Torment: Tides of Numenera

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Torment: Tides of Numenera
TormentToNcover.jpg
Cover art
Developer(s) inXile Entertainment
Publisher(s) Techland Publishing[1]
Director(s) Kevin Saunders[2]
Chris Keenan[3]
Producer(s) Brian Fargo
Designer(s) Adam Heine
Colin McComb
George Ziets
Artist(s) Aaron Meyers
Writer(s) Colin McComb
Gavin Jurgens-Fyhrie
Adam Heine
George Ziets
Mark Yohalem
Nathan Long[4]
Composer(s) Mark Morgan
Engine Unity[2]
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, OS X, Linux, Xbox One, PlayStation 4
Release February 28, 2017[5]
Genre(s) Role-playing
Mode(s) Single-player

Torment: Tides of Numenera is a role-playing video game developed by inXile

Entertainment and published by Techland Publishing for Microsoft Windows, OS X,
Linux, Xbox One and PlayStation 4.[6] It is a spiritual successor to the critically
acclaimed 1999 game, Planescape: Torment.

The game takes place in Numenera, a fantasy campaign setting written by Monte Cook.
It uses the Unity game engine. Torment: Tides of Numenera, like its predecessor, is
primarily story-driven while placing greater emphasis on interaction with the world
and characters, with combat and item accumulation taking a secondary role.

The game was successfully crowd-funded through Kickstarter in the first six hours
of the project's launch in March 2013. At the campaign's conclusion, Torment: Tides
of Numenera had set the record for highest-funded video game on Kickstarter with
over US$4 million pledged. The release date was initially set for December 2014,
but was pushed back to February 2017.

Contents

1 Gameplay
2 Synopsis
2.1 Setting
2.2 Characters
2.3 Plot
3 Development
4 Release
5 Critical reception
6 References
7 External links

Gameplay
[icon] This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June 2017)
An early in-game screenshot from "the Bloom" area
Torment: Tides of Numenera uses the Unity engine to display the pre-rendered 2.5D
isometric perspective environments.[2][7] The tabletop ruleset of Monte Cook's
Numenera has been adapted to serve as the game's rule mechanic, and its Ninth World
setting is where the events of Torment: Tides of Numenera take place.[8] The player
experiences the game from the point of view of the Last Castoff, a human host that
was once inhabited by a powerful being, but was suddenly abandoned without memory
of prior events.[9]

As with its spiritual predecessor, Planescape: Torment, the gameplay of Torment:

Tides of Numenera places a large emphasis on storytelling, which unfolds through a
"rich, personal narrative", and complex character interaction through the familiar
dialog tree system.[10] The player is able to select the gender of the protagonist,
[11] who will otherwise start the game as a "blank slate", and may develop his or
her skills and personality from their interactions with the world. The Numenera
setting provides three base character classes: Glaive (warrior), Nano (wizard) and
Jack (rogue).[12] These classes can be further customized with a number of
descriptors (such as "Tough" or "Mystical") and foci, which allow the character to
excel in a certain role or combat style.[2]

Instead of a classic alignment system acting as a character's ethical and moral

compass, Torment: Tides of Numenera uses "Tides" to represent the reactions a
person inspires in their peers. Each Tide has a specific color and embodies a
number of nuanced concepts that are associated with it. The composition of Tides a
character has manipulated the most determines their Legacy, which roughly describes
the way they have taken in life. Different Legacies may affect what bonuses and
powers certain weapons and relics provide, as well as give a character special
abilities and enhance certain skills.[9]
Synopsis
Setting

Tides of Numenera's setting is a science fantasy one - the game is set in the
distant future, where the rise and fall of countless civilizations have left Earth
in a roughly medieval state, with most of humanity living in simple settlements,
surrounded by relics of the mysterious past. The current age is called the "Ninth
World" by its scholars, who believe that eight great ages existed and were
destroyed or disappeared for unknown reasons before their time, leaving ruins and
various oddities and artifacts behind. These artifacts are known as the "numenera"
and represent what is left of the science and technology of these past
civilizations. Many of them are irreparably broken, but some are still able to
function in ways that are beyond the level of understanding of most humans, who
believe these objects to be magical in nature.[13]
Characters
Concept art of the female protagonist choice

