The Technomancer

 Xbox One
User Score
7.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 72 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 42 out of 72
  2. Mixed: 15 out of 72
  3. Negative: 15 out of 72
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  1. StanleyPain
    Jul 4, 2016
    5
    Technomancer is a hard game to review. As a continuation of what Spiders was doing with Mars War Logs (a game very few people seem to have played), it works on the level of story and setting, but the gameplay seems to really, really drag it down. If you read other reviews, you get a general idea for the game, so I'll just get to why I think this game really doesn't work is simply: theTechnomancer is a hard game to review. As a continuation of what Spiders was doing with Mars War Logs (a game very few people seem to have played), it works on the level of story and setting, but the gameplay seems to really, really drag it down. If you read other reviews, you get a general idea for the game, so I'll just get to why I think this game really doesn't work is simply: the combat. The combat system is a derivative of the Arkham Asylum-style beat-em-up (also seen in Shadows of MOrdor, Mad Max, and a few other games), but it lacks all of the visual cues and technique necessary to make it work. You have a myriad of special abilities, no matter what class you choose to focus on, yet it seems like none of the moves really change the nature of the situation in any meaningful way. Most battles are best settled just punching your way out, because the fancier movies either do pathetic damage or leave you too open to attack. Easily the most fatal aspect of the game is that while even the weakest enemies in the game can withstand loads of attacks, your character, no matter how high a level they get and no matter how advanced their abilities and equipment, can be decimated in a matter of seconds by simply succumbing to a few melee hits. Yes, the advanced cyber-augmented special security forces of the distant Martian future can literally be layed flat by a few punches from a street punk, meanwhile I have to an assortment of guns, melee weapons, and lightning bolts just to whittle that very same punk down to maybe half health. It makes no sense in-game, in-lore, and it especially makes no sense from a design perspective. The needlessly over-complicated crafting system allows you to modify your equipment (because, of course, when cops are sent out on duty, they are expected to just have their own equipment or build it themselves), but I am not exaggerated when I say that no matter how you upgrade your equipment, it will make minimal, almost unnoticeable, difference in combat. In summary, this makes Technomancer a chore to play, frankly. Even on the easiest difficulty, combat is a controller-breaking, maddening experience especially once you get to the point in the game where most enemies have guns and can just outright murder you before you can even start the fight proper. Outside of that, the game clearly wants to be interesting and immersive, but it takes so much effort to enjoy it since so MUCH of the game relies on the combat.… Expand
  2. GamesXtreme
    Jul 12, 2016
    8
    I'm warming to the Technomancer in the time I've spent with it. It's going to feel a bit dated for some of you, and it's going to feel a little bit clunky compared to some of the more modern titles in the genre - that said, it's a good game, a fun game, and there's a decent story here if you want to explore the world the developers have created going beyond the one found in Mars: War Logs.I'm warming to the Technomancer in the time I've spent with it. It's going to feel a bit dated for some of you, and it's going to feel a little bit clunky compared to some of the more modern titles in the genre - that said, it's a good game, a fun game, and there's a decent story here if you want to explore the world the developers have created going beyond the one found in Mars: War Logs.

    I did have one moment where the frame rate stuttered in an underground section, and so far the game's not crashed on me.

    I'd say it's worth a punt if you're desperately looking for another RPG to fill the gap. Don't be put off thinking this is a low-budget title though, it's a hefty price, and a big game too - not in the league of Dragon Age: Inquisition, or Witcher 3, but big enough to offer a lengthy trip to Mars.    … Expand
  3. BrettZebre
    Jul 21, 2016
    8
    The most part of professionnals reviews are not fair, clearly bitter. Is it a "vendetta" ? Or maybe "The Witcher 3" have placed the goal too high this last year ? Now, we get blind when something different and smaller appears in 3rd person RPG landscape ?
    Anyway, if you're are familiar with Mass Effect/The Witcher/Risen series (etc...), all 3rd person RPG of last 10 years, you won't be    The most part of professionnals reviews are not fair, clearly bitter. Is it a "vendetta" ? Or maybe "The Witcher 3" have placed the goal too high this last year ? Now, we get blind when something different and smaller appears in 3rd person RPG landscape ?
    Anyway, if you're are familiar with Mass Effect/The Witcher/Risen series (etc...), all 3rd person RPG of last 10 years, you won't be disappointed.

