InXile's Torment: Tides of Numenera has officially been delayed to 2017.
According to a Kickstarter update, InXile has noted the RPG will be released in Q1 2017, to provide extra time for localization, which will take about six months to complete properly. Most of this is due to the growth of their word budget; Tides of Numenera now features over 1 million words -more than the Bible- leading InXile to turn to professional localization services for the game.
To help pay for the costs of localization, InXile will be partnering with TechLand, the team behind Dying Light to help publish the game.
https://twitter.com/TechlandGames/status/741253796454600705 To compensate for the delay to 2017, InXile will be releasing beta access for all backers on Steam. Players should note that these Steam Keys count as their final key for the game.
The beta for Tides of Numenera also has gone through a major update, including new areas and character portraits, new companions and characters, performance and optimization improvements, and improved visual and sound effects.
Torment: Tides of Numenera has been touted as a spiritual successor of the acclaimed RPG Planescape Torment, released in 1999, when the Kickstarter for the game was launched back in March of 2013, where it raised over $4 million by over 100,000 backers. It is the second Kickstarter game by InXile, the first being Wasteland 2 which was released in 2014. Tides of Numenera is based on the Numenera setting by tabletop designer Monte Cook, and will feature writing from Chris Avellone, Pat Rothfuss, and George Zeits.
Quick Take
Personally, I am not super excited about Tides of Numenera. I was not wowed by Wasteland 2, and some of the design choices I have seen for far with Tides have not really "wowed" me as I thought it would. I also am bothered by the "spiritual successor" line that InXile has been using for Tides, those are big shoes to fill with RPG insiders in the end and invoking one of the most beloved isometric games of all time is a big risk no matter how you slice it.
Still, hopefully the delay will help hammer out some issues and add more polish to the game, especially considering it's focusing on all the writing first. What do you think, though? Leave your comments below.
