Game - The Technomancer
Release Date - June 28th, 2016
Platform - Xbox One
Developer/Publisher - Spiders Studios, Focus Home Interactive
Price - $59.99 (10% off had it pre-ordered)
Ever since it was announced, The Technomancer was one of our most anticipated RPG's of recent memory. Spiders Studios has developed a gem of a game that draws inspiration from two of the most successful RPG franchises in Mass Effect and The Witcher. The love child of both games, with a little bit of Total Recall mixed in, the game takes place on Mars. We play a Technomancer named Zachariah during the War of Water, Mars' most valuable resource. Zachariah becomes framed by a fellow soldier, and finds himself on the run Mars' secret police organization the ASC while he attempts to both clear his name and decipher the truth. Due to the secrets of his people's past, Zachariah's future is now in danger as he fights to keep secret the history of the Technomancers. Mars has been cut off from Earth, and Zachariah must use his secret along with his newfound knowledge and relics in order to rekindle communications while protecting his people. There are many different enemies, creatures and factions for you to either fight or befriend, and the entire game story line depends on your choices. Similar to the Mass Effect Paragon/Renegade system, The Technomancer expands on it even more to become the most in depth RPG of recent memory.
Of course, this all sounds great, but what exactly IS a Technomancer? Well, they are all mage-warriors. They use electrical based powers which are both augmented and enhanced by various implants. These powers are used in combat in conjunction with the three fighting styles that make up the most fluid and dynamic battle system I've seen yet. Your styles include Warrior (Bo staff), Guardian (Mace and Shield) and Rogue (Knives/Guns). Each one of these is button mapped for instant transition in battle and makes for some killer combinations. This means that you can knock back an enemy with the staff, roll away as a rogue, block a bullet with your Guardian's shield, shoot your Technomancer electric arcs and finish with your Warrior's area staff attack with absolutely zero effort. As you level up, you'll have the opportunity to upgrade all three styles plus your technomancer ability in four different skill trees. If you play mainly as a Rogue or Warrior, you won't want to spend your points on the Guardian tree, so your playstyle greatly dictates which skill you upgrade. While upgrading, each tree has passive skills such as increased staff damage 5% on all attacks as well as special abilities like Technomancer electric storm. Now, while the passive abilities are steady during the game, special abilites can also be upgraded once. For example, you may gain the next passive skill in the Technomancer tree, or upgrade electric storm to have either more damage or reach a wider area and change the way the power behaves.
Unlike other RPG's, your HP does not go up as you level up automatically. It falls under the name of Consitution in The Technomancer along with Power, Strength and Agility. While skills earn you an upgrade point on each level, these abilities only earn you a point every three or four levels depending. You can choose to upgrade your constitution for more health or your agility in order perform stealth manuevers. You only get one every few levels, so your playstyle and strategy greatly determine how you'll proceed. These upgrades also impact your companions, and I found that it was actually easier to focus on the other upgrades while not on your own health as much. After all, your total health starts at only 100 HP and maxes at 150, +10 for each of five levels you can upgrade, so companion upgrades are more important for support.
Fighting in The Technomancer takes more strategy than any RPG I've played. Spam X button serves no purpose other than a quick death and varying techniques is a must. As there is no blocking in combat (other than the shield), you will find yourself employing a number of strategies. The disruptive strikes are new to games and although they take a bit of getting used to, add an outstanding level of realism to The Technomancer. Most games see an enemy stop its attack when you strike them, even if they are millimeters away from hitting you. Yeah, not in The Technomancer. Enemies continue to attack like a slugfest unless you hit them with a disruptive strike. This means you are taking damage as you are hitting the enemy. Each varying attack, whether it's a Technomancer ability or weapon strike, has a certain chance of disrupting the enemy flow of motion. This will cause them to fall over, get knocked backward, etc. Each attack has a certain percentage of causing a disruption, which can be upgraded through your skill tree. If you don't cause one in time, or if you do and another enemy comes to attack you, you will need to roll or flip out of the way prior to re-engaging. Guardian fighters can deploy their shield, but with multiple enemies it becomes difficult to avoid multiple attacks and you'll be killed quickly.
Each Warrior, Rogue and Guardian also utilize an evasion move. Warriors flip with their staff, Rogues use a roll while Guardians parry with their shield. Enemy count plays a huge roll on which technique you will use. While flipping and rolling let you evade larger groups, the Guardian's parry is suited better for single enemies. The Technomancer's dynamic battle system punishes Guardians in larger groups, so the quick switch ability truly helps. In large groups, I found using the Guardian style was better suited when enemies were distracted by your companions. Your shield disruption has a higher chance to succeed than standard Warrior and Rogue moves, so deciding when and when not to fast switch your fighting styles is a true test to how you succeed in battle. Add in the enemy targeting lock system and you have the most complete real time battle system that has been implemented in a RPG to date.
Spiders Studios showed forward thinking with the implementation of an ability wheel in The Technomancer. Both injections (focus and health) and abilities are button mapped to one of four spots A,B,X,Y. Early on, you'll see you have less spots than what you need, so the ability wheel performs well with the high action of the game. The wheel slows the game action to a Max Payne style speed and allows you to navigate in order to use an ability you do not have fast mapped to a particular button. Those who played Mass Effect 3 will find the ability wheel familiar as well as it functions in nearly the same manner. I found it easiest to keep your abilities fast mapped, while using injections through the ability wheel, as they took less time to use than the abilities. Standard fights are no big deal, but more advanced boss fights should be planned out in order to eliminate any possible time for the enemy to attack. All of these new styles, along with the fact that all enemies behave in a completely random fashion, and The Technomancer portrays the most realistic, strategy oriented combat in an RPG that we've seen to date.