    "The Technomancer" is a good/correct rpg, storyline is complex, all RPG elements are here (craft is still good, like Mars; War Logs), landscapes and armors aesthetics are really great with full of various details (very sensitive), graphics are good (day/night cycle > beautiful screenshots incoming), mood and music works with environments, social/mystical backgrounds, level design is less claustrophobic than "M:WL" (except Ophir...); all parts of the Technomancer "lore" are strong enough to kept you intrigued.
    I've played on hard difficulty (69h = lvl 53), as a full technomancer (first) and full warrior branch, light armor ; good karma, heroic and spiritual experience > It was really spectacular and a real enjoyment, like a "megawatt shaolin monk", airy !!!
    I'm already rerolling has a guardian (extreme) with more shades in my choices (strict military approach), it's a completely different experience !.
    And again i'm not done with this rpg : curious about Rogue combat style and influence of "bad Karma" on the storyline and on my companions.

    Like their previous technomancer chapter "Mars: Wars Logs", same influences are here : Mass Effect (1) or Dragon Age maybe, The Witcher (1/2) games mixed with Mad Max movies and pretty all John Carpenter's filmography. Old school and rough !

    Yes, it's an AA title trying to challenge AAA titles...
    It's clumsy but they almost did it (it's always a matter of time, money and human resources : at this cost, they can keep their freedom of speech).
    For the record : it's a small studio (with a 2010 engine btw), and unlike Bioware/EA or CDPR (at least 200 employees on their titles), Spiders it's 20 people (maybe less) who have worked on "The Technomancer".
    I think they are pretty close to their ambitions...

    This game has is own charm, once you've get over rough details you are mesmerized.    … Expand
  4. DragonRedDawn
    Jun 10, 2018
    9
    Don’t believe the Critic Reviews. This game is truly a “diamond in the rough.” The detail that has gone into The Technomancer is incredible. The fighting mechanics are a bit off so normal difficulty is absurdly difficult. Switch to easy difficulty and you’ll have ample challenge.

    BEWARE: This game is going to suck you in fast. The graphics are dated and the fighting mechanics have a    Don’t believe the Critic Reviews. This game is truly a “diamond in the rough.” The detail that has gone into The Technomancer is incredible. The fighting mechanics are a bit off so normal difficulty is absurdly difficult. Switch to easy difficulty and you’ll have ample challenge.

    BEWARE: This game is going to suck you in fast.

    The graphics are dated and the fighting mechanics have a learning curve, but the attention to detail is so good you’re not gonna want to stop playing. The huge labyrinth-like cities seem endless and there are so many interesting and funny missions, it’s easy to get lost in the Mars world and lose track of all time. The story is cohesive, engaging and is one worth telling. You will laugh, you may even feel for the characters on a few parts, and there are a few story twists that are so good you’ll experience a range of emotions from profound regret to gleeful jubilation as you suddenly realize what you have become.

    Recommended for advanced and hardcore gamers that love a good story. You could call it a spiritual successor to Dragon Age: Origins and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic minus the turn based gameplay and with full voice acting. It’s awesome. Get this game. And don’t forget to review it when you beat it because we need a second Technomancer!    … Expand
  5. stefangl
    Jul 21, 2016
    8
    El juego es muy parecido a Mass Effect, en cuestion a el modo libre de poder interactuar con el mundo. TIene tambien un parecido a Dark Soul, donde encuentras un enemigo cada vez que caminas el mapa. No podemos decir que The technomacer sobre pasa estos dos juegos, pero vale el intento darle una oportunidad. Las graficas son buenas, el dialogo muchas veces no es muy bueno, la historia conEl juego es muy parecido a Mass Effect, en cuestion a el modo libre de poder interactuar con el mundo. TIene tambien un parecido a Dark Soul, donde encuentras un enemigo cada vez que caminas el mapa. No podemos decir que The technomacer sobre pasa estos dos juegos, pero vale el intento darle una oportunidad. Las graficas son buenas, el dialogo muchas veces no es muy bueno, la historia con el tiempo se va poniendo interesante. El combate en el juego es muy similar a los juegos de Batman; el juego es muy bueno, es casi un open world, deben de darne una oportunidad… Expand
  6. marcheur28
    Oct 15, 2016
    9
    Definitely: press have a big problem with AA title. Technomancer it's a true solid experience for an action / RPG game and it's a shame that the game had difficulties to just pass a metascore of "60" or over on Metacritic. In the market, I cant' even see a game that polished, that ambitious for a budget title. Technomancer offer a deep story, a great game system with many possibilities andDefinitely: press have a big problem with AA title. Technomancer it's a true solid experience for an action / RPG game and it's a shame that the game had difficulties to just pass a metascore of "60" or over on Metacritic. In the market, I cant' even see a game that polished, that ambitious for a budget title. Technomancer offer a deep story, a great game system with many possibilities and many way to personalize your character. Even the combat if you make caution to the game system can be very fun and challenging.
    Of course, there is problems like bugs, cameras issues, bad texturing or bad voice acting but for less than fifty dollars, you can get a game that will take you twenty-five hours for the main quest and fifty for all the content with a great replayability and a deep and interesting universe. Give it a try if you enjoy RPG and I can assure you: He worth it.

