Wasteland 2 will pull its radiation-wracked bod onto Steam tomorrow, but InXile are already drawing your gaze toward another odd figure on the horizon. Built in the Pillars of Eternity engine, Torment: Tides of Numenera is the developer’s alterna-licensed Planescape sequel. This is the very first footage we’ve seen from it.
Torment is currently stepping out of pre-production – which means the Wasteland 2 team are filing over to the other side of the office to work on the new project. Today’s footage is pre-alpha, but represents the kind of writing and choices we can expect from the finished game.
“Most of the video is set in one of Torment’s weirder areas,” write InXile. “The Bloom, a city of hardy settlers who live on and inside a giant, transdimensional parasitical creature.”
I’m a fan of the screen-filling UI. In the years after the Infinity Engine, RPGs looked to the customisation and transparency of MMO menus for inspiration. By contrast, Numenera’s are solid as wood carvings – an ornate box to hold its buzzing pit of adventures.
And from the looks of it, the descriptive passages in the dialogue are even more literary than those in the Pillars of Eternity beta.
InXile have launched a new Torment website, by the way. It’s designed to help backers navigate their options, and to let new converts contribute to the money pot. Do you think you might yet?