Before I get to the review, I have to say that I am NOT a Kickstarter backer. I bought the game a few days after release (about 3 days later).

Torment: Tides of Numenera is a CRPG very much in the veins of the old Planescape: Torment game, which is regarded as one of the pinnacles of the genre (the other being Baldur's Gate 2). Expect to read a lot of story and dialogue in this game, and DON'T expect an emphasis on combat (if that prospect bores you, this *isn't* a game for you). The game took me nearly 40 hours to beat, which makes it one of the shorter CRPGs out there, but at the same time it felt enough. There are a total of 3 classes to play (a warrior, mage and a "jack of all trades" - I played the mage, in order to get most of the dialogue options).

The visuals consist of pre-rendered still backgrounds (like in the case of all Infinity Engine games, and more recently in the case of Pillars of Eternity) with animated and intertactive elements. The backgrounds are, in my humble opinion, beautiful. The GUI does it's job well (even if it's a bit too "futuristic" for my taste) and the font used works well and you can play with it's size (which is important, because you'll be doing a lot of reading). The visual effects on spells and weapons during combat are okay, some of the early spells look kinda generic, but some of the later ones have cool effects and animations. Character and clothing animations are well done. There is voice acting, but only for key lines. I feel like there could have been more, especially on plot relevent characters. If you have played Pillars of Eternity, then know that this game has less voice acting than that game.

The soundtrack to this game (which I got on a separate CD as a bonus) is okay and pleasing, albeit not exactly memorable (I can recall only the battle theme). That isn't that big of a deal for me, because I don't mind a soundtrack that "blends in" and doesn't interrupt reading.

The story is well made, I didn't notice any glaring problems like abundant plot-holes. It kept me interested and invested in the game and it's characters 'till the end. The end itself is competent, imho, and takes into consideration a lot of the player's behavior during the game. The party members are quite good and interesting, and none of them follow any particular clichés (also, I didn't find any of them annoying, which is a big plus). There is very little combat, even for a game inspired by Planescape: Torment. You can skip a lot if you play a talkative and persuasive character (which is good), but the total number of potential (and unskippable) combat encounters (called "crises" in this game) can becounted on the fingers your hands (only one hand when it comes to those that you can't skip through dialogue - including the tutorial fight)

It needs to bew said, however, that the game has a few bugs and glitches (at least at the time of writing this review). The most annoying I ran into was a bug that kept messing up the volume of voices and general sfx, making them very quiet and hard to hear. This bug occured when transiting between maps and messing around in the inventory and character screen. The game never crashed, however, and I didn't encounter any broken quests or dialogues. As far as framerate goes, my GTX 970, I7 CPU and 16 GB of RAM kept it at solid 60fps the entire time. Loading times were reasonably fast on my Samsung EVO SSD (500GB).

So, let us summarize:

Pros:
- beautiful pre-rendered backgrounds
- competent, mature and interesting story
- interesting characters and party members
- seamless, if not memorable, soundtrack

Cons:
- short overall game time for a cRPG (cca 40 hrs)
- buggy sound fx and a handful of other, smaller bugs
- very little combat (Planescape: Torment had more potential encounters)

While not perfect, Torment: Tides of Numenera is a competently written cRPG that plays fine, and I still count it among games worth playing and endorsing. Be prepared to read a lot, though.

+++The Emperor protects.+++

Before I get to the review, I have to say that I am NOT a Kickstarter backer. I bought the game a few days after release (about 3 days later). Torment: Tides of Numenera is a CRPG very much in the veins of the old Planescape: Torment game, which is regarded as one of the pinnacles of the genre (the other being Baldur's Gate 2). Expect to read a lot of story and dialogue in this game, and DON'T expect an emphasis on combat (if that prospect bores you, this *isn't* a game for you). The game took me nearly 40 hours to beat, which makes it one of the shorter CRPGs out there, but at the same time it felt enough. There are a total of 3 classes to play (a warrior, mage and a "jack of all trades" - I played the mage, in order to get most of the dialogue options). The visuals consist of pre-rendered still backgrounds (like in the case of all Infinity Engine games, and more recently in the case of Pillars of Eternity) with animated and intertactive elements. The backgrounds are, in my humble opinion, beautiful. The GUI does it's job well (even if it's a bit too "futuristic" for my taste) and the font used works well and you can play with it's size (which is important, because you'll be doing a lot of reading). The visual effects on spells and weapons during combat are okay, some of the early spells look kinda generic, but some of the later ones have cool effects and animations. Character and clothing animations are well done. There is voice acting, but only for key lines. I feel like there could have been more, especially on plot relevent characters. If you have played Pillars of Eternity, then know that this game has less voice acting than that game. The soundtrack to this game (which I got on a separate CD as a bonus) is okay and pleasing, albeit not exactly memorable (I can recall only the battle theme). That isn't that big of a deal for me, because I don't mind a soundtrack that "blends in" and doesn't interrupt reading. The story is well made, I didn't notice any glaring problems like abundant plot-holes. It kept me interested and invested in the game and it's characters 'till the end. The end itself is competent, imho, and takes into consideration a lot of the player's behavior during the game. The party members are quite good and interesting, and none of them follow any particular clichés (also, I didn't find any of them annoying, which is a big plus). There is very little combat, even for a game inspired by Planescape: Torment. You can skip a lot if you play a talkative and persuasive character (which is good), but the total number of potential (and unskippable) combat encounters (called "crises" in this game) can becounted on the fingers your hands (only one hand when it comes to those that you can't skip through dialogue - including the tutorial fight) It needs to bew said, however, that the game has a few bugs and glitches (at least at the time of writing this review). The most annoying I ran into was a bug that kept messing up the volume of voices and general sfx, making them very quiet and hard to hear. This bug occured when transiting between maps and messing around in the inventory and character screen. The game never crashed, however, and I didn't encounter any broken quests or dialogues. As far as framerate goes, my GTX 970, I7 CPU and 16 GB of RAM kept it at solid 60fps the entire time. Loading times were reasonably fast on my Samsung EVO SSD (500GB). So, let us summarize: Pros: - beautiful pre-rendered backgrounds - competent, mature and interesting story - interesting characters and party members - seamless, if not memorable, soundtrack Cons: - short overall game time for a cRPG (cca 40 hrs) - buggy sound fx and a handful of other, smaller bugs - very little combat (Planescape: Torment had more potential encounters) While not perfect, Torment: Tides of Numenera is a competently written cRPG that plays fine, and I still count it among games worth playing and endorsing. Be prepared to read a lot, though. +++The Emperor protects.+++