This year is full of new releases, but I wanted to reflect on older, classic games. Just because something’s old does not mean it’s not fun. So, I’m starting with a Planescape: Torment Retrospective!
To start, what is it? Planescape: Torment is a 1999 CRPG developed by Black Isle Studios—the division of Interplay responsible for the first two Fallout games and Icewind Dale. Eventually. Beamdog made an enhanced edition to entice a new crowd.
You play as an amnesiac immortal known as The Nameless One in D&D’s Planescape setting—a world consisting of various planes of existence. It’s about as weird as it can get.
Uncovering your past and enduring a hostile, alien world is up to you. Black Isle’s primary mission was to challenge the conventional RPG outlook with this game, and in many ways, they succeeded!
What Made a Classic CRPG?
The story and aesthetic are by far the strongest facets of the game. Without spoiling anything critical, I’ll say the story is deep and consistent. There’s a constant theme of trauma in both the physical and emotional sense and how your actions influence those around you. Playing an amnesiac immortal lets you appreciate the cause-and-effect nature of the narrative. It’s a bit more philosophical than the average RPG at the time.
Story-relevant characters get unique models (and vocal cords), with non-essential characters relying on palette swaps and a handful of models. There’s no lack of surreal imagery in Planescape: Torment—no lack of variation. From people posing as zombies to creatures trapped between dimensions.
A character’s dialogue, quirks, and tidbits of information fed to the player make what would typically be a generic encounter feel memorable. You can discern who is who just by text alone. The quality of the writing makes the world feel a bit more natural and galvanizes the player’s curiosity. There’s constant talk about a character’s outlook on life and problems, keeping with the theme of inner turmoil.
Each companion you encounter is fleshed out with their history, motivations, and personality. By far, Morte is the most memorable companion. Morte is a chatty skull whose weapons are his scalding insults and teeth.
The aesthetic is the other key selling point. It’s all pre-rendered backgrounds, but there’s no lack of imagination. It is the opposite of typical RPG visuals—where worlds are supposed to be dominated by nature, magnificent creatures of all shapes and sizes, knights, and castles. Planescape is made of grime, muted colors, sharp edges, and architecture that doesn’t appear to follow much of a pattern. There’s a palpable sense of unease as if the world around you is not meant to support human life. The game doesn’t shy away from disturbing imagery in an effort to pull you into said unease.
That sense of unwelcomeness is translated to the enemies—humans dressed in the leather and bones of various creatures and demonic entities. The weapons are equally intimidating, from antler axes to using a zombie arm as a club or gauntlets made of teeth. If it can inflict agony, it’ll reflect in the design.
Lastly, the soundtrack also adds a great deal to the experience. Brian “Lustmord” Williams was initially contracted, but Mark Morgan replaced him at the end stage of development. No stranger to the genre, Morgan worked with Black Isle before, providing them with the soundtrack for Fallout and Fallout 2. As such, players with sharp ears will spot some cues from the Fallout soundtrack. There’s a generous use of drums, flutes, and reverb effects, with piano and vocals for some of the game’s warmer or somber moments. Clever use of ambient effects, like different street chatter depending on your location, gives the impression of a living (if decrepit) setting.
Related: Top 15 Soulsborne Bosses With the Most Aura
Nothing is Perfect in Planescape: Torment
The combat and classes are where, personally, I feel the game falters. Following the online discussions about Planescape: Torment, you’ll notice that most praise is aimed toward the story rather than the gameplay—and the majority of players pick social builds. There’s a good reason for that.
It’s a combat system similar to other Infinity Engine games like Icewind Dale and Baldur’s Gate. You click. Then, dice rolls and modifiers dictate the outcome. Spells and charms help in difficult situations. You can easily cheese combat encounters by stockpiling health items, focusing on one enemy at a time, and exploiting their AI. You can pause the game to give commands. There’s less need to micromanage your team and strategize than Baldur’s Gate or Icewind Dale, at least on normal difficulty.
The way the game handles factions, classes and morality is done in a diegetic way. Faction allegiance is done by interacting with members of the said faction, while your choices determine morality. The game doesn’t explicitly tell you what choice is chaotic or lawful, so you must consider D&D’s morality system when picking.
Although you can decide your stats, you can only start the game as the Fighter class. You can play as a Thief or a Mage by talking to the appropriate NPC. Because so much of the game is focused on dialogue, charisma, wisdom, and intelligence are priority stats. You need them for new insights and bonus experience. Combat-specific stats are thus rendered secondary. Although levels, encounters, and items allow you to increase your stats to have somewhat of a mix, dialogue will still be the main focus from start to finish. Picking Thief or Mage might make combat encounters more interesting, but as I said, the story is the focus, and going pure combat means a lot of the game’s charm will be lost.
Don’t expect to be swimming in mechanics. You can expect a good story with a cast of fleshed-out characters, good music, and a killer setting. I’d say the game has stood the test of time.
Interestingly, the game came out at the tail end of 1999—the year 2000 being what many people refer to as the start of the decline of CRPGs. The growing popularity of consoles and action titles meant that publishers saw tabletop-influenced PC games as less lucrative. Deus Ex’s sequel, Invisible War, had its RPG elements and world streamlined for consoles.
Van Buren, the original Fallout 3, was canceled so that resources could be focused on the console-exclusive Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel. Troika Games made Vampire: The Masquerade—Bloodlines with the third/first-person perspective because they believed it would bring new life to the RPG scene instead of following in the footsteps of Vampire: The Masquerade—Redemption. Of course, there were exceptions, but that’s how industry trends change: a process.
So, in many ways, I look at Planescape: Torment as the last big CRPG win before the decline began.
The Guide Hall adores old-school CRPGs like Planescape: Torment, and we’ll cover each with a retrospective one day. For now, check out our growing catalog of gaming features for more!