    This type of game are too rare for ignore this type of diamond in the rough.

    ( Sorry for my bad english, i'm not an native english speaker )    … Expand
  7. Nataraja
    Jun 29, 2016
    8
    Spiders has issues with introducing its games - everyone that I have played start out HORRIBLY and can be hard to take for the first few hours. If you can get past the typical rough edges and tough starts, the game will unfold into a decent RPG. It is usually best to wait for the games to go on sale - but I seem to NEVER take my own advice!

    GRAPHICS: Its a pretty game and really is    Spiders has issues with introducing its games - everyone that I have played start out HORRIBLY and can be hard to take for the first few hours. If you can get past the typical rough edges and tough starts, the game will unfold into a decent RPG. It is usually best to wait for the games to go on sale - but I seem to NEVER take my own advice!

    GRAPHICS: Its a pretty game and really is nicely developed to provide a good aesthetic although some of the character models are a bit funky looking.

    SOUND: Sound is well done with reasonable source to receptor variation and creates a decent atmosphere.

    SOUNDTRACK: Serviceable to good but not all that memorable - pretty standard sci-fi and cyberpunk riffs and ambient music.

    GAME PLAY: The controls are a little funky and it can be pretty "floaty" at times and it takes time to get used to. The AI is not the best but serviceable. Stealth is pretty worthless in the game and not implemented all that well but the combat, once you get used to it, is decent but could use some help in the targeting realm - like many melee action games it will default to the enemy closest to you, despite whomever you are locked onto and the camera control is wonky at times.

    STORY: An interesting story and intriguing enough to keep you playing through although the dialogue at times is cringe worthy.

    VOICE: Voice acting is all over the place - from good to downright awful - which is partially the script which is not consistent in terms of quality.

    REPLAYABILITY: It may be worth playing twice to see how it changes by making different choices.

    This game is definitely worth playing, but I would look for it on sale or rent it. If you do rent it, there is at least 40 hours of game play if you do the side quests and explore the areas fully, so it may be a 4 or 5 day rental depending on your time and interest in the game.    … Expand
  8. dchoover1987
    Jun 30, 2016
    3
    The Technomancer is plagued with poor design flaws, terrible execution and a horrible combat system. The game throws missions at you that are easily failable without you knowing you can fail them. I, for on, failed a "follow me" mission by straying to far behind from the NPC but being in perfect view range of the destination we were headed to. I see the character get to it...then disappearThe Technomancer is plagued with poor design flaws, terrible execution and a horrible combat system. The game throws missions at you that are easily failable without you knowing you can fail them. I, for on, failed a "follow me" mission by straying to far behind from the NPC but being in perfect view range of the destination we were headed to. I see the character get to it...then disappear and I failed. How? Or what about mission parameters failing once you turn them in to the mission giver and them saying you failed certain parameters? How is that possible? you have to complete the first mission parameter in order to even get to the second and so on. And don't even get me started on the combat. You will get ganged up on so quick it isn't even funny. And don't look to your lackeys to help...as this is hands down some of the worst partner NPC AI I have ever seen. Most of the time they freeze around a corner as combat starts, so you're left to deal with the entire battle alone (refer to my "get ganged up on" comment at this point). And the Auto Save feature will screw you so much. It auto saves on mission failure automatically.....and missions aren't repeatable. So, unless you save as you start each and every quest.....you will be reloading many many old saves. Oh, and the voice acting , camera angles and all around animations, in general, are cringe worthy at best. And this is one of those rare moments where the main characters voice actor is a talentless hack while some of the other voice actors are recognizable a-listers (reference to the Watcher Colonel guy). I was hoping this would be a great game (my mistake for not holding out and researching the companies history and the game itself)....but it's not. It's a low grade, mediocre failure that even large grade patching couldn't recover. DO NOT get this game......trust me. It will not get you your Mass Effect or Baulders Gate fix....or any other game that could easily outshadow this failure.… Expand
  9. Derf_Xephon
    Jul 1, 2016
    7
    I bought this game because I'm a huge sci-fi fan, love action RPGs, and liked the idea of supporting a developer that wants to make AAA games but isn't quite there yet. While I certainly don't regret my purchase, the game is noticeably rough in a lot of areas and feels like it needed to be in development a while longer to be fully realized.

