Torment will continue the thematic legacy of Planescape: Torment by having to face complex and nuanced morality decisions, carefully contemplating deep and reactive choices with consequences that echo throughout the game all the while immersed into a new and strange vision taken from by renowned designer and writer Monte Cook's new tabletop role-playing game, Numenera.
In Torment: Tides of Numenera, players will have to decide for themselves the eternal question, what does one life matter? Numenera's Ninth World is a fantastic vision of a world in which massive civilizations continue to rise and fall with only cities, monuments, and artifacts left behind to serve as reminders of their past existence. These reminders have become part of the accumulated detritus of eons and now this assortment of ancient power is there for the taking. The humans of the Ninth World call the ancient power left behind the numenera. One of these humans has discovered a way to harness the numenera to grow strong, to cheat death, to skip across the face of centuries in a succession of bodies. But he discovers an unexpected side effect: You.
inXile entertainment's writers and artists are done working on Wasteland 2 and will begin immediately on Torment: Tides of Numenera, so by the time the game developers are done with Wasteland 2, they art and story will be complete on Torment and the developers can get torment up and running.
Originally scheduled for a 2015 release, inXile's 2013 kickstarter funded sequel to Planescape: Torment needs more polish and has been pushed back to 2016 according to Project Director Chris Keenan (replacing Kevin Saunders, who recently left the studio).
With the major creative and production decisions now resolved, and the team charging full speed toward completing the game, inXile and I have decided it is time for me to depart from the studio. I am proud of the project that I'm leaving in capable hands, and while I do not know what I'll do next, I look forward to new challenges and opportunities.
Kevin Saunders
Hello Exiled Ones,
Chris Keenan here. You may remember me as Project Lead on Wasteland 2 and the recently released Director's Cut.
I will be managing the development on Torment: Tides of Numenera from this point forward. There is a core vision in place and along with the creative leadership of Colin, George and Adam, I plan to ensure the vision is upheld.
As a fresh set of eyes on the project I can tell you it's shaping up to be the awesome experience you all expect and deserve. However, to maintain the quality standard we've set for ourselves, we can't rush through these final stages to get it out the door. Instead, we're going to take the time we need on Torment: Tides of Numenera, which means we are planning a 2016 release.
An important part of our process is getting the game in your hands and iterating based on your feedback. Releasing the Crisis Alpha Systems Tests was a big step for the team. We've been happy to receive detailed feedback on what can be improved, and very gratified to see our backers respond that we're heading in the right direction.
Now, it's on to working towards the beta release. The level art is largely done, and we're making good progress on the general game systems, level design and UI elements . We'll keep you posted on the progress of the beta release in the upcoming updates, as we have full intentions on releasing the beta this year. I look forward to leading this incredibly talented team and working with all of you to bring Torment to completion!
More articles about Torment: Tides of Numenera