The game’s role-playing system throws a couple more concepts at you, which collectively form the subtitle of the game. Tides are an invisible force in the Ninth World, something not unlike Star Wars’ Force. Unlike the Force, however, Tides are multi-polar, and represented by colours that determine your character’s personality. The things you say and do in the game will determine what Tide you have, and that in turn might affect how characters see you. It’s a more nuanced system than your usual good/bad morality spectrum, but it didn’t seem to matter very much on the whole. The Tides did serve as a coloured anchor for me to describe my character by, but if there was any gameplay significance to being of a particular Tide, I seem to have missed it.
The term ‘Numenera’ refers to the various objects and phenomena that were created by the eight civilisations that came before The Ninth World. With the knowledge of their high technology now mostly lost, these futuristic contraptions are now virtually the same the magical trinkets. While you will interact with a number of large numenera in your adventures, you also get to pick up special small ones called ‘Cyphers’.
You can only hold a limited number of Cyphers at a time (as can your companions), although I never found the limit too stringent. Cyphers can only be used once, or a few times at most, before they are discarded from play. They perform specific functions, such as dealing damage, healing allies, boosting your skills or raising your stat pools. I used the ones that gave you a permanent boost, but as for the rest, I ended up hoarding them for use later. Even when I finished the game, I had a healthy enough supply of Cyphers to start a shop.
Numenera does a competent, although not awe-inspiring job with its visuals. Many of the areas in the game look discordant, which is appropriate given the nature of the Ninth World. That is no excuse, however, for a lack of attractive visual design. There are instances where the world’s oddity can be actually seen visually instead of just narrated. But for the most part, the areas are not really meant to be adored so much as tolerated. Most of your time in the game will be spent looking at the game’s conversation box, and the developers know that.
Sound design fares better. While the voice acting is so sparse as to be completely forgettable, the game’s sound effects whirr and crunch and clang to help bring the Ninth World to life. The music, composed by Planescape’s Mark Morgan, is atmospheric, strange and exotic, blending a variety of instruments and textures to accentuate the game’s other-worldliness. It serves the game well, even if it doesn’t have any melodies as memorable as from the original Torment’s soundtrack.
The biggest issue I faced with Torment: Tides of Numenera, however, was actually tied to its greatest strength: the writing. Being a game with no dungeons to mindlessly hack and slash in, Numenera instead feels like being thrown in one RPG town after another—which may or may not be appealing to you.
The issue is pacing. The opening town of Sagus Cliffs in Numenera is so huge (by word count), that it took me roughly 8 hours just to explore it without progressing the story. For much of the game, Numenera feels like being lost in a museum of strange objects and stranger people. Exploration means jumping from one odd idea to another, and while there’s certainly an appeal to that, it often felt too overwhelming. I often had to play the game in short bursts as a result, only going for longer sessions when I was progressing the story, or near the end.
Torment: Tides of Numenera is a sprawling game by literary standards, but the story can best be described as barely competent. Lacking the emotional anchor of the original game, Numenera is a much drier adventure that prefers to speak in themes and layers. If I felt compelled to continue the story, it was largely out of a curiosity to learn more about this fantastic world. Considering that my dominant Tide was blue: the Tide of knowledge, that seems like a completely valid reason to go on.
I cared little for most of my companions in Numenera, and even less for the banal banter that’s been written for them. Each companion does bring with them their own oddity, a quirk that develops into a character quest that you can influence. There were only two party characters that I felt an attachment towards, while the rest I mostly carried around for muscle. Not a particularly good sign for an RPG, least of all for a thematic sequel to Planescape: Torment, a game that serves as practically the benchmark for stellar companion design.
As with Planescape, Numenera is not a perfect game. It is, however, a unique game, brimming with weird tales that will take some 30-40 hours to explore on the first playthrough. The game’s appeal is largely predicated on how much you enjoy falling into the rabbit hole, but fans of a more traditional RPG experience, or indeed, fans expecting a yarn to surpass the original Planescape might find Numenera wanting. Stick with it, though, and you will be rewarded with an highly unusual experience.
Torment: Tides of Numenera is available now on PC, Mac, Linux, PS4 and Xbox One. The game recently received a major content update. However, this review is based on a version prior to this update. This review is based on a review copy provided by the developer, inXile Entertainment. It’s well worth the price, but only if you enjoy lots of reading.
