Review AdventureDex: Primordia vs Tormentum - Dark Sorrow: Which is Better and Why?

[DarkUnderlord]

Tags: OhNoo! Studio; Primordia; Tormentum - Dark Sorrow; Which is Better and Why?; Wormwood Studios

Would you like to go on an adventure? We decide to take a look at two adventure games: Primordia, the two year old creation from Wormwood Studios, and Tormentum - Dark Sorrow, the as yet unreleased adventure from OhNoo! Studios:

Primordia starts off with your character (a robot), and your robotic companion, being attacked by another rather seemingly simple-minded robot which takes your power core. It all snowballs from there. Part of Primordia's charm is that it doesn't give much away either in the way of its story up-front. In order to understand what's going on, you must explore and solve puzzles. With each puzzle revealing a small piece of the larger puzzle that drives you through-out the game: Who am I, and what am I doing here? And even, what happened in this place?

[...] Tormentum, sadly, just doesn't have the same drive. You start off captured in prison. You escape... and... keep escaping... or something... It "makes sense" in the end but while Primordia's world has you wanting to know what happened, Tormentum just never really bothers. There are no hints dropped or clues to be found. No signs you can look at and think "That's actually a number... not a name." or "I wonder what that means?". In fact, if anything, Tormentum down-right sins when it comes to Adventure gaming.

It gives the puzzle away.​

Read more!: AdventureDex: Primordia vs Tormentum - Dark Sorrow: Which is Better and Why?

 

[felipepepe]

Cool, about time MRY's game got some spotlight here. Shame about Tormentum, looking at screenshots the graphics and atmosphere look really cool, but that alone doesn't make a game. :/

 

[ghostdog]

Nice, but it would have been better if this was only a primordia review/article. It's a great adventure game that deserves more recognition.

 

[Talby]

I heartily endorse this event and/or product.

 

[MRY]

Cool, about time MRY's game got some spotlight here.

If anything, I feel the Codex has been overgenerous with Primordia (and me!) -- there's Roxor's long and excellent LP, a number of tweets about sales, the long interview they did with me and Steven, and the opportunity to go to the Wasteland launch party, which (as I've said) was like an exceedingly pleasant dream. Not that I'm complaining!

That said, I feel a little bit low about Primodia being used as a comparison point to criticize Tormentum. While I certainly have my rivalries (grr Gemini Rue!), I suspect the Tormentum guys are just getting the sea legs and will continue to make great stuff. The art is there -- although I think they could benefit from not having everything in the scene at the same LOD/focus/lighting (it feels a little bit off in that respect) -- and I think they're going in the right direction. I'm sure we've not heard the last of them, provided they don't run out of potatoes / aren't sent to Siberia by a revanchist Putin.

 

[Luckra]

Primordia really deserves all the love it can get!
I didn't heard about Tormentum before, does anyone have any idea about the price at release? For a less than 4 hours experience, I'll wait for a heavy discount.

 

[felipepepe]

That said, I feel a little bit low about Primodia being used as a comparison point to criticize Tormentum. While I certainly have my rivalries (grr Gemini Rue!), I suspect the Tormentum guys are just getting the sea legs and will continue to make great stuff. The art is there -- although I think they could benefit from not having everything in the scene at the same LOD/focus/lighting (it feels a little bit off in that respect) -- and I think they're going in the right direction. I'm sure we've not heard the last of them, provided they don't run out of potatoes / aren't sent to Siberia by a revanchist Putin.

You're still somewhat new here, so I understand that. But rules are rules man. You won fair and square, and now you must cut their heads and eat their hearts - we must strengthen those willing to fight against the forces of Decline. Check your inbox, Bee should send their contact info & location soon.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

That said, I feel a little bit low about Primodia being used as a comparison point to criticize Tormentum.

This is just the first in a series of articles under a new category we're calling "Primordia vs Everything". Up next: Wasteland 2.

 

[MicoSelva]

Good to see you have decided to include Primordia in an official content piece, DarkUnderlord. This game can always use more publicity.
Crispin is also one of my favourite sidekicks ever, so

As for Tormentum - meh.

