Torment: Tides of Numenera Review
Cerebral isometric RPG
I n this classic RPG you play the Last Castoff, a human host who’s been well — cast-off, displaced by the changing God; an ancient being who sheds his bodies like a pair of used underpants. Set in the fantasy world of Numenera, this spiritual successor to Planescape: Torment Features good ol’ fashioned isometric gameplay and multiple campaigns that’ll keep you reading for hours. You explore an expansive world full of strange creatures, weird technology, and cryptic lore that adds up to one surreal game — just make sure you bring your reading glasses.
In retrospect:
Torment: Tides of Numerera is a very cerebral take on an isometric RPG, set in a strange universe that focuses heavily on exploration above anything else. The story, although hard to follow at times does yield a unique narrative that’s full of dense lore and character arcs. Indeed, you won’t find an Elf, Dwarf or Knight in this game but other fantasy classes take their place instead such as Glaive, Jack, and Nano broadly corresponding to the three main stats; Might, Speed and Intellect. The cleverly crafted dialogue and strange environments transport you to a surreal world which has none of the normal fantasy tropes prevalent with other games in this genre.
There’s something satisfying about its vivid writing style which goes some way to replacing the lack of spoken dialogue and every conversation is lavishly described, painting a unique picture of this world. The game contains six companions in total: Aligern, Callistege, Erritis, Matkina, Tybir, and Rhin. Each can accompany you on your journey depending on the choices you make during the game. The turn-based combat isn’t its strong point but I don’t think it’s supposed to be as this game favors discovery above combat, and there are many different ways you can advance the story without fighting if you choose.
Although Torment: Tides of Numenera has an expansive story, this is also its downfall. Sometimes it feels so bloated with technobabble about ancient artifacts and different species that you feel like your head might explode, or at the very least you’ll get a major headache. However, if you enjoy dense storytelling and don’t mind putting in the hard work then you’ll probably get a lot from it. The game also involves a lot of traveling from one location to another, and would greatly benefit from a map which you could use to locate the different places as you discover them but unfortunately, like many other things it was left out.
You choose your character type early in the game from a host of doppelgangers and there are many instances of unique twists on old ideas sprinkled throughout the game. Your responses to in-game dialogue are determined by a complicated interaction system called Tides.
- Blue Tide: Represents wisdom, enlightenment, and mysticism.
- Red Tide: Represents passion, emotion, action, and zeal.
- Indigo Tide: Represents justice, compromise, and the greater good.
- Gold Tide: Represents charity, sacrifice, and empathy.
- Silver Tide: Represents admiration of power and seekers of fame.
All tides are linked to actions that ultimately determine how the story unfolds.
The game is written by Monte Cook who develops traditional tabletop RPG games and their rule mechanics sometimes feel at odds with the game’s playability as your decisions aren’t always apparent until much later. Considering the game was in development from 2013 until its release in 2017; the game characters look very generic which feels at odds with the colorful artistic representation of Numenera and I have seen better characters on older games. However, the levels are nicely designed and the isometric character graphics are better if you don’t zoom in with the controller.
Pros:
- Unique story-driven mechanics
- Plenty of locations.
- Non-linear game play
Cons:
- Not enough spoken dialogue
- Poor combat mechanics
- Generic looking characters
Verdict:
Torment: Tides of Numerera feels like a visual novel rather than an RPG at times which is no surprise since it’s written by Monte Cook games. However, not all this transfers well to a cohesive game and there are elements that feel unfinished. It lacks certain flourishes in the form of animation and spoken character dialogue and some locations feel so abstract and surreal it’s difficult to feel like they’re grounded any kind of reality. However, if you like strange character-driven stories with lashings of exposition and dialogue then this game is worth checking out.
Created by: InXile Entertainment
Distributed by: Techland
Game play: +40 hrs
Rating: 6/10
Follow Oggie on Twitter: @OggieBoy1
Follow Oggie on Facebook: OggieBoy40
Follow Oggie on Reddit: u/OggiePlays
*I receive a small commission from affiliate links*
If you want to know how I mark my reviews please see my Scoring system.
