Torment: Tides of Numenera Reviews
Torment: Tides of Numenera is a RPG and a strong one at that, You cannot help but be captivated.
Torment: Tides of Numenera lives up to the Torment name by crafting a deep, engrossing quest that takes you into a strange world where you come to grips with fate, life, death and everything in between. It’s got a ton of dialogue to read through but you’ll be turning the figurative pages before long, and the story has some truly jaw-dropping moments. A modern classic.
Aside from some issues with encounter balance and my yearnings for more detail, it's a beautiful, challenging game, content to be ambiguous, rich and confounding in ways that few other RPGs have ever pulled off.
If one of your favorite things in RPGs is finding a new location, and reveling in the rush of new quests and characters and dialogues and battles, then Torment: Tides of Numenara does that better than just about anything. It's disappointing, although not surprising, that Torment can't maintain that energy for a full game, especially with a rushed ending. But that's a small price to pay for a wildly creative and clever role-playing game.
Torment: Tides of Numenera may not be for gamers that are accustomed to more fast-paced and action-heavy RPGs, but those who appreciate a well-developed world and characters will find a lot to enjoy here. It's overflowing with depth and personality, and the many ways that you can navigate through it make it truly feel alive. If you've been dreaming of RPGs returning to a time where depth and detail were the genre's blood and bones, then this is the game for you.
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.
If you're looking for a story-focused game where your choices truly matter, set in a rich, nuanced world absolutely crammed with sci-fi obscurities, fantastical beasts, and mind-warping trans-dimensional phenomena, you will adore Torment: Tides of Numenera.
Torment: Tides of Numenera is more than a nostalgic homage to Planescape: Torment – its own innovations will mark the genre as much as its spiritual predecessor did.
It's slightly too short, a bit technically ropey in places, and extremely heavily front-loaded with some very dense lore, but once you work your way through the initial overwhelming lack of direction, what you'll find is an exceptionally rewarding RPG filled with deep systems, a ton of genuine replay value, and a lot of love and care.
Tides of Numenera is best approached as one might a weighty sci-fi novel from the likes of Clarke and Asimov; intimidating at first glance, with more exposition than explosions. Allow yourself to become immersed, however, and you'll find a trippy, twisty title with a myriad of ways to experience it.
The mechanics are not unique, but the way it’s presented already showcases the strong writing of this game, and that level of storytelling remains consistent throughout.
Torment: Tides of Numenera impresses where it truly matters.
Torment: Tides of Numenera is a game unlike many others. In many ways its tale more closely resembles a book than a game.
This is not even a breath of fresh air! It is a bottomless oxygen tank. In the universe of Numenera almost every meter of space, character or scenario penetrated by some phenomenal madness. Torment: Tides of Numenera is a masterfully written interactive book with a gripping storyline that makes you want to reread again and again. If developers will correct numerous technical problems, feel free to add another score to the final grade - both on PC and consoles.
Review in Russian | Read full review
The result is a game that packs meaning into almost everything you do. It doesn’t surpass the emotional heights of its late 90s forebear, but Numenera’s incredibly distinct world and unique approach to gameplay offer something really untraditional to sink your time, thoughts and choices into. For RPG fans this is super exciting, and will be sure to entertain across multiple playthroughs over dozens, if not hundreds of hours.
Weird and wonderful, this unique rpg is definitely worth your time.
The rich narrative and quest design in Torment: Tides of Numenera makes it a suitable spiritual successor to Planescape: Torment. Along with the tidal system, and the different conversation options, there is plenty of reasons for multiple playthroughs. You can find yourself spending countless hours reading lore and chatting with companions and random townsfolk.
Torment is a niche title for those who want to left click between pages of a book.
I seriously can't speak highly enough of the world this game presents. I found value in every corner I poked my nose into. Its people, its creatures and its oddball take on what society could be like in a billion years places Torment among the best of its kind. Torment's world has a lasting appeal. Much like a good book you've closed for the last time, you're left with a sort of bitter understanding that you'll never experience it for the first time again. So, you settle for seconds.
Let's face the elephant in the room: Planescape Torment this is not. Still, we're talking about a very deep and rewarding CRPG that borrows some mechanics and game design choices from its famous ancestor and tries to walk a different path, making the player read and dialogue instead of mindlessly fighting. A good pick for old time D&D players, but the crown is still held by Pillars of Eternity.
Review in Italian | Read full review