Thankfully the writing is excellent pretty much across the board, and characters are memorable even long after you’ve moved on. Get some reading glasses because that’s likely what you’ll be doing most of the game. Every NPC, every party companion, and a good chunk of the scenery can be interacted with or talked to and there’s a mountain of text around every turn. It is easily one of the most plot-heavy RPGs in a while and it revels in it. If that paragraph sounded dense then strap in because this is a bumpy ride of a game. The world of Torment is often a weird mix of technology and magic There’s an evil presence known only as The Sorrow chasing you down because of this, so now it’s up to you to stop it and save every Castoff created by your errant father. Only thing is the body he leaves then grows its own consciousness, as well as also obtaining a measure of his immortality for themselves. Basically thousands of years ago this guy discovered a way to transfer his consciousness between bodies, granting him immortality.

You are the latest Castoff of a man known as the Changing God. After that you’re introduced to the world of Torment and it’s a weird one. You’re assaulted by two things: first, the walls of text you’ll need to read through to understand the game, and second, your impending death from hurtling at the ground from space. The very first moments of Torment set the stage for the rest of the game in spectacular fashion. Is this a true heir to the weird throne, or is it as painful as the name suggests? Now, nearly 20 years and one very successful Kickstarter later, we have Torment: Tides of Numenera, a spiritual successor brought to us by some of the people that worked on the first game. It received endless accolades, even if its sales were less than fantastic, and remains a favourite of many hardcore RPG fans to this day. It was the weird cousin to games like Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale, way more content with reading books and doing drugs then any of that classic dungeon crawling or monster slaying. Look up any “best RPGs of all time” list and right near the top you’re guaranteed to find the title Planescape Torment.

Torment tides of numenera sleep