Normally in MMO's or RPG's I just gloss over the companion system as they act as more of a nuisance and dumb A.I. than actually helping you. In the Technomancer, however, companions act as an extension of your own character and even have their own story along with moral code. At any point, you'll head into battle with your choice of two companions. (You could choose zero but you'll be insta-killed). Companions can be changed while leaving most locations, and absolutely aid in keeping a mob of enemies from swarming you. They just don't hang out in the backgorund and are just as necessary as a primary character. Defeating enemies knocks them out, but you can drain them of serum (in game currency) which kills them and lowers your karma score. If it gets too low, your companions get pissed off and leave the group. They ask you for help with things in their own lives which you can also accept or reject. Completing their missions not only increases your reputation with them, but also changes the manner in which the story plays out. Your companions' chances of success is determined by how you upgrade them.
The karma system is a new addition to the game, but chances are you won't get to really see it at work. Even though companions can leave your group if your karma is too low, it won't really get low enough unless you go on a killing spree. Every human enemy kill gets you a -1 karma score, but creatures don't impact it. It was nice to see this as they are creatures after all, and draining serum from creatures really helps you up your serum count in order to purchase valuable upgrades. You can lower your karma if you want just to see, but beware as chances to raise it up come from missions only and are dependent on your allegiances to certain factions. What's more, is your companions will start commenting on your actions prior to just leaving, so this adds a higher level of interaction that is not normally seen with your companions.
All characters share your inventory, and you can upgrade all items to impact their appearance and survivability. I was most impressed with how technically sound the companions' own stats impacted the gameplay. Researchers are more versed in science, while merchants have upgraded charisma. If you head into a rough area and only have two of three lock picking skills unlocked, you can equip a companion that provides you a +1 ability in that area. Doing so will let you open the best lockboxes and get the best loot, while using a merchant companion will see you miss out on them and possibly impact your progress by impeding your upgrades.
The voice acting in The Technomancer is superb. Not only does it show true to scene tone of voice, but the characters routinely mention other characters contained in the game's story without provocation. They will ask how others are doing, how their quests are going, etc.. The Technomancer behaves as one fluid, dynamic world opposed to the usual system where characters have no clue who each other although they work right next to each other. All of this ties into the story and amplifies the immersion I experienced during my play through. It never feels forced or drags on, rather it behaves as more of a TV show with the story and plot lines changing on the fly.
The Technomancer is the most advanced and overall complete, well versed RPG that I've played to date.
Upgrading and crafting in The Technomancer take a long time, but it's not overkill. The progress you need is tied to XP gained from both primary (story) and secondary (side) quests, and every piece of equipment has different spots to upgrade. As mentioned, the in-game currency is Serum. It's basically blood and is used for everything in game. You earn it by completing some quests, selling gear or looting enemy bodies. You can choose to use your Serum to buy level 3 upgrade plans for your staff, or save it and dismantle an item in order to get the needed components to upgrade. It acts as a risk/reward system dependent on which character uses the item and influences how your companions survive encounters. Ill-equipped companions die quickly, and since your HP only goes up if you use a skill point on it, your companions become even more important. As a result, dismantling items for loot isn't always the best course of action as it leaves your companions void of weapons/gear.
As in-depth as the battle and upgrade systems are, graphically The Technomancer is just as beautiful. All of the environments are well textured and robust with color. Since much of the game takes place outside in the desolate environment of Mars, Spiders did an excellent job of adding variety to what would otherwise be a bland environment. Deserts contain cascading mountains, broken down dome buildings show off protruding pieces of metal and visible decay while the inside of certain buildings are as pristine as a modern day museum. It's clear that lighting was a primary focus for The Technomancer. About half of the game takes place inside places like Slums and Underworks near the beginning of the game. These are darker areas, but all of the environment's colors were adjusted to provide a more immersive, well-rounded approach to them. It acted as a counter-balance to the brighter, exterior environments and the gameplay varieties flourished as a result.
Cinematic cut-scenes portray well textured characters and they are tied into your characters' inventory. Zachariah and your companions wear whatever equipment is in their inventory, so you get many chances to show off just how badass you can make them look. It's not just the characters either as fallen enemies are also on display. Should a cut-scene start while you are standing over a defeated enemy, they will be on full display at your feet. It was a nice inclusion that many RPG's opt to not include, and the game benefits that much more for it.
I'm happy to say that there weren't many technical issues at all in The Technomancer, especially during battle. The ability to switch weapons on the fly had me believing that hit markers may be off, but that was not the case. With battles of sometimes over 10 characters on screen, there was no visible lag. All of the enemies can be struck at anytime. So, if you are about to hit one with your staff and another enemy runs in front, he gets hit as well. Even with this reactive system where enemies fall into and react to each other physically, the combat remained steady and fluid the entire time. A few times, defeated enemies would fall against a rock and end up with the pose where they were half in and half out of the rock, but they did exist although few and far between. A day one patch fixed any of the issues that were temporarily halting progress, and The Technomancer has really snuck up on gamers in 2016.
Taking into account the depth and fluidity of its combat, variation of skill and gear upgrades, expansive and well voiced cut-scenes, overall level of strategy implemented along with the vast scope of its story, and The Technomancer is the most advanced and overall complete, well versed RPG that I've played to date.
