Last month, inXile’s project lead Chris Keenan announced the beta for Torment: Tides of Numenera would be pushed back into early 2016 in order to clean up some of its “rough edges”. It seems he wasn’t lying, as the successfully crowdfunded spiritual successor to Planescape: Torment will enter its beta phase for eligible Kickstarter backers on January 17, and will later land on Steam Early Access on January 26.
Planescape Torment is 17 years old this year (I know, right?) but more than deserves its spot on our list of best PC RPGs.
In a Kickstarter updateposted today, inXile top man Brian Fargo made good on Keenan’s word as he dubbed 2016 as “finally the year for the spiritual successor to become a reality.”
As for the beta itself, it’ll start you off at the beginning of the game, stretching past its introductory sequence – some of which will be familiar to alpha players – and into Sagus Cliffs, the game’s first major landmark.
“Sagus is a very old city that was built on top of ancient structures that predate the return of humanity to the Ninth World,” says Fargo in the update. “It’s split into five main districts: Circus Minor, Cliff’s Edge, Caravanserai, Government Square and the Underbelly. As you might expect from a city location, it is rich in lore to discover, characters to talk with and obviously quests to complete!”
Fargo also suggests the direct feedback form that was present in the game’s alpha version will likely return in the beta as it proved an “excellent” way for he and his team to gauge player experience. “Indeed, many points from alpha feedback informed our design decisions during beta production, iteration is after all key to making our games,” he says.
Early Access naturally encourages developers to work hand-in-hand with their communities when their games enter the initiative, but it’s reassuring nonetheless to hear Fargo so upfront on the values of player feedback at this early stage.
Torment: Tides of Numenera is due to release in full at some point this year.