Torment: Tides of Numenera

Torment: Tides of Numenera is for players who want long conversations, strange worlds, and a lot of reading between fights. By our assessment, it stands out for making choice and consequence do the heavy lifting, with a setting that leans on Numenera’s weird science-fantasy ideas rather than familiar swords-and-sorcery. The upside is the writing and the constant sense that dialogue matters more than reflexes. The downside is that the combat can feel like a pause between stretches of text, and the whole thing asks for patience. In practice it is slower, denser role-playing than most modern action RPGs, with plenty of branching talk and a strong tabletop feel. Compared with more combat-forward games in the genre, it is closer to Planescape: Torment in spirit than to loot-driven fantasy. It suits people who enjoy story-first RPGs and do not mind spending time in menus and conversations.