Game News Torment: Tides of Numenera Released

[Infinitron]

Tags: Brian Fargo; Colin McComb; InXile Entertainment; Torment: Tides of Numenera

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.

Eurogamer Recommended
PC Gamer 89/100
PCGamesN 9/10
Rock Paper Shotgun Recommended
PCWorld 4.5/5
PC Invasion 7/10
IGN 8.8/10
Game Informer 8.5/10
Kotaku
Destructoid 7.5/10
GameWatcher 9/10
TechRaptor 8.5/10
MMORPG.com 8.6/10
USgamer 4/5
The Guardian 4/5
Ragequit.gr 6/10
GameCrate 8.75/10
WCCFtech 9/10
Twinfinite 4.5/5
GameSkinny 9/10
God is a Geek 9/10
COGConnected 80/10
GameSpace 8.7/10
VideoGamer 8/10
SA Gamer 9.4/10
CGMagazine 9.5/10
GameCritics
Critical Hit 8.5/10
The Digital Fix 9/10
RPG Site 8/10
The Overpowered Noobs 9/10
Gaming Nexus 8.8/10
Paste Magazine 8.5/10
Game Revolution 4.5/5
​

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.

 

[l3loodAngel]

I am warning you, don't look. You autistic spergs may experience seizures, foaming mouth and strokes.

Spoiler

TEH GAME HAS AN UI!!!

Now breathe retards, breathe.

 

[Drowed]

What can change the nature of decline?

Spoiler

Probably Larian.

 

[M0RBUS]

Played it for an hour already, seems promising, and the writing is tamed but still takes itself seriously. Also really like the dialog tree structures. They're not as extensive as Tyranny's, but I think it helps the dialogs stay more concise.
Of course one hour of gameplay is basically the intro It's only after you're done with that that you can save.

That said, if you skip all the reading, it's only like 3 minutes.

 

[---]

Where's my "meh" button?
I need it to rate Infinitron's post

 

[Goral]

I expect Darth Roxor review that will say:

That’s right, I even had more fun with Pillars of Eternity

 

[Infinitron]

You're likely to get a Prime Junta review that says that, but I guess that wouldn't be the same.

 

[felipepepe]

DAT GREEK REVIEW:

Any comparisons to the gorgeous dialogue exchanges of Torment or its sense of immersion in harsh, alien worlds are painfully in the favour of a game now 18 years old. In my 23 hours with Numenera (and that is including all possible side quests) I had the constant sensation of wandering between a super detailed encyclopaedia's pages which ultimately, told no story at all.

A bare bones character creation process with 90% of all skills presented, being completely and utterly, useless. The UI itself looks like it was designed by a Computer Science student on the eve of his thesis deadline, seeing double and being half-crazy with sleep deprivation.

The litany of terrors does not end here, as "Oddities" have been included as well. These are some "super weird" items that come into our possession in the course of our adventure and have the power to do, brace yourselves, absolutely nothing. You read that right. inXile's official excuse on this is that they "add colour and character to the game's world". My soul is broken inXile, I'm off to add cognac to my coffee and I'll be right back to continue writing this obituary.

When Assassin's Creed: Syndicate contains more meaningful character development than a game called Torment: Tides of Numenera, you know that you are in serious, very serious trouble.

When you consider that Pillars of Eternity, with significantly fewer funds at its budget delivered a gorgeous "audio-visual" combo, Numenera is naked and plain inexcusable.

The game's endings are strictly pre-defined and the choice is given to you via a horribly Mass Effect-esque finale sequence that will have purists frothing at the mouth at the sacrilege. We have an extremely linear, short game that may offer the illusion of three or four different choices when it comes to quest resolution but is actually taking us from point A to point B to point C with surgical precision. Compared to Torment, this is infantile.

The only good things I remember from this game are two very well-written side quests as well as the refreshingly well-conceived NPC character of Rhin, who is truly wasted in this irredeemable fiasco

Someone invite this guy to the Codex. This is some 11/10 outrage.

 

[zioburosky13]

and it came out when everyone is on tight budget

 

[Infinitron]

felipepepe What if he's here already?

I like the part where he's potentially calling some of his own readers "autistic orcs".

 

[Lurker King]

The UI itself looks like it was designed by a Computer Science student on the eve of his thesis deadline, seeing double and being half-crazy with sleep deprivation.

sea, do you have any thoughts on this matter?