    To give you a better idea of what I mean, here    I bought this game because I'm a huge sci-fi fan, love action RPGs, and liked the idea of supporting a developer that wants to make AAA games but isn't quite there yet. While I certainly don't regret my purchase, the game is noticeably rough in a lot of areas and feels like it needed to be in development a while longer to be fully realized.

    To give you a better idea of what I mean, here are some examples:

    - Of the three combat styles, the staff feels more developed and powerful than the others. Choosing one of the other two attack styles makes for a more frustrating experience at times.

    - Combat and movement are sluggish, with very noticeable delays between input and action on screen especially in hectic moments.

    - Companions give personal quests at odd times that can easily conflict with main story progression. This can lead to easily missed side objectives with companions, and cut scenes being shown out of sequence.

    - Quest goals can be unintuitive and nebulous at times. Occurs too often to simply write off as a design choice.

    - Certain climactic sequences quickly become anti-climactic in certain cut scenes.

    - Missions constantly have the player running back between the same two/three hubs to make the same arduous trips to talk to the same NPC instead of allowing the player to efficiently complete multiple goals in the same locations. This feels like a conscious decision on the part of the developers to lengthen the overall playtime.

    Despite all these flaws however, I did actually have fun playing this game. What The Technomancer lacks in polish it attempts to make up for in ambition. This game wants to be the next Mass Effect, and Spiders studio's love for their creation does come through. I commend them for trying to make this space (or rather Mars) opera without the budget of companies like EA or Ubisoft.

