Tides Of Numenera
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''Torment: Tides of Numenera'' is a
role-playing video game Role-playing video games, also known as CRPG (computer/console role-playing games), comprise a broad video game genre generally defined by a detailed story and character advancement (often through increasing characters' levels or other skills) ...
developed by
inXile Entertainment inXile Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and a studio of Xbox Game Studios based in Tustin, California. Specializing in role-playing video games, inXile was founded in 2002 by Interplay co-founder Brian Fargo. The studio ...
and published by
Techland Publishing Techland S.A. is a Polish video game developer and publisher founded in 1991 by Paweł Marchewka. It developed '' Call of Juarez'' (2006) and its prequel '' Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood'' (2009), as well as '' Dead Island'' (2011) and the ''Dyi ...
for
Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
,
macOS macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...
,
Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...
,
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and
Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...
. It is a
spiritual successor A spiritual successor (sometimes called a spiritual sequel) is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous product or work, but (unlike a traditional prequel or sequel) does not explicitly continue th ...
to 1999's '' Planescape: Torment''. The game takes place in The Ninth World, a
science fantasy file:Warhammer40kcosplay.jpg, Cosplay of a character from the ''Warhammer 40,000'' tabletop game; one critic has characterized the game's setting as "action-oriented science-fantasy." Science fantasy is a hybrid genre within speculative fiction ...
campaign setting A campaign setting is a setting for a tabletop role-playing game or wargame campaign. Most campaign settings are fictional worlds; however, some are historical or contemporary real-world locations. A '' campaign'' is a series of individual adve ...
written by
Monte Cook Monte Cook (born January 29, 1968) is an American professional tabletop role-playing game designer and writer, best known for his work on ''Dungeons & Dragons''. Role-playing industry career Early years Cook has been a professional game d ...
for his
tabletop RPG A tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG or TRPG), also known as a pen-and-paper role-playing game, is a kind of role-playing game (RPG) in which the participants describe their characters' actions through speech and sometimes movements. Participants d ...
'' Numenera''. ''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 crowd-funded through
Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...
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.


Gameplay

''Torment: Tides of Numenera'' uses the
Unity engine Unity is a cross-platform game engine developed by Unity Technologies, first announced and released in June 2005 at Apple Worldwide Developers Conference as a Mac OS X game engine. The engine has since been gradually extended to support a variet ...
to display the pre-rendered 2.5D isometric perspective environments. The tabletop ruleset of Monte Cook's ''Numenera'' has been adapted to serve as the game's rule mechanic, and its Ninth World
setting Setting or Settings may refer to: * A location (geography) where something is set * Set construction in theatrical scenery * Setting (narrative), the place and time in a work of narrative, especially fiction * Setting up to fail a manipulative tec ...
is where the events of ''Torment: Tides of Numenera'' take place. 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. 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. The player is able to select the gender of the protagonist, 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 class In tabletop games and video games, a character class is an occupation, profession, or role assigned to a game character to highlight and differentiate their capabilities and specializations. In role-playing games (RPGs), character classes ag ...
es: Glaive (
warrior A warrior is a guardian specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal society, tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracy, social class, class, or caste. History ...
), Nano ( wizard) and Jack (
rogue A rogue is a person or entity that flouts accepted norms of behavior or strikes out on an independent and possibly destructive path. Rogue, rogues, or going rogue may also refer to: Companies * Rogue Ales, a microbrewery in Newport, Oregon * ...
). 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. Instead of a classic
alignment Alignment may refer to: Archaeology * Alignment (archaeology), a co-linear arrangement of features or structures with external landmarks * Stone alignment, a linear arrangement of upright, parallel megalithic standing stones Biology * Struc ...
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.