EDIT: 10.5 hours to beat Primordia? That is kind of long. i think I clicked on everything I could (although I was not able to solve everything) and it took me about six hours, maybe?

 

[MRY]

You're still somewhat new here, so I understand that. But rules are rules man. You won fair and square, and now you must cut their heads and eat their hearts - we must strengthen those willing to fight against the forces of Decline. Check your inbox, Bee should send their contact info & location soon.

Wait, if I knew I got to eat their hearts, I would have felt entirely differently about this. By all means, plane tickets!

--EDIT--
This is also neither here nor there, but my two-year-old daughter looked at the Codex troll in the top left (carrying the D20) and said, "Daddy, what's that?" I pause to try to figure out how to explain. "Oh wait!" she shouts. "That's me!"

Bow down to your White Rose.

 

[MicoSelva]

Bow down to your White Rose.

Plane of Fear was the most interesting place in the whole series. I wish settings like that were more utilised in games.

 

[DwarvenFood]

Isn't the White Rose a character from the Black Company originally ?

Also: Primordia is a great game indeed and I'm looking forward to the other comparisons in the future.

Cross-thread quote:

Thanks for reminding me why I never play Advenure games anymore.

You should try this one though.

 

[Eddas]

Being totally impartial, I think that Primordia is better.

 

[Zorba the Hutt]

Thread needs more Primordia avatars

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Tormentum artwork looks like a cheap HR Giger ripoff.

 

[Bubbles]

Tormentum artwork looks like a cheap HR Giger ripoff.

Indeed. Looking at those screens led me to believe that

Tormentum's art meanwhile, is just quite simply stunning. High resolution images of incredible quality show an exceptional level of detail. And this level is maintained through-out the entire game, with each screen accosting your eyeballs with its beauty and intricate design. It's clear a lot of work went into creating each image.

is actually meant to be biting sarcasm.

 

[MRY]

They're quite open about their inspirations, so I don't think "ripoff" is a fair way to describe it. Anyway, I will cease playing defense for the other team, and go back to work.

 

[BGMD]

Thread needs more Primordia avatars

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

They're quite open about their inspirations, so I don't think "ripoff" is a fair way to describe it. Anyway, I will cease playing defense for the other team, and go back to work.

Some of their artworks look like Giger's original art with filters applied to it. If it wasn't for that, I'd just say that it reminds me of it.

 

[MRY]

Well, we got our share of such criticims with Primordia, too: http://www.slowdown.vg/2013/07/09/primordia-review/

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

Well, we got our share of such criticims with Primordia, too: http://www.slowdown.vg/2013/07/09/primordia-review/

Darn it, I didn't play your game (yet). But if anyone has balls to compare anything to BASS, this 'anything' should be in my library right now.
Going to buy your game as soon as dorra crashes and burns here (or at least gets back to a reasonable state).

 

[MRY]

The game also often goes on steep sales, though I'm not sure when the next one will happen.

 

[zwanzig_zwoelf]

It's alright, no need to hurry, dorra won't crash and burn here anytime soon (neither would my smoking habit).
The game is still on my wishlist, so I won't forget.

 

[DarkUnderlord]

Tormentum artwork looks like a cheap HR Giger ripoff.

Indeed. Looking at those screens led me to believe that

Tormentum's art meanwhile, is just quite simply stunning. High resolution images of incredible quality show an exceptional level of detail. And this level is maintained through-out the entire game, with each screen accosting your eyeballs with its beauty and intricate design. It's clear a lot of work went into creating each image.

is actually meant to be biting sarcasm.

Infinitron & Crooked Bee have mentioned before that the Codex Gallery does have a certain low quality to its images. Which is mainly due to them being re-written by the PHP GD Image function upon upload. Also the game was inspired by HR Giger's art (whom I don't know and / or care about and so didn't mention).

EDIT: 10.5 hours to beat Primordia? That is kind of long. i think I clicked on everything I could (although I was not able to solve everything) and it took me about six hours, maybe?

10.5 was my total Primordia play-through time which includes 3 full play-throughs from start to finish + many endless hours of saving / reloading and trying different solutions and outcomes to various things. Not to mention lots of reading and putting entries into the info thing in Metropolis.

 

[Infinitron]

I only complain about their size, not the quality