    In summation, if you're a sci-fi RPG junkie like me you'll probably enjoy your experience with this title. But if the above issues already have you worried or frustrated, give this one a pass or wait for a good sale.    … Expand
  10. SuperkenGaming
    Jun 30, 2016
    7
    The Technomancer
    Dragon Age in Space
    The Technomancer took me on a rollercoaster of emotions, and not necessarily in a good way... This game tells the story of a young technomancer living on mars… You eventually set out to find information on the planet earth… This is the games overall objective But of course there are others inhabiting mars that want this info as well.. They want    The Technomancer
    Dragon Age in Space
    The Technomancer took me on a rollercoaster of emotions, and not necessarily in a good way...
    This game tells the story of a young technomancer living on mars…
    You eventually set out to find information on the planet earth…
    This is the games overall objective
    But of course there are others inhabiting mars that want this info as well..
    They want access to the technomancer secrets
    Being a technomancer means that you have these awesome electrical powers that the other residents on mars don’t…
    You do get to customize your technomancer in the beginning as well as start to build your specific mancer based on your play style..
    You can be a warrior, rogue, or guardian…
    Basically you can choose quick close combat, quick and ranged combat, or guarded close combat...
    All of which can be switched to mid combat just by changing your fighting stance
    But you’re better off sticking to one style
    I personally dumped all of my skill points into the warrior and technomancer skill tree, upgraded my electrical powers and staff attacks…
    I wasn’t too big of a fan of the game during its first few hours..
    The amount of choices and skill perks were far too overwhelming for me to grasp at first, leaving me to believe that maybe introducing the skill tree at the start of the game wasn’t too great of an idea...
    youre practically asked to make a choice on something you have no idea about…
    But as the game went on, by hour 5 I was hooked…
    Leveling up felt satisfying and addicting as any good rpg should…
    The story also started to get its hooks in me as I was learning about all of the characters who enhabited mars.
    This game is most comparable to dragon age…
    This isn’t necessarily an open world game, but an open hub game where you travel from hub to hub to complete tasks and take out enemies along your way for xp and loot…
    You also have the choice to drain your fallen enemies for serum which is a currency on mars...
    The only issue though is that doing this will kill that person and life is still valued on mars... and doing so will give you bad karma…
    And all of this may seem like it doesn’t matter, but much like dragon age you also have companions with you..
    You can bring any 2 along and change their weapon and gear, but they pay attention to every choice you make as you play the game, and if they don’t agree with your decisions they can and will leave you...
    So if you do get attached to any of your companions make sure you listen to them and try to stay on their good side..
    Which can be done by helping carry out their requests in side missions, or to choose the answer they feel is best during a main quest...
    The best is that their kills do count towards your xp, so they never feel like they get in the way of your progress and are great to have by your side….
    My biggest issues with this game is its combat and lack of overall variety…
    Combat is probably the least satisfying aspect of this game…
    You do have awesome moves depending on the skills you choose to unlock, but the weapons stay the same throughout just with different stats... you can upgrade your weapons through crafting, but even if you pour your skill points into crafting you still have to find the diagrams to craft a new part… and the world really isn’t engaging enough to want to go out and do this…
    Because by hour 15 of 25 this game really starts to get boring as it takes your nowhere new
    you’ll go to 3 different hub cities throughout the games campaign but for all 25 hours you’re going back and forth between the same 3 places….
    You literally get a task, complete it, are told to return to a city to update your progress, then are told to go back to the same place to do something else, then told to comeback, then you’re told to go to a different place, complete, come back, go back to the first place comeback rinse and repeat for 25 hours…
    I got so tired of walking through the same paths over and over…the scenery literally doesn’t change from hour 1 to hour 25 other than the city you return to to turn your mission progress in..
    And the worst is you have to fight the exact same enemies in the exact same place over and over and over…
    and the combat itself can feel super cheap and frustrating at times and is really trash…
    The hit detection is straight up garbage..
    Enemies don’t really have a block animation.. Your attacks just sometimes won’t do damage when you can clearly see your staff going right through them…
    This poor hit detection greatly hinders any sense of satisfaction as you pull off cool moves and dodge your enemy’s attacks…
    Meanwhile you don’t have this luxury…
    if their weapon hits you - you’re taking damage no questions asked…
    And any area can definitely have you out numbered with multiple heavies or ranged enemies which will lead to constant deaths even on the games easiest difficulty...
    And if you do die in the middle of a city you have to restart from where you entered the city, and guess what?
    Fight the enemies you already fought...
    This can thankfully be overcome by manually saving after you complete an enemy encounter as this game only AutoSaves when you climb a ladder or open a door….
    But when you come back later they will be back...
    Even if you kill them…
    Honestly I think choosing to kill for the bad karma but in return not having to deal with that creature or human enemy anymore would’ve really made the choice of kill or not much more meaningful and consequential… But unfortunately, this choice doesn’t go that deep… The combat highlight is definitely the games bosses… But you don’t have to do much to defeat them other than spam attacks and dodge… Every encounter especially the final encounters all ultimately feel anti-climactic… There’s a lot to do in the technomancer… There’s just not enough variety to want to do it all… I Give the Technomancer a 6.5/10    … Expand
  11. SpunkyMonkey
    Feb 20, 2017
    9
    Brilliant. Whilst it hasn't got the polish or smoothness of Mass Effect, it's definitely up there with it for quality RPG enjoyment. What the game does so well is give you that immersive feel to lose yourself in through great music, great environments, and a fresh feeling plot. But it doesn't stop there, that is also backed up by cracking combat (although character build does affect that -Brilliant. Whilst it hasn't got the polish or smoothness of Mass Effect, it's definitely up there with it for quality RPG enjoyment. What the game does so well is give you that immersive feel to lose yourself in through great music, great environments, and a fresh feeling plot. But it doesn't stop there, that is also backed up by cracking combat (although character build does affect that - and playing as a Rogue made my experience a lot more enjoyable) and interesting characters. The missions and whole game feel episodic, and the relationship which you develop between your commanders, companions and other characters become the real focus of the game alongside political shifts, with the missions serving as a great vehicle to bind all that together. It's a criminally underrated game, and personally I've found it to be the best Xbox One game which I've played so far. It's definitely flawed, and there are jarring moments which highlight the gulf between this & an AAA game. But they are fairly rare, whereas the "man this is awesome" moments are a lot more common. If you like action-RPGs this is simply a must buy.… Expand
  12. ortizarmy81
    Jun 29, 2016
    7
    I really want to love this game. It really seems to be a good game so far but most of the reviewers are correct. It could be a Xbox 360 or PS3 game concerning the graphics. I think the story so far is good and there is a lot to learn about. The controls are pretty ruff and the fighting is not easy at all. I am just starting, and once you are in the first city the "thugs" are really kickingI really want to love this game. It really seems to be a good game so far but most of the reviewers are correct. It could be a Xbox 360 or PS3 game concerning the graphics. I think the story so far is good and there is a lot to learn about. The controls are pretty ruff and the fighting is not easy at all. I am just starting, and once you are in the first city the "thugs" are really kicking my butt! I'm playing on EASY and it's NOT! I am not going to quit on this game but unless you love games like Mass Effect or Witcher then take a pass because you will not like it with all of these weak points.

