Planescape: Torment is a role-playing video game released in 1999. It was created by Black Isle Studios and published by Interplay Entertainment for Windows computers. The game is set in the multiverse of Planescape, a fantasy world used in the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) game series. The game uses a version of the Infinity Engine, which was also used in an earlier D&D game called Baldur's Gate.
Planescape: Torment focuses on storytelling, with battles playing a smaller role. The main character, called The Nameless One, is a person who cannot die and forgets all memories if killed. The story follows his journey through the city of Sigil and other worlds to recover lost memories from past lives and to learn why he was made immortal. Some characters in the game may join The Nameless One on his journey; many of these characters have met him before or been affected by his actions.
The game did not sell well commercially but was highly praised by critics and is now considered a cult classic, often named the best role-playing game of 1999. It was admired for its detailed conversations, the unique and dark Planescape setting, and The Nameless One’s unusual character, which differed from typical role-playing game heroes. Many people consider it one of the greatest video games ever made. A newer version of the game was released in 2017 for Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, and iOS, and in 2019 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Gameplay
Planescape: Torment is created using BioWare's Infinity Engine. This engine shows the game world in a fixed, 3D-like view from the side, allowing players to control their characters. The game uses the same rules as Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition. Players take on the role of The Nameless One, an immortal man who has forgotten his past and seeks to discover why he was made immortal. To move or interact, players click on the ground, objects, or characters. Items and spells can be used through shortcuts, quick access slots, or a circular menu. Instead of wearing armor, characters can use magical tattoos to improve their abilities.
The game starts with creating The Nameless One's character, where players assign points to traits like strength, intelligence, and charisma. The Nameless One begins as a fighter but can later become a thief or wizard. Players can recruit up to seven companions, though only five can join The Nameless One at a time. Characters often speak to each other, both during random events and when talking to other characters. Many quests are solved through conversation instead of fighting, and some battles can be avoided using dialogue or stealth. The Nameless One keeps a journal to track quests and storylines. Since The Nameless One is immortal, losing health points only causes him to respawn in a new location.
Planescape: Torment uses the D&D alignment system, which categorizes characters based on their moral and ethical views. This system uses two scales: "good vs. evil" and "law vs. chaos," with neutrality between the extremes. The Nameless One starts as "true neutral" but can shift his alignment based on choices made during the game. Other characters in the game react differently to The Nameless One depending on his alignment.
Synopsis
Planescape: Torment is set in the Planescape multiverse, a Dungeons & Dragons campaign setting that includes many different worlds, the creatures that live there (like devils, modrons, and gods), and the magical forces that shape each world. Much of the game takes place in Sigil, a large city located on an infinitely tall spire at the center of the multiverse. Sigil connects all the different worlds through portals. The city is ruled by the powerful Lady of Pain, and many groups control parts of the city based on their beliefs. The main character, called The Nameless One, can join several of these groups during the game. The story later moves to other worlds, such as Baator and Carceri, where The Nameless One learns more about his past. As the game progresses, The Nameless One slowly discovers details about his previous lives and how they have affected the world.
The main character of Planescape: Torment is called The Nameless One. He has been cursed with immortality for thousands of years. Every time he dies, someone else in the multiverse dies to help him come back to life. When he is reborn, he often has no memory of his past life and may have a completely different personality. The game begins with The Nameless One waking up in a mortuary after his latest death. He then starts a journey to find out why he is immortal and how he died, hoping the adventure will help him remember his past lives.
During his journey, The Nameless One meets several characters who can join him as companions: Morte, Annah-of-the-Shadows, Dak'kon, Ignus, Nordom, Fall-From-Grace, and Vhailor. These characters can also help move the story forward. Morte is a floating skull from Baator's Pillar of Skulls, made from the heads of people who lied to others in life. He appears early in the game and follows The Nameless One partly because he feels guilty for causing the deaths of some of his past lives. Annah-of-the-Shadows is a young tiefling rogue who joins the group later. Dak'kon is a githzerai who once promised to help The Nameless One until his death but became his eternal servant because he did not know about his immortality. Ignus is a pyromaniac who was once an apprentice of one of The Nameless One's past lives. Nordom is a modron who has lost contact with its hive mind. Fall-From-Grace is a succubus who runs a brothel in Sigil but does not try to seduce people. Vhailor is an animated suit of armor that serves justice in the Outlands.
