Tron: Identity Reviews
Tron: Identity’s mystery has a strong foundation, but there’s just not enough meat on the bone. There’s a lack of places to go and people to see; this rendition of The Grid looks the part, but it ends up being too one-dimensional due to its short length.
Tron: Identity expands the world of the IP in a modest yet intriguing way, courtesy of Mike Bithell’s imaginative and evocative – if perhaps spare-to-a-fault – writing.
Bithell Games has once again demonstrated their prowess in combining storytelling and gameplay elements, following in the footsteps of their earlier successes like John Wick Hex and Thomas Was Alone. TRON: Identity is a delightful package of mystery, engaging characters, and brain-teasing puzzles that will leave players wanting more.
The game doesn’t feel particularly focused on or interested in the mystery at hand so much as in better establishing the world of TRON for a future sequel, which may or may not come to fruition. Identity is beautiful and brilliant in spots, but more times than not, there’s no weight to the derezzing or freeing of the various suspects, no emotional connection between these digital creatures and their world. That and more leaves the game feeling too much like reading a rulebook—and one that stops just short of letting you actually take it for a hell of a ride.
Although my time with Tron Identity was brief, it was nice to return to the virtual landscape that makes up The Grid. The world inside has undoubtedly moved on since the events of Tron Legacy, but the world is as recognisable as ever. Much like how Disney have approached Star Wars by expanding from the small cast of Skywalker family, was a welcome touch that proves there is a real depth to what is essentially the inner workings of an ageing arcade machine. The trouble is that just as Identity was working towards a bigger story and finding its rhythm, I suddenly had the rug pulled and it just ended.
This visual novel spins a passable yarn in a noirish atmosphere, but would benefit from more space to explore it
It won’t take you long to work your way through Tron: Identity — two to three hours at most. That said, the nature of the story itself encourages replayability, especially for eagle-eyed Tron enthusiasts scoping out references to the political landscape of the Grid’s inhabitants and the occasional hint to what exactly is going on in the human world of the Users. Truth, as much as identity, is all a matter of perspective. Your Query will likely choose a different path than my own, arriving at a “truth” that itself is only one part of a far greater and inscrutable whole. Whether said truth brings you any closer to the game’s central mystery than mine did will depend on your vigilance, your cunning, and your willingness to adapt and change beyond the duties of your station. Good luck, program.
TRON Identity reduces the franchise in a game without disk battles like TRON Evolution, but it focuses in a deep story about the Grid and more on replayability. Even if the game was short, I was quite eager to see what could change in every run if I chose differently.
Review in Spanish | Read full review