 

[Darth Roxor]

I expect Darth Roxor review that will say:

That’s right, I even had more fun with Pillars of Eternity

darth roxor official review:

tworment was so good i refunded it

 

[himmy]

DAT GREEK REVIEW:

Any comparisons to the gorgeous dialogue exchanges of Torment or its sense of immersion in harsh, alien worlds are painfully in the favour of a game now 18 years old. In my 23 hours with Numenera (and that is including all possible side quests) I had the constant sensation of wandering between a super detailed encyclopaedia's pages which ultimately, told no story at all.

A bare bones character creation process with 90% of all skills presented, being completely and utterly, useless. The UI itself looks like it was designed by a Computer Science student on the eve of his thesis deadline, seeing double and being half-crazy with sleep deprivation.

The litany of terrors does not end here, as "Oddities" have been included as well. These are some "super weird" items that come into our possession in the course of our adventure and have the power to do, brace yourselves, absolutely nothing. You read that right. inXile's official excuse on this is that they "add colour and character to the game's world". My soul is broken inXile, I'm off to add cognac to my coffee and I'll be right back to continue writing this obituary.

When Assassin's Creed: Syndicate contains more meaningful character development than a game called Torment: Tides of Numenera, you know that you are in serious, very serious trouble.

When you consider that Pillars of Eternity, with significantly fewer funds at its budget delivered a gorgeous "audio-visual" combo, Numenera is naked and plain inexcusable.

The game's endings are strictly pre-defined and the choice is given to you via a horribly Mass Effect-esque finale sequence that will have purists frothing at the mouth at the sacrilege. We have an extremely linear, short game that may offer the illusion of three or four different choices when it comes to quest resolution but is actually taking us from point A to point B to point C with surgical precision. Compared to Torment, this is infantile.

The only good things I remember from this game are two very well-written side quests as well as the refreshingly well-conceived NPC character of Rhin, who is truly wasted in this irredeemable fiasco

Someone invite this guy to the Codex. This is some 11/10 outrage.

The game is an unmitigated disaster, a travesty and an offence to me and my family.

6/10.



I guess angry Greek journalism is still journalism.

 

[Goral]

Someone invite this guy to the Codex.

Supposedly he goes by "Vult" name on Bethesda forums :].

 

[Kem0sabe]

A lot of those positive reviews are from posers trying to get some rpg creed for having played a game with a lot of text... disgusting.

 

[sstacks]

Played it for an hour already, seems promising, and the writing is tamed but still takes itself seriously. Also really like the dialog tree structures. They're not as extensive as Tyranny's, but I think it helps the dialogs stay more concise.
Of course one hour of gameplay is basically the intro It's only after you're done with that that you can save.

That said, if you skip all the reading, it's only like 3 minutes.

That's my only gripe so far, it took over an hour to get to a point where I could save. Aside from that, very interesting and smooth game.

 

[sstacks]

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.

​

​

I expected it to trend higher based on what I had seen and heard of the game so far... but there is buzz, and then there is the game itself.

 

[sstacks]

felipepepe What if he's here already?

I like the part where he's potentially calling some of his own readers "autistic orcs".

I thought all classic CRPG fans were autistic orcs? Autistic orcs with neckbeards? I dunno.

 

[himmy]

A lot of those positive reviews are from posers trying to get some rpg creed for having played a game with a lot of text... disgusting.

And many of the negative ones are from people trying to prove how much better their understanding of the genre is. Like that edgy Greek fellow who seems to mainly be upset his Nameless One waifu pillow will ignore him now that he played another game called Torment.

 

[ArchAngel]

Someone invite this guy to the Codex.

Supposedly he goes by "Vult" name on Bethesda forums :].

Are you sure it is not by name Todd? :D

 

[sstacks]

By the way if anyone gives half a rat's ballsack, I'm doing a TTON Let's Play series over in the Shane Plays LPs and Interviews thread.

 

[Turok]

Pure Gold

 

[ArchAngel]

By the way if anyone gives half a rat's ballsack, I'm doing a TTON Let's Play series over in the Shane Plays LPs and Interviews thread.

I still have not forgiven you for pushing that Sword Coast Legends shit...

 

[Humanity has risen!]

As I suspected, the Numegaya setting helps make things quite worse. What a stupid piece of shit this system was. Everyone I knew who tried it stopped playing it after 2-3 times.

 

[Geisler]

Well, the dex sure is rushing out to play this fuckin turd.

Spoiler