    The story is good so far and the idea of the game is cool but it seems like a game that was rushed or missing like $200,000 more to get it polished.    … Expand
  13. TheQuietGamer
    Aug 22, 2019
    7
    Back in 2013 developer Spiders released the downloadable RPG known as Mars: War Logs. It was a flawed, low-budget title that was clearly trying to ape the works of BioWare at a fraction of the scale. It succeeded rather admirably considering how small the project was, and showed what potential Spiders could have if they were given the financial freedom to more fully chase their ambitions.Back in 2013 developer Spiders released the downloadable RPG known as Mars: War Logs. It was a flawed, low-budget title that was clearly trying to ape the works of BioWare at a fraction of the scale. It succeeded rather admirably considering how small the project was, and showed what potential Spiders could have if they were given the financial freedom to more fully chase their ambitions.

    Three years later and out came The Technomancer. An indirect sequel that sees them revisiting the world they created on Mars, only this time backed by more money. It's not a triple-A production by any means (more like double-A), but they were certainly able to create a much better game as a result. However, The Technomancer isn't quite a true success story. Some of War Logs' issues are still hanging around. So rather that being the title that cements Spiders reputation as one of the RPG greats, it's more of just another step in the right direction that shows off their increasing skill as a developer and what heights they could reach later on down the road.

    By far the game's greatest strengths lie in its world and story. Set on a version of the red planet that's plagued by an endless war between corporations over water, you play as the newest inductee into a group of powerful warriors with a pretty big secret to hide. What follows is a lot of treachery and backstabbing that sees you on the run with a group of interesting, if a tad underdeveloped companions and getting involved with various factions across Mars. Interesting stuff, and thanks to the excellent amount of player choice I really felt like I made a significant impact on the planet by the time the credits rolled.

    The areas you'll discover and explore are quite memorable and full of personality. Although they aren't the prettiest to look at. The Technomancer's graphics are certainly dated. Characters animations are stiff and awkward during gameplay, and the fact that only their mouths move during conversations make everyone you come in contact with look a little plastic.

    When it comes to defining your own playstyle you really get to see how deep the game's RPG mechanics are. Multiple branching skill trees allow you to outfit yourself with a variety of interesting abilities and buffs. The combat system also has a lot of flexibility as it lets you switch between four different styles on the fly. Unfortunately, neither of these elements are able to shine like they should do to some troubling balance issues.

    I started the game off on normal, but quickly had to switch it to easy just to make any progress. The default difficulty setting is the equivalent of nightmare mode in any other game. No matter how much you level up even the basic enemy types can decimate in only a few hits while you're only able to continuously chip away at their seemingly much larger health bars while hoping to not die from an attack you just didn't see coming. I thought technomancers were supposed to be tough?

    But even when I lowered the difficulty I wasn't exactly having a blast. Unfortunately easy mode turned out to be too, well, easy. Outside of a few boss and mini-boss encounters I was largely able to button mash my way through every fight. So I never really felt the need to experiment with all of the different styles and powers I had at my disposal. A shame because the combat system is really great on paper and the environments are littered with enemy encounters so it's not like you can really avoid fighting. With no comfortable difficulty setting to choose from, two of the game's best features are never able to be fully taken advantage of, and that's what makes The Technomancer disappointing.

    Spiders fell just short of greatness with this one. Their most admirable effort to date is held back by last gen visuals, poor balancing, and technical issues. Their are also some design flaws like the one that locked out of completing one of my companion's quest threads because apparently you only have one of those going at once and there was no dialog option to go back and get it from them later on. Yet, this is still a genuinely good RPG. It's clear that player choice was the central focus in every aspect of its design and that's what drives people to play these kind of games in the first place. Spiders definitely needs to continue refining their technique, because if they learn their lessons here they could very become the genre's next household name.

    7.5/10    … Expand
  14. closedsocket
    Dec 22, 2016
    6
    Technomancer, you were almost great! Man, what could have been. Technomancer does a lot of things right, and a lot of things very close to great, but falls short almost every time. The game reminds me of an early Bioshock game, very early. You have choices, but you never feel like your choices have meaning. What really drags the game down is the difficulty. The game is frustratinglyTechnomancer, you were almost great! Man, what could have been. Technomancer does a lot of things right, and a lot of things very close to great, but falls short almost every time. The game reminds me of an early Bioshock game, very early. You have choices, but you never feel like your choices have meaning. What really drags the game down is the difficulty. The game is frustratingly difficult on normal, and manageable on easy. I don't mind difficult games, as long as they are fair. There is nothing fair about giving enemies assault rifles that can kill you before you can get to them, while the only gun you have fires three shots before overheating. I played this game much later than it released, so I am not sure how release copies were, but I didn't see any frame drops during play. I also thought the graphics were great. While character graphics and animations were average, the environments were massive and well designed. Many times I would catch myself looking at the sky just to take in all the level of detail the developers put into the game. Characters have a lot of personality, that develops over the course of the story. The game has no fast travel and instead makes you walk back and fourth between the same locations, over and over again. The biggest problems with Technomancer, in my opinion, is the unfair difficulty, the forced back tracking, and the short length (for the triple A price, it was perfect for the $15 I spent)… Expand
  15. Broyax
    Apr 11, 2020
    0
    "Spiders" le petit studio français qui aimerait faire comme les grands mais ainsi que la grenouille enflant désespérément pour ressembler à un boeuf, Spiders n'est qu'une toute petite araignée un peu con qui se prend les papattes dans sa propre toile...