Character complexity and dialogue depth were identified among the primary elements
of the Planescape: Torment legacy to be preserved and refined by the developers of
Torment: Tides of Numenera.[9]

The tormented nature of the game's protagonist, the Last Castoff, attracts other,
similarly affected people. They will play a significant role in his or her story as
friends and companions, or as powerful enemies.[9] The game contains six companions
in total: Aligern, Callistege, Erritis, Matkina, Tybir, Rhin.
Plot
This section is incomplete. (June 2017)

The protagonist of the story, known as the Last Castoff, is the final vessel for
the consciousness of an ancient man, who managed to find a way to leave his
physical body and be reborn in a new one, thus achieving a kind of immortality by
means of the relics. The actions of this man, known as the Changing God to some,
attracted the enmity of "The Sorrow" (renamed from "The Angel of Entropy" to reduce
the potential to imply a religious role), who now seeks to destroy him and his
creations. The Last Castoff, being one such "creation", is also targeted by the
Sorrow, and must find their master before both are undone. To do so, the
protagonist must explore the Ninth World, discovering other castoffs, making
friends and enemies along the way. One means of such exploration are the "Meres"
artifacts that let their user gain control over the lives of other castoffs, and
experience different worlds or dimensions through them. Through these travels the
Last Castoff will leave their mark on the world their Legacy and will find an
answer to the fundamental question of the story: What does one life matter?[13][14]
Development
[icon] This section needs expansion with: information on the game's design.
You can help by adding to it. (June 2017)

In a 2007 interview, designers Chris Avellone and Colin McComb, who had worked on
Planescape: Torment, stated that although a direct sequel was not considered
because the game's story was over, they were open to the idea of a similar-themed
Planescape game if they could gather most of the original development team and find
an "understanding set of investors". This combination was deemed infeasible at the
time.[15] Talks about creating a sequel with the help of a crowd funding platform
resumed in 2012, but attempts to acquire a Planescape license from Wizards of the
Coast failed.[16] Later that year, Colin McComb joined inXile, which was at the
time working on its successfully crowd funded Wasteland 2 project. The studio
gained the rights to the Torment title shortly thereafter.[17]

In January 2013, inXile's CEO Brian Fargo announced that the spiritual successor to
Planescape: Torment was in pre-production and would be set in the Numenera RPG
universe created by Monte Cook. Cook acted as one of the designers of the
Planescape setting, and Fargo saw the Numenera setting as the natural place to
continue the themes of the previous Torment title. Although the connections to its
predecessor will not be relatively overt, due to licensing issues, it was noted
that certain traditional RPG elements are relatively hard to copyright, and some
elements of Planescape: Torment may make a reappearance. Development of the game
began shortly after the acquisition of the Torment license, and various inXile
staff will transition over to the Numenera team as production on Wasteland 2 winds
down.[18] In late January 2013, inXile confirmed the game's title as Torment: Tides
of Numenera, and announced that Planescape: Torment composer Mark Morgan would
create the soundtrack.[19] The pre-production period was initially expected to
continue until October 2013. During this phase, team composition for the project
was to be finalised and development would focus on production planning, game design
and dialog writing.[20] With the Wasteland 2 project facing delays in 2014, full
production of Torment: Tides of Numenera was rescheduled to a later date.[3][21]

A Kickstarter campaign to crowd fund Torment: Tides of Numenera was launched on

March 6, 2013 with a US$900,000 goal. Project director Kevin Saunders explained
this choice of a funding source by stating that the traditional publisher-based
funding model is flawed because it forces the developer into attempting to appeal
to an abstract target audience, picked by the publisher. A crowd funding platform,
on the other hand, would allow the developers to present their vision directly to
potential buyers and determine its viability early on, making it a better choice
for a mid-sized or smaller developer studio, like inXile.[17] The campaign had
attracted several high-profile backers, such as the creator of Minecraft, Markus
Persson, and chief of Razer USA, Min-Liang Tan.[22]

The campaign reached its initial funding goal in six hours,[23] and went on to
surpass a million dollars mark in seven hours, breaking the then-Kickstarter-record
for the fastest project to do so.[24] At the conclusion of the Kickstarter
campaign, a total of $4,188,927 had been pledged.[25] Two post-Kickstarter stretch
goals locations were also reached and added into the game.[26] After its official
campaign ended, the game continued to raise funding on its website, with more than
$870,000 being raised.[27]
Release

