dialect or are so advanced/different/confused that what they are saying doesn’t make sense at all. They also keep talking about beings and events you don’t know which is pretty confusing and since you don’t know what’s important for the story and what’s just gravy for the lore, you have to pay attention and read everything. And you will read a lot, there are around 1200000 words.

    Gameplay
    There is a completely new system of solving situations. You have 3 attributes – Might, Speed and Intelect and the points invested in them are used for increasing chance for skill checks (this is called „Effort“). E.g. – you want to break something and have 3 points in Might, you can use 1 point and have 30% chance of success or you can use 2 points for 50% or 3 for 70%. And if you are out of points, you can either use your base chance (increased by „Edge“) or replenish your points by consumables or by resting. Resting could cause failing some quests though.
    Fights are turn-based which means more strategic than real-time with pause and you have possibility to solve them with stealth or by talking enemy out of the battle or joining your side. Unfortunately they are not very enjoyable. Enemies have usually higher initiative than you and starting fight with almost dead group is frustrating, fighting without effort points means that you will miss almost every attack and there are lot of bugs. You can avoid almost all the fights in the game but then it’s nothing more than just a visual novel.
    You can have up to 3 companions in your party out of 6 possible. They are all humans and quite boring. Don’t expect Morte 2.0. What a shame in a world full of bizzare creatures.
    Your character is basically immortal and can read minds. I don’t know what’s the point of this but it only ruins tension and enjoyment.

    Conclusion (tl;dr version)
    Torment in the name is just marketing, it’s not related to Planescape: Torment and it’s not as good in any way. Science-fantasy setting is interesting and story is great although narration could be sometimes confusing. Technical aspects of the game and atmosphere are average. Companions are boring and fights are not very enjoyable. It’s still worth it though but only if you like reading and are interested in science-fantasy. Pay full price only if you want to support developers, otherwise wait for some sale. 45€ is hardly justifiable.

    7,2/10    … Expand
  98. Koyaniskaci
    Dec 5, 2019
    10
    Very good game. I really liked it. Thanks. But please do Russian voice translation
  99. Avariel
    Jan 24, 2020
    8
    This game is clrealy not planescape torment but if you enjoyed planescape torment you will probably enjoy this game too. They have both very meaningful dialogue and deep philosophical perspectives play a large role in both universes.
    It took me some time to get into the game because you have almost always the option to fight or not your way through and if you dont have enough fights early    This game is clrealy not planescape torment but if you enjoyed planescape torment you will probably enjoy this game too. They have both very meaningful dialogue and deep philosophical perspectives play a large role in both universes.
    It took me some time to get into the game because you have almost always the option to fight or not your way through and if you dont have enough fights early on... it can become frustrating. It should be more balanced. I would not advice someone that hate reading to get into that game, it is just not for you. As someone that love videogames and love books, I felt like this game was made for me.    … Expand
  100. Draugnimir
    Feb 21, 2020
    9
    I'm playing RPGs a lot - and this is simply one of the best I've ever seen.

    Fascinating world unlike anything ever pictured in video games, intelligent writing, complex quests with countless solutions, clever Crisis system instead of random fights with hordes of nameless enemies, simple yet deep character development - there are so many things to love this game for. Worthy successor    I'm playing RPGs a lot - and this is simply one of the best I've ever seen.

    Fascinating world unlike anything ever pictured in video games, intelligent writing, complex quests with countless solutions, clever Crisis system instead of random fights with hordes of nameless enemies, simple yet deep character development - there are so many things to love this game for.

    Worthy successor to Planescape Torment!    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

55
#55 Best PC Game of 2016
44
#44 Most Discussed PC Game of 2016
17
#17 Most Shared PC Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 72 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 57 out of 72
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 72
  3. Negative: 1 out of 72
  1. RPGamer
    May 29, 2017
    50
    What Tides of Numenera offers is a rich experience in learning lore and then making a final multiple guess at the ending, all the while never being fully satisfying in terms of presentation. There's more playability to this take on this game, but it might be better off being used for a title that has far less baggage.
    Read full review
  2. Games Master UK
    May 19, 2017
    92
    Wonderful writing, deep quests, and the ability to truly shape your character make for a quality RPG. [Apr 2017, p.78]
  3. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Apr 18, 2017
    100
    Great RPG depends mainly on the conversations and colorful bizarre world into which it takes you …while it is not focused on combat and other traditional elements. [Issue#273]
See all critic reviews »