    Et quel exemple plus frappant que ce "Technomancer" martien qui fait le fier-à-bras et se croit jeu de rôle avec certes quelques bases    "Spiders" le petit studio français qui aimerait faire comme les grands mais ainsi que la grenouille enflant désespérément pour ressembler à un boeuf, Spiders n'est qu'une toute petite araignée un peu con qui se prend les papattes dans sa propre toile...

    Et quel exemple plus frappant que ce "Technomancer" martien qui fait le fier-à-bras et se croit jeu de rôle avec certes quelques bases ici mais qui ne maîtrise finalement rien du tout ! car on a ici qu'une ébauche (au mieux) de jeu de rôle où tout est mal implémenté, mal développé, mal fichu, mal présenté, mal pensé, mal conçu...

    Seuls les graphismes sont présentables et d'assez bon aloi mais en ce qui concerne le reste... l"interface générale, maladroite par exemple, peu claire ; le système de combat tarabiscoté et bancal avec 3 "postures" différentes (?) mais bien trop semblables pour un résultat identique en fait : bourrinage de base alors qu'on doit se dépatouiller avec des commandes pas intuitives du tout et mal disposées.

    Le monde lui-même... c'est Mars, vraiment ? c'est ballot et raplaplat ; l'histoire on la cherche encore, les voix ne sont qu'en anglais... On erre de toute façon dans une espèce de hangar géant très sombre, mal éclairé... et on en sort quand de ce truc ? moi qui croyais qu'il s'agissait juste d'un prologue mais il faut au contraire se coltiner des quêtes tartes et répétitives dans ce hangar vide et insipide... et puis, c'est quoi ces monstres géants ? on est où là, dans une japoniaiserie à la con ?

    On pourrait continuer longtemps à énumérer tout ce qui ne va pas dans cet ersatz de jeu vidéo mais ce serait du temps perdu. Il faut tenter de recycler ce qui peut l'être (le boîtier) et balancer le reste dans le broyeur.    … Expand
  16. cableguy3333
    May 10, 2019
    8
    Great RPG many choices how to finish missions that do have an effect on the game. Graphics are Ok , not great not bad, controls are a bit clunky especially when looting. Combat is tough don't expect an assassins creed face roll combat system, dodge is important that's all I'm going to say. If you normaly play your games on hard or insane levels you will enjoy the challenge of this game, ifGreat RPG many choices how to finish missions that do have an effect on the game. Graphics are Ok , not great not bad, controls are a bit clunky especially when looting. Combat is tough don't expect an assassins creed face roll combat system, dodge is important that's all I'm going to say. If you normaly play your games on hard or insane levels you will enjoy the challenge of this game, if you enjoy face roll game combat ( extremely easy ) then steer well clear of this game, you probably wont get past the first enemy. I will say game starts to lose it's appeal towards the end of the game and probably wont make you want to replay it even though there are many more outcomes but certainly worth atleast one playthrough… Expand
  17. AlvaroMx02
    Aug 30, 2019
    9
    I played this game twice, and I can say that it is a very interesting result for a RPG, the title has its defects (like the graphics, specifically on the facial expressions of the characters, besides, the slow combat system; but it becomes faster once you get the upgrades) the secondary missions become a funny part of the game sometimes, but theprogress through the game
  18. Pasifull
    May 7, 2020
    8
    Feels like an console launch title. Tonnes of great ideas and good direction. However, near constant technical limitations/wobbles remind you that this is probably a shadow of the game the creators wanted it to be.
  19. Borschkovski
    Jun 30, 2016
    6
    From what little I've played of it the combat is solid enough and the menus and such are intuitive, but the plot is something out of a mediocre YA novel, the graphics would look more at home in 2008 than 2016, and there's some serious framerate drops at least in the Xbox One version.
  20. Kirst0ne
    Jul 26, 2016
    6
    The game is mildly enjoyable, even if the combat is quite obnoxious on a multitude of occasions. Biggest problem this game has is, that even though the basic story is an interesting premise, the characters you encounter are so flat and uninteresting that you don't care about them other than the meat shield capacity. Second issue is the sheer amount of time you spend running from point AThe game is mildly enjoyable, even if the combat is quite obnoxious on a multitude of occasions. Biggest problem this game has is, that even though the basic story is an interesting premise, the characters you encounter are so flat and uninteresting that you don't care about them other than the meat shield capacity. Second issue is the sheer amount of time you spend running from point A to point B back to point A, only to turn around and guess what, go back to point B.… Expand
  21. Gman117
    Sep 2, 2019
    9
    DONT LISTEN TO CRITICS