The planned release date announced during the fund raising campaign was set to
December 2014, but was later postponed "a few months" due to the need to implement
the numerous achieved stretch goals.[28] During the course of the game's
development, its release was delayed to the fourth quarter of 2015,[21] then 2016,
[3] and eventually to the first quarter of 2017.[5] The game will ship DRM-free to
the Microsoft Windows, OS X and Linux platforms and will be available in six
languages: English, French, German, Polish, Russian and Spanish.[10] A beta version
of the game was released for Kickstarter backers on January 17, 2016, and through
Steam Early Access on January 26, 2016.[29]

On June 9, 2016, inXile announced that the game's beta is available for all
Kickstarter backers.[5] On August 4, 2016, inXile announced that the game would
additionally be released on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 on the same release date as
previous platforms.[30] The game was released on February 28, 2017 on the Windows,
Linux, MacOS, Xbox One and Playstation 4 platforms.[31][32]
Critical reception
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entry. Please help improve the article by editing it to take facts from excessively
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direct quotations to Wikiquote. (June 2017)
Reception
Aggregate score
Aggregator Score
Metacritic (PC) 81/100[33]
(PS4) 76/100[34]
(XONE) 79/100[35]
Review scores
Publication Score
Destructoid 7.5/10[36]
Game Informer 8.5/10[37]
Game Revolution 4.5/5 stars[38]
GameSpot 9/10[39]
IGN 8.8/10[40]
PC Gamer (US) 89/100[41]
Polygon 8/10[42]
VideoGamer.com 8/10[43]

Torment: Tides of Numenera received "generally favorable" reviews, according to

video game review aggregator Metacritic.[33][34][35]

Destructoid's Ray Porreca scored the game a 7.5/10, arguing that "[its] various
parts [...] come together in a solid package. Though it isnt perfect, theres no
doubt that this is an RPG that will appeal to a specific type of person." Porecca
criticized the combat, saying "[t]he turn-based system is functional, but even with
a host of skills and companions to help pitch in, it still feels clunky". He,
however, praised the worldbuilding and character creation and recommended it to
"role-players keen on experiencing a game of consequences and twisted fantasy".[36]

James Kozanitis's 4.5 out of 5 stars score on Game Revolution stated that "You
start Tides of Numenera in a pretty cut and dry hub city, which can make the first
act feel like a bit of a drag, even though it still has more to offer than any
other futuristic city on the market. Then suddenly you reach a level thats inside
a giant monster called the Bloom, and it only gets more interesting from there. The
first act is a good way of setting up the universe, cleverly disguised as a full
level, and I dont mean that in a bad way. Just when I started to get the hang out
things, inXile upped the ante, but instead of worrying or reaching for the exit to
desktop button, I instead felt all the more prepared to greet what was coming.
Its a well-executed set-up with a wondrous payoff. Whereas the fun in a game like
For Honor comes from physically learning how to play, the fun in Tides of Numenera
comes from achieving encyclopedic knowledge of a whole new universe through truly
meaningful choices."[38]

Leif Johnson from IGN gave the game a score of 8.8/10 saying that "Torment: Tides
of Numenera delivers a deep and satisfyingly strange RPG world loaded with text-
based storytelling."[40]

Chris Thursten of PC Gamer awarded it an 89/100 stating that "A slow start gives
way to a thought-provoking adventure in a remarkable setting. A fitting follow-up
to a beloved RPG."[41]

"Torment doesn't sugarcoat it: You can shape events but you cant change the world
and your actions always have consequences beyond your control. Its depressing,
but effective. Torment: Tides of Numenera is relentless in how it treats its
characters and the Ninth World, but thats what makes it so fascinating. Aside from
some issues with encounter balance and my yearnings for more detail, its a
beautiful, challenging game, content to be ambiguous, rich and confounding in ways
that few other RPGs have ever pulled off." was Carli Velocci's conclusion with a
score of 8/10 on Polygon[42]

Alice Bell's score of 8/10 on VideoGamer.com said that "Great writing and
environment design, combined with an epic story and wide range of player choice,
make Tides of Numenera a wonderful RPG. The reliance on text won't be for everyone,
but fans of the genre are going to love it."[43]
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