The long journey that began sometime in late 2012 ended this morning with the release of Torment: Tides of Numenera, inXile's Planescape: Torment thematic successor and their second game of the crowdfunding era. For the Codex, it's been a tumultuous journey indeed. For a long time, Torment was our most anticipated title by far, buoyed by our faith in its development team, veterans of both Planescape: Torment (Colin McComb, Adam Heine) and its quasi-successor Neverwinter Nights 2: Mask of the Betrayer (Kevin Saunders, George Ziets). Their lengthy and ambitious Kickstarter updates excited our imaginations.

Yet as development dragged on and on, that faith grew brittle. And when the blows came, it began to crack. The mysterious departure of game director Kevin Saunders. The partnership with Polish publisher Techland. The announcement of a multiplatform release. The late discovery of cut stretch goal content. Above all, the capricious and wholly unjustified cancellation of our Gamescom interview. All of these things have led to a release day fraught with cynicism and trepidation. It didn't have to be this way, and I hope to discover one day why it was.

But as for today, Torment is finally here. Here's its launch trailer:



I'll be updating this post with a list of release day reviews. The game is reviewing rather well, with an average score in the mid-80s. Most of the less positive reviews are PS4 reviews complaining about performance issues. And then there's that Greek review which, uh, well, you'll see.

Torment: Tides of Numenera is available now on Steam and GOG for $45. Hopefully our review (or reviews) won't be a long time coming.