Synopsis


Setting

''Tides of Numenera'' has a
science fantasy file:Warhammer40kcosplay.jpg, Cosplay of a character from the ''Warhammer 40,000'' tabletop game; one critic has characterized the game's setting as "action-oriented science-fantasy." Science fantasy is a hybrid genre within speculative fiction ...
setting. In the
far future Far or FAR may refer to: Government * Federal Acquisition Regulation, US * Federal Aviation Regulations, US * Florida Administrative Register, US Military and paramilitary * Rebel Armed Forces (Spanish: '), a defunct guerilla organization i ...
(one
billion years A year is a unit of time based on how long it takes the Earth to orbit the Sun. In scientific use, the tropical year (approximately 365 solar days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45 seconds) and the sidereal year (about 20 minutes longer) are more exa ...
), the rise and fall of countless civilizations have left Earth in a roughly
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
state, with most of humanity living in simple settlements, surrounded by technological 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, disappeared or left the
Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
for unknown reasons before the present day, 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 Believe may refer to: *Belief, a psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true, with or without proof for such proposition *Faith, a belief in something which has not been proven Arts, entertainment, and me ...
these objects to be magical in nature.


Characters

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''. 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. The game contains seven companions in total: Aligern, Callistege, Erritis, Matkina, Oom, Tybir, and Rhin.


Plot

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 Immortality is the concept of eternal life. Some species possess "biological immortality" due to an apparent lack of the Hayflick limit. From at least the time of the Ancient Mesopotamian religion, ancient Mesopotamians, there has been a con ...
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? While the overall story varies wildly depending on personal preferences and specific interactions, the central storyline follows the Last Castoff as they search for a way to defeat or escape the Sorrow. They explore Sagus Cliffs after falling from a great height into a domed structure, destroying an artifact known as a resonance chamber that is believed to be capable saving the Last Castoff from the Sorrow. Finding another castoff, Matkina, The Last uses a Mere, a repository of memory to locate the entrance to Sanctuary. Using the Mere also alters the past, allowing Matkina to be healed of her mental damage. The Last finds Sanctuary, which the Changing God created as a hiding place from the Sorrow, where the Last finds a number of castoffs who represent both sides of the Eternal War: a conflict between followers of the Changing God, and followers of the First Castoff, who believe the God is selfish and malevolent. The Sorrow breaches Sanctuary after the Last is told that the resonance chamber will "defeat" the Sorrow by destroying every castoff in existence. After escaping the Sorrow through a portal to the Bloom, an apparition appears claiming to be the actual Changing God and attempts to possess the Last by force of will.


Development

In a 2007 interview, designers
Chris Avellone Chris Avellone (/ˈævəloʊn/) is an American video game designer and comic book writer. He is known for his significant roles on a large number of video games, primarily role-playing video game Role-playing video games, also known as CRP ...
and
Colin McComb Colin McComb (born May 1970) is an American writer and game designer, who is best known for his work designing the Planescape setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' role-playing game, and as the creative lead for the role-playing video game '' Torm ...
, 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. 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 Wizards of the Coast LLC (WotC or Wizards) is an American game Publishing, publisher, most of which are based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science-fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail game stores. In 1999, toy ...
failed. Later that year, Colin McComb joined inXile, which was at the time working on its successfully crowd funded ''
Wasteland 2 ''Wasteland 2'' is a post-apocalyptic role-playing video game developed by inXile Entertainment and published by Deep Silver. It is the sequel to 1988's '' Wasteland'', and was successfully crowdfunded through Kickstarter. After the postponeme ...
'' project. The studio gained the rights to the ''Torment'' title shortly thereafter. In January 2013, inXile's CEO Brian Fargo announced that the
spiritual successor A spiritual successor (sometimes called a spiritual sequel) is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous product or work, but (unlike a traditional prequel or sequel) does not explicitly continue th ...
to ''Planescape: Torment'' was in pre-production and would be set in the Numenera RPG universe created by
Monte Cook Monte Cook (born January 29, 1968) is an American professional tabletop role-playing game designer and writer, best known for his work on ''Dungeons & Dragons''. Role-playing industry career Early years Cook has been a professional game d ...
. Cook acted as one of the designers of the
Planescape ''Planescape'' is a campaign setting for the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' fantasy role-playing game, designed by David Cook (game designer), Zeb Cook, and published by TSR, Inc., TSR in 1994. Description ''Planescape'' encompasses numerous Plane (Dun ...
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. 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. 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. With the ''Wasteland 2'' project facing delays in 2014, full production of ''Torment: Tides of Numenera'' was rescheduled to a later date. A
Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...
campaign to crowd fund ''Torment: Tides of Numenera'' was launched on March 6, 2013 with a 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 The target audience is the intended audience or readership of a publication, advertisement, or other message catered specifically to the previously intended audience. In marketing and advertising, the target audience is a particular group of cons ...
, 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. The campaign had attracted several high-profile backers, such as
Markus Persson Markus Alexej Persson ( , ; born 1 June 1979), known by the pseudonym Notch, is a Swedish video game programmer and Video game designer, designer. He is the creator of ''Minecraft'', which is the List of best-selling video games, best-selling ...
, creator of ''
Minecraft ''Minecraft'' is a 2011 sandbox game developed and published by the Swedish video game developer Mojang Studios. Originally created by Markus Persson, Markus "Notch" Persson using the Java (programming language), Java programming language, the ...
'', and Min-Liang Tan, CEO of
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. The campaign reached its initial funding goal in six hours, and went on to surpass a million dollars mark in seven hours, breaking the then- Kickstarter-record for the fastest project to do so. At the conclusion of the Kickstarter campaign, a total of $4,188,927 had been pledged. Two post-Kickstarter stretch goals locations were also reached and added into the game. After its official campaign ended, the game continued to raise funding on its website, with more than $870,000 being raised.