Important characters in the game include Deionarra, a former lover of one of The Nameless One's past lives who died because of his actions; Ravel Puzzlewell, a night hag who helped his first life become immortal; Trias the Betrayer, a fallen deva who decides to act on his own after losing faith in the gods; Coaxmetal, a giant golem in Sigil who makes weapons to help people destroy each other; and the Transcendent One, a being that represents The Nameless One's mortality and is the final boss of the game.
The game starts when The Nameless One wakes up in a mortuary. A floating skull named Morte appears and offers advice on how to escape. Morte also reads tattoos on The Nameless One's back, which were left by a past life and contain instructions to find a man named Pharod. After speaking with the ghost of Deionarra and passing enslaved undead workers, The Nameless One leaves the mortuary to explore the slums of Sigil. He finds Pharod, who is the leader of an underground village and Annah's adoptive father. Pharod asks The Nameless One to retrieve a magical bronze sphere before he will share information. After returning with the sphere, Pharod gives more clues about The Nameless One's past. Later, The Nameless One learns from a sorcerer named Lothar that Ravel Puzzlewell caused his immortality but is trapped in a magical maze. To enter the maze, The Nameless One needs a piece of Ravel's blood, which he gets from one of her daughters.
Inside the maze, The Nameless One talks to Ravel, who asks him, "What can change the nature of a man?" This question is important throughout the game. Ravel is happy with The Nameless One's answer because he shares his own thoughts instead of guessing what she wants. She explains that a past life of The Nameless One asked her to make him immortal, but the ritual was flawed, causing him to lose memories each time he dies. She also says that his mortality was not destroyed and is still somewhere in the world. She suggests that Trias might know where it is.
Ravel tries to stop The Nameless One and his group from leaving the maze, but they defeat her. After they leave, Ravel fakes her death. A being called The Transcendent One appears and kills Ravel after a short conversation. The portal in the maze takes The Nameless One and his group to the city of Curst, a town on the border of the Outlands and Carceri, to find Trias. They find Trias trapped under Curst and offer to help free him in exchange for answers. Trias says he does not know where The Nameless One's mortality is but gives a clue. The Nameless One then travels to the Outlands and Baator, where he learns that his mortality is in a place called the Fortress of Regrets, and that Trias knows how to reach it. However, Curst has moved from the Outlands to the chaotic plane of Carceri because of the chaos caused by Trias. After fighting through the city, The Nameless One and his group reach Trias, who they defeat. When Trias is weakened, he tells The Nameless One that the portal to the Fortress of Regrets is in Sigil's mortuary, near where he first awoke.
In the Fortress of Regrets, The Nameless One meets three of his past lives: one practical, one good, and one paranoid. He learns that the "good" incarnation was the first person made immortal by Ravel and that he committed terrible sins in life. To avoid being punished in the Lower Planes, he chose immortality to have time to atone for his actions. However, his memory loss after each death made this plan
Development
In 1997, the game's creators made a 47-page document that explained the game's main ideas and goals. They used this document to present the game idea to managers at Interplay. Initially, the game was called Last Rites, and the designers described it as a unique type of fantasy to set it apart from other fantasy games. The document included artwork for characters and areas in the game. It was released for Windows on December 10, 1999, in the United States and on January 7, 2000, in the United Kingdom. At the time, three Planescape games were being developed by Black Isle Studios. One was Last Rites, which became Torment. The other two games were canceled. Colin McComb, who helped design the Planescape world, joined the Torment project after his own game was canceled.
Planescape: Torment aims to make players feel like they are uncovering a hidden history (the forgotten past of the main character) while exploring a large and unusual world. From the start, the game's designers wanted to challenge common ideas in role-playing games. The game has no dragons, elves, or goblins. There are only three swords. The rats in the game can be very difficult to defeat. Sometimes, the undead characters are more kind than humans. The designers said that many role-playing games have only one "correct" way to solve problems, usually the morally good way. They called this approach "predictable and stupid" and wanted to create a game with more choices, where problems might have two wrong answers or two right answers. The main goal is not to save the world but to learn about The Nameless One and his immortality. Death, whether for the main character or their companions, is not a major problem and may even be necessary at times.
