Remnants of civilizations scarcely imagined litter every inch of the world. The setting is the Ninth World, an unrecognizable version of Earth that has been through the complete rise and fall of humanity at least nine times. Numenera is a sort of post-post-apocalypse science fiction setting out to demonstrate the notion that sufficiently technology is synonymous with magic. It is the airport of the fantasy universe where a pack of devils might be having high tea with a contingent of angels. Planescape centers itself in a place called the “City of Doors” - a high magic steampunk-gothic-city filled with monsters of every possible description as it is by human beings. But they are none the less very different from one another in detail. Planescape and Numenera both spotlight weird arcane worlds, void of familiarity, and filled with the strange and wondrous around every corner. Patron goddess of the Planescape Setting.
The lady of pain, keeper of the city of doors. The makers of Tides clearly studied the original, loved it well, and wanted to make a game in its honor. From the fact that dying advances the plot to the quirky magic items you find, to specific lines of dialog. And both stories are one of the heroes discovering and determining the meaning and purpose of their unusual life.īeyond these central themes and styles, there are a great many small homages in Tides that parallel or honor Torment. Both games allow your hero to collect a motley band of curious allies who accompany you on your journey. Both feature an isometric playscape with characters rendered as 3D sprites.Įach game features a main character that is effectively immortal but has lost their memory of who they are. In addition, both games include a combat system secondary to the storytelling and dialog. Each probably has more dialog and description than a typical novel and you will spend much of your playtime reading. Textual Dialog is the backbone of the storytelling and gameplay in both titles. These two games have a great deal in common with one another.īoth games are based on pen and paper RPGs and set in fantastical worlds - wholely different from classic Tolkein fantasy tropes. I can say without a doubt that the folks that made Tides succeeded in creating the spirit of Planescape: Torment. Fabulous! Similarities Between Planescape: Torment vs.
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I soon found myself playing it again on my iPad while lying in bed - beside myself in delight! Now I could compare Tides not only to my memory of Torment but to a full recent playthrough. Only a few weeks after finishing Tides, I saw that the old Torment re-released for iOS. It took me about 4 weeks to play it thoroughly to the end, I very much enjoyed playing it. When it did finally wrap up, I jumped onto my wife’s Steam account to play it. I found myself more eagerly awaiting Tides release day than her! I only discovered Tides when my wife signed up for the Kickstarter back in 2013. I love CRPGs, Dungeons & Dragons, and I love Planescape. Back in 1999, I played Planescape Torment pretty much the moment I could get my hands on it.
You can buy Torment: Tides of Numenera from the Humble Bundle store. The setting takes place in the Numenera world and uses modified rules from the Cypher System for its combat encounters.įYI: I’ll refer to the older game as either Planescape or Torment, and the newer title as Tides or Numenera.
Thanks to the Unity Engine, inXile released Torment in February 2017 on a number of platforms. Both developers intended to create a “spiritual successor” to Planescape Torment. Torment: Tides of Numenera started as a Kickstarter project from inXile Entertainment in partnership with Monte Cook Games. You can get Planescape: Torment on the Good old Games store. I’ll dive into that later, but suffice to say, it is weird! Recently re-released under “Planescape: Torment – Enhanced Edition,” allowing everyone to play under a number of platforms including mobile devices. This Dungeons and Dragons game uses a loose version of the second edition rules and in the Planescape setting.
I played it on release day and I remember it fondly. Planescape still developed a cult following among CRPG aficionados like myself.
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Planescape: Torment was first released in December 1999 as a PC game. Torment Tides of Numenera – A look at a Classic CRPG and the modern CRPG it inspired.