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. 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
  5. 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
  6. 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.
  7. 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
  8. 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
  9. 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
  10. 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.
  11. 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
  12. 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
  13. 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
  14. 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
  15. 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
  16. 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
  17. 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,
  18. 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.
  19. 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
  20. 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
  21. 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
  22. 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
  23. 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
  24. 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.
  25. 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
  26. 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
  27. 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
  28. Avey123Avey
    Mar 19, 2023
    6
    The story and setting here is great for the most part. The game is very well written and there are many very interesting and creative roleplaying scenarios in this game. Unfortunately the combat system here is pretty bad and as such the game kind of funnels you into creating a dialogue oriented character. Also the ending of this game goes a long way to sucking out any appreciation youThe story and setting here is great for the most part. The game is very well written and there are many very interesting and creative roleplaying scenarios in this game. Unfortunately the combat system here is pretty bad and as such the game kind of funnels you into creating a dialogue oriented character. Also the ending of this game goes a long way to sucking out any appreciation you might have had for the main story. Still worth checking out if you are interested in a narratively focused roleplaying game with some great concepts and fun side stories… Expand
  29. Antictra
    Mar 28, 2021
    5
    It is not a PS:T successor ! PS:T had high literary value, had that "something" making it legendary. That game is kind of pretendent, trying to make it interesting by a huge quantity of text and weirdness ... they just did not get it right. It is best to keep PS:T alone as a legend. Some day talented creator will make something similar in terms of cultural impact, yet original to light upIt is not a PS:T successor ! PS:T had high literary value, had that "something" making it legendary. That game is kind of pretendent, trying to make it interesting by a huge quantity of text and weirdness ... they just did not get it right. It is best to keep PS:T alone as a legend. Some day talented creator will make something similar in terms of cultural impact, yet original to light up again the flame of mystery, and emotion that PS:T had. Torment: Tides of Numenera is not that kind of game.… Expand

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]
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