Torment: Tides of Numenera Kickstarter Update #4, $2,222,378 and Counting

The folks at inXile have released another update for their Torment: Tides of Numenera Kickstarter, which brings us a video link to Mark Morgan’s Kickstarter pitch music, news on extremely generous contributor Steven Dengler (CEO of XE.com) who will be contributing another $100,000 if the project reaches $3 million (which should be summed with the $100,000 Fargo is contributing now that the project reached $2 million in funding), and a new $3 million stretch goal. Here’s a snip:

$3.0 Million: Increased Game Reactivity and Complexity, Cults, New Companion

As we approach our $2.5M Stretch Goal, it’s time to explore what’s next. We’re looking into how we might approach having some smaller, more frequent Stretch Goals, but in the meantime, we wanted to share our broader plans for if we reach $3M.

More Legacies, Deeper and Richer Reactivity

We’ve told you a little about the Tides and Legacies already they are a key component of three of our four pillars, and at $3M we’ll be expanding their impact, especially with respect to our fourth pillar: (Reactivity, Choice, and Real Consequences.) In the upcoming days and weeks, we’ll be elaborating more on the design of the Tides and the Legacy System, but for now I’d like to explain a bit more about how these two concepts relate to each other.

Given that Legacy is the primary theme of Torment, you can imagine that its effects will run deep. Your Legacy depends upon which of the five Tides you favor as demonstrated through your actions and decisions within the game. At our target funding, we envisioned six Legacies: one for each Tide, and then a sixth for those who have no dominant Tide. Your Legacy (and the Tides) has a variety of impacts on both gameplay and on interactions in dialogue. For example, certain items will provide different abilities depending upon your Legacy, and your Legacy also affects what focus you master. Your Legacy might draw others to you, or make them wary of you. As your actions affect the Tides, you can choose to adopt a new Legacy and embrace your decisions or you can resist their pull for a while, at least. Some NPCs and creatures will notice and react to the Tidal impact on your Legacy, with some reacting favorably and others… not so much.

Six Legacies yields a lot of potential for reactivity and choices and consequences. But at this Stretch Goal, we take the system much further. Instead of depending only upon one Tide, your Legacy will be based upon your strongest TWO. This increases the number of Legacies to 11 (ten possible pairs, plus an eleventh for when no two reign supreme). By almost doubling the number of Legacies, we unlock many more options for gameplay and opportunities for the world and its people to respond to your choices. Your Legacy can change throughout the game, and doubling the number of Legacies doesn’t double the gameplay time. But it does have a tremendous impact on how reactive and replayable Torment will be. That makes this game a deeper, richer experience and provides you with a host more options to consider and explore as you seek your answer to Torment’s core question. Naturally, this also means that we’ll be creating even more cool, unique items and effects that respond specifically to the paths you’ve chosen.

Cults

We love you all, but it is our responsibility to torment you; that’s why you’re here in the first place. When we reach this Stretch Goal, we will add Cults to bring a little nastiness to your life. Like factions (which we had planned at our initial funding level and will discuss more later), these groups have their own interests, loyalties, and goals. Unlike factions, cults are antagonistic, roving enemies who pick up and move as they will, as the winds blow them, or as rumors of powers, enemies, or wealth summon them. Are they all being manipulated by a shadowy enemy? They might be! They might be entirely disconnected!

Should any of these cults discover who you really are, they’ll seek you in accordance with their own principles. But perhaps if you are clever enough, you can discover how to manipulate them to your advantage… and you might need to, if they all descend upon you at once. They will use you as a pawn against the others, and your goals may occasionally align with theirs, with quests and opportunities potentially opening as you interact with them. Make no mistake: they are inexorably opposed to you and your ilk. But if you are persistent, sly, and creative, you might find a way to turn their strengths into yours.

We’ll begin with the following two Cults:

The Children of the Endless Gate: Death worshippers, some call them. They prefer to think of themselves as spirits trapped in flesh, and the horror of their cage pushes them to atrocity. They call themselves liberators and agents of freedom, and when they hunt the slums of the cities they leave no evidence of their passing but a tracery in blood, an ever-wet gate to a realm of pure spirit… and horror.

The Order of Flagellants and Austerities: Once a hermetic and monkish offshoot of the Order of Truth, the so-called Scourges became a mendicant order and set out into the world with the appointment of a new leader a century ago. They are a missionary sect, devoted to cleansing the world of its many sins… among which are a reliance on the numenera, of using powers not rightfully granted with birth, and of pollution of the flesh with extravagances and constructs. A single Scourge alone is no threat, for they act only in communion with their brethren. But a group of them? They feed on the rage of their kin, borrowing strength of will and thew, and run berserk if they are not stopped, laying bare the bones of those who oppose them.

Companion #7

We’ll add another surprise companion, bringing the total to 7. You want blood? You’ve got it.