    The Technomancer is a great game especially for being developed by a small company (Spiders). The same thing happened to Bound By Flame which was actually a very good RPG game yet got crapped on by reviewers. If you loved the Mass Effect series back in 2007 and 2010 (1, and 2) you will like this game. Now not as epic or detailed like the ME universe it is still a    DONT LISTEN TO CRITICS

    The Technomancer is a great game especially for being developed by a small company (Spiders). The same thing happened to Bound By Flame which was actually a very good RPG game yet got crapped on by reviewers. If you loved the Mass Effect series back in 2007 and 2010 (1, and 2) you will like this game. Now not as epic or detailed like the ME universe it is still a worthy experience. It's not too long and not too short, it is well consolidated and keeps your attention.
    The story is really interesting and the characters very memorable like Bound By Flame's cast. They're funny, or mysterious, loyal, or very intelligent. The voice acting isn't perfect but I'd say 85-90% of it is well done and fit the individual characters spot on.
    There is only the option to have a customizable male character but this isn't that important. The male character has a good voice, and can be as badass as you want him to be. The main attraction is the kind of weapons you can use, daggers is OP honestly but very fun to use, using a staff is great if you want to really embrace the Technomancer school of peace, there's also a gun class which is cool. Some of the side quest are fetch quest but most of it is reasonable. The main quest are very interesting and gives you the feeling like your choices matter. The journey through the game is great and one of the best parts are the settings. From a high tyrannical futuristic city, to slums, to the dry arid desert of mars, to a colony of merchants with Arabian like influence, to a village of mutants who act as tribes.
    Just give this game a shot, it's cheap now digitally and physically. It's worth your time and keep an eye on the little company Spiders, they hold a lot of potential.    … Expand
  22. mynameiscalled
    Jan 15, 2022
    4
    Budget-mode Dragon Age with Mass Effect theme.

    Game consists of maze-like cities, sounds exciting? It’s really not - you can’t do much in them except run to NPCs, kill same mobs all over again while doing it, and loot generic chests and lockers that have mostly the same common loot in them. Story-wise the game is okay - Nothing will blow your mind, but for me, the story was the only    Budget-mode Dragon Age with Mass Effect theme.

    Game consists of maze-like cities, sounds exciting? It’s really not - you can’t do much in them except run to NPCs, kill same mobs all over again while doing it, and loot generic chests and lockers that have mostly the same common loot in them.

    Story-wise the game is okay - Nothing will blow your mind, but for me, the story was the only reason I got to finish this game in the first place.

    Played this game over a course of a week - had hard time picking up the controller to continue it at times - end was rushed just so I could tick this game off my list. Not much to enjoy. I will give it a 4 thanks to the story that saved the game a bit.    … Expand
  23. Morados9
    Dec 31, 2022
    8
    Uno de mis juegos favoritos que he jugado este año. La historia me ha parecido expectacular y el personaje tiene ese aspecto varonil y entrañable que me sedujo desde el minuto uno. Evidentemente yo siempre elijo las relaciones con chicos.

Awards & Rankings

44
#44 Most Discussed Xbox One Game of 2016
43
#43 Most Shared Xbox One Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
68

Mixed or average reviews - based on 12 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 12
  3. Negative: 0 out of 12
  1. Pelit (Finland)
    Sep 28, 2016
    76
    Great fighting system, but game suffers from lackluster manuscript and voice acting. [Aug 2016]
  2. Official Xbox Magazine UK
    Aug 13, 2016
    50
    There's promise but The Technomancer just can't get away from well-worn genre conventions. [Sept 2016, p.84]
  3. MondoXbox
    Jul 16, 2016
    77
    A good an passion-infused cyberpunk RPG, witdh great landscapes and a good multi-approach combat system. Unluckily the game gets dragged down by a flawed technical production, with many graphical flaws and unconvincing animations, and some bad design choices like the heavy backtracking.
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