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. 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
  2. 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
  3. 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
  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. 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!
  6. 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
  7. 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
  8. 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.    … Collapse
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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

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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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