Every time I think the Kickstarter train has come to a stop, a different project pulls into a record-breaking station. This time, inXile’s Torment: Tides of Numenera has set a new record for a video game on the site with $4,188,927 in pledges from 74,405 backers. If you missed out on backing the RPG, which was inspired by the well-regarded Planescape: Torment, there’s still time. InXile has set up a PayPal Store for last-minute pledges and pre-orders.
Torment: Tides of Numenera is a massive undertaking and to help with development, inXile has recruited Chris Avellone, the Lead Designer of Planescape: Torment. Here’s what they have planned for Tides of Numenera, which you should be able to play by December 2014:
You are the Last Castoff, the final link in the chain of the lives of the being they call the Changing God. He once was a man who discovered a way to use the relics of the ancients to cheat death and skip across the face of centuries in a succession of bodies. But he never knew that his bodies lived on as his consciousness fled, a new consciousness arising in each. Now he has awakened an age-old enemy, the Angel of Entropy, and his days of change are gone as the Angel hunts him and all his works. That includes… you.
With the ever-present threat of oblivion looming over you, you must find your sire before he—and you—are eradicated by the avenging Angel. You will find allies and enemies among the other castoffs. You might inhabit their minds for a time through the devices called “the Meres,” turning their lives to your advantage. You will travel across the face of the Ninth World, and above and below it, with your companions at your side—or alone, if you wish. Your quest will take you to alternate dimensions and distant worlds under strange suns; particular Meres might afford you even more bizarre experiences, such as folding time itself. And you will build your legacy as you find your answer to the question:
What does one life matter?
You can learn more than you ever wanted to know about Torment: Tides of Numenera by visiting the Kickstarter page and, eventually, the game’s official site.