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. During the course of the game's development, its release was delayed to the fourth quarter of 2015, then 2016, and eventually to the first quarter of 2017. The game would ship
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to the
Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
,
MacOS macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...
and
Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...
platforms and would be available in six languages: English, French, German, Polish, Russian and Spanish. A beta version of the game was released for Kickstarter backers on January 17, 2016, and through
Steam Early Access Early access, also known as alpha access, alpha founding, paid alpha, or game preview, is a funding model in the video game industry by which consumers can purchase and play a game in the various pre-release development cycles, such as pre-alph ...
on January 26, 2016. On June 9, 2016, inXile announced that the game's beta is available for all
Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...
backers. On August 4, 2016, inXile announced that the game would additionally be released on
Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...
and
PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...
on the same release date as previous platforms. The game was released on February 28, 2017 on the Windows, MacOS, Linux, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 platforms.


Reception

''Torment: Tides of Numenera'' received "generally favorable" reviews, according to video game
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Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
. ''
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''s Ray Porreca scored the game a 7.5/10, arguing that " tsvarious parts ..come together in a solid package. Though it isn’t perfect, there’s no doubt that this is an RPG that will appeal to a specific type of person." Porecca criticized the combat, saying "The 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". James Kozanitis's 4.5 out of 5 stars score on
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stated that "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." Leif Johnson from
IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
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." Chris Thursten of
PC Gamer ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games m ...
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." "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" was Carli Velocci's conclusion with a score of 8/10 on
Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure made up of line segments connected to form a closed polygonal chain. The segments of a closed polygonal chain are called its '' edges'' or ''sides''. The points where two edges meet are the polygon ...
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." ''
Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 alongside parent company Gamer Network. In 2008, it started in the formerly eponymous trade fair EGX (Eurogamer Expo until 2013) organised by its parent company. Fr ...
'' ranked the game 15th on their list of the "Top 50 Games of 2017".


Awards

The game won the award for "Best Setting" in ''
Game Informer ''Game Informer'' (''GI'' is an American monthly Video game journalism, video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and video game console, game consoles. It debuted in August 1991, when the video game reta ...
''s 2017 RPG of the Year Awards.


Notes


References


External links

*
"The Ultimate Torment Interview Of Ultimate Torment"
in-depth interview with inXile Entertainment by ''
Rock, Paper, Shotgun ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' is a British video game journalism website. It was launched in July 2007 to focus on PC games and was acquired by Gamer Network, a network of sites led by ''Eurogamer'', in May 2017. History ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' ...
'' {{Authority control 2017 video games Early access video games Kickstarter-funded video games InXile Entertainment games Linux games MacOS games Video games based on tabletop role-playing games Video games developed in the United States Video games with gender-selectable protagonists Video games with isometric graphics Science fantasy role-playing video games Windows games Fiction about artificial intelligence Fiction about wormholes Fiction about robots Fiction about genetic engineering Fiction about nanotechnology Fiction about consciousness transfer Fiction about immortality Post-apocalyptic video games Video games scored by Mark Morgan Video games set in the future Techland games Single-player video games Video games with multiple endings