Finally, the grandfather of Steampunk/Cyberpunk role-playing has finally made its way to Steam. Beamdog fans have been dying for a Steam release of Planescape Torment for a very long time. A remastered Steam release is just what the doctor ordered.
Planescape Torment: Enhanced Edition plays identical to its retro counterpart. The in-depth story is guaranteed to mesmerize gamers as they progress through the game. And like its retro counterpart, there is an enormous amount of dialogue – both dubbed and text-based – that adds to Planescape’s atmosphere. In fact, it’s the very reason gamers become so engrossed in the game’s atmosphere.
Like most RPGs from the same era, the playfield is covered in a fog. This is known as the Fog of War — a thick, black fog that prevents the player from seeing their surroundings until the area(s) in question are explored.
The combat system uses both real-time and turn-based game mechanics, much like the Baldur’s Gate series. This means the player can pause the action to rethink their strategy. But most importantly, the brief rest can be used to select abilities, skills and items. While pausing combat is not necessary, it does make things a lot easier (especially if you are juggling multiple enemies). Plus, the pause feature can be used to queue up multiple actions that will play out during the course of combat.
Aside from leveling, the player can find tattoos that will boost their character’s abilities. Moreover, there is a plethora of charms, trinkets and jewelry that can add bonuses to certain abilities.
Unique to Planscape Torment is the option to switch your character’s class whenever it’s convenient, even during combat. For example: if your character happens to be an assassin, but you need a spellcaster — you can easily change to a Battle Mage. The same can be done for the other classes. This feature allows the player to experience the game in different ways.
Beamdog has done a fantastic job with Planescape Torment Enhanced Edition. Gamers who are not old enough to remember this game finally have a chance to experience this classic from the 1990s. Even the GUI (Graphical User Interface) is still intact, even though it’s been cleaned up graphically and now displayed in a higher resolution. Planescape Torment is exactly the way I remember it.
For fans of the game – Beamdog has integrated a tooltip system, where highlighting an item will produce a description. This is one feature that I do not recall seeing while playing Torment in my youth. I will say that Planescape Torment benefits from having this feature; there’s no doubt about it.
If you are looking for a fantastic turn-based role-playing game that rivals Baldur’s Gate – but has a touch of Science Fiction thrown in for good measure — then Planescape is definitely the game for you. If you are one of those gamers who never had the chance of playing Planescape Torment back in the early days of gaming, then you owe it to yourself to check out this remastered classic.
James ‘Daripp3r’ Pittaro
Platform: PC
System Requirements:
MINIMUM:
OS: Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, or 10
Processor: 1 GHZ
Memory: 512 MB RAM
Graphics: OpenGL 2.0 compatible
Storage: 2 GB available space
Developer: Beamdog
Publisher: Beamdog
ESRB: N/A
Price: $19.99
Planescape Torment: Enhanced Edition Official Website:
http://www.planescape.com/
| Review Score | |
|---|---|
| Graphics |  |
| Planescape Torment looks incredible thanks to the remastered graphics. The environments contain a lot of activity, and the overall presentation is beautiful. | |
| Sound | |
| The music in the forest narration still gives me chills when I hear it; it was a masterpiece then and a masterpiece today. | |
| Gameplay | |
| A fun role-playing game that requires thinking, puzzle solving and a lot of reading. | |
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| A trip down memory lane for some, and a brand-new adventure for others -- Planescape Torment is a brilliant game no matter how you slice it. | |
