RPGWatch Feature - Torment Preview

Aubrielle played the beta of Torment: Tides of Numenera, entered its strange world and brings back a glimpse of what you can expect.

This Torment is set in a very different place than the smash RPG hit of 1999 that shares its name.  Planescape: Torment, quite possibly the most acclaimed RPG of all time, was set in Sigil, an incomprehensibly large city that served as a hub joining all the planes of existence.  Set in a Dungeons and Dragons universe, it used the AD&D ruleset as well (second edition Dungeons & Dragons), just like its cousin, Baldur's Gate.  This new Torment takes place on Earth, a billion years in the future.  The planet is unrecognizable.  Countless civilizations have risen and fallen on our planet in that unimaginable span of time, and technologies beyond comprehension have been unleashed on its surface.  What we might call nanotechnology is at the core of the game's magic system, though the "nano" mentioned in the game is a substance much like the fabled Dust of the Endless universe.  Wielded by the right mage, its power is immense.

The game is still relatively early in development, so I won't bore you with descriptions of flaws or bugs, except to say that I'd only just gotten into the "real world" (the world outside of character creation) when the game's next steps didn't load.  It had effectively died on me, and since I'd failed to save (go me!), I'd lost about two hours of progress and was in no mood to retrace my steps.  But I'll tell you about what I saw, and what you're likely to see upon release.