Torment: Tides of Numenera

The main problem is that the game needs a damn editor. Too many lengthy, labyrinthine descriptions where one solid, well-placed adjective would do (see what I mean?) and the game needs to excise about half of all of its half-baked ideas. There's a cute, off-beaten CRPG to be found here though, and I think it gets a bit too much flak from the RPG community.

No, it's not up to the legend of Planescape: Torment, but yes, it can be enjoyable; it's odd, sometimes too much, but interesting enough to keep going forward. Where PS:T aided by the planescape setting relied on a greatly coherent structure, both thematical and design wise, this feels sometimes messy, sparse and "undefined", the numenera setting itself seems to be a great cauldron of...things, among different time-spans or different "humanities", giving writers the chance to write some exotic weird stuff, but also the possibilty to not care about any kind of coherence and thematic unity. The writing is also pretty much "ok", definitely not Chris Avellone's level, but apart from some uninteresting or annoying moments (for istance the copycat big Question the game keeps insisting on), it does its job, also with sparks of brilliance. The combat system is sufficient or mediocre based on how much into details you wanna dive, since the mandatory fights are very limited through the game, and also because i'm not very much an expert, it didn't bother me too much, but it's no doubt the less fun part of the game if you're very into tactical turn-based combat, so if you're looking from something different from "a shitload of cool weird writing with occasional fights", you will be very disappointed. Major complain I have to make is about the main plot structure, and the terrible anti-climatic last section of the game, which ends abruptly, leaving bitter taste in your mouth, also because it's coming right after the second main and last hub, which is a very well designed area. In the end, it's an unpolished game, with cut contents and a poorly managed plot development, but still I enjoyed the 30+ hours spent exploring areas, doing all the sidequest and interactive with companions (some of which are OK and some really cool, like Erritis and Rhin)
[PS: Review made in April before patches that restores some cut content]