Lead designer and writer Chris Avellone said Planescape: Torment was inspired by books, comics, and games like Archie Comics, The Chronicles of Amber, The Elementals, and Shadowrun. The 1997 outline also mentioned The Lord of the Rings to describe some characters. While working on Torment, Avellone also worked on Fallout 2. In a 2007 interview, he said Fallout 2 helped him improve the dialogue in Torment and later games. Producer Guido Henkel said the team followed AD&D rules closely but simplified some parts. The game's credits also mention Final Fantasy VII as an influence.
When designing the character Ravel Puzzlewell, Avellone wanted a mysterious puzzle maker who loved the player and tried to help others but faced bad consequences. He compared Ravel's life to a tangled plant that spreads across different worlds. Avellone later said working on Ravel was one of his most important projects and influenced his writing for a character in Knights of the Old Republic II.
Avellone said many ideas in the game could only be shared through text, as it would be too expensive to make movies or TV shows about them. He later felt the game's heavy focus on dialogue hurt the combat system. The game's script has about 800,000 words, even though early previews suggested the game would be only 20 hours long.
Producer Guido Henkel said he became frustrated with pressure from Interplay's management after their initial public offering. Although few changes were needed to meet the release date, he said management ignored the development team on issues like packaging and marketing. Henkel said his goal was to keep the game strong before leaving Interplay. He also said his influence on the game was greater than that of other designers, though his role was later downplayed. In 2011, Henkel said the main character's face on the game box was based on his own face because the model scheduled to appear backed out. He spent two hours on makeup and 45 minutes on photography. He said his face was red and burned from the chemicals used to remove the makeup, but he felt it was worth it.
The game used the Infinity Engine, a game engine first made by BioWare for Baldur's Gate. However, Torment was developed using the engine before Baldur's Gate was released, so its success was uncertain. Black Isle Studios modified the engine for the game, such as allowing characters to run and making sprites and backgrounds larger and more detailed. This was done by changing the camera's perspective. Magic was also a key part of the game, and four designers worked only on spell visuals and mechanics.
Besides official translations, fan communities created Spanish, Hungarian, and Italian versions of the game. After Interplay stopped supporting Torment, fans fixed remaining bugs and added features like widescreen support.
Initially, Interplay hired musician Lustmord to create the game's music. He worked for four months and made over 40 pieces. However, six weeks before release, a producer wanted the
Adaptations
A book with the same name was written by Ray and Valerie Vallese and published by Wizards of the Coast in 1999. The book's story is not exactly the same as the game. It gives a bigger role to Fhjull Forked-Tongue, a character who is only a small helper in the game. In the book, Fhjull tells the main character, the Nameless One, to find the Pillar of Skulls in Baator for answers, and the ending of the book is very different from the game. The book also changes how the game's characters are shown. For example, in the game, the main character has no name because it shows he is not complete and helps protect him by being unknown. In the book, the main character picks a name, and his friends call him "Thane." Maciej Miszczyk from Hardcore Gaming 101 said the book is "bland and uninteresting," adding it offers "nothing new" to people who have already played the game and is a "not as good" choice for those who have not.
In 2010, when the game was re-released on GOG.com, a second book was included with the game. This book, written by Rhyss Hess, is more accurate and based on the game's script by Chris Avellone and Colin McComb.
A third book was created in 2013 by fans. It combines text from the game, the Rhyss Hess book, and a Let's Play video by a user named ShadowCatboy on the Something Awful forum. The project was edited by Logan Stromberg and is considered the best version of the game's story.
Reception
Planescape: Torment was highly praised by critics when it was released. GameSpot's reviewer said, "It's clearly the best traditional computer role-playing game of the year," and later called it "one of the greatest ever." Allen Rausch, writing for GameSpy's 2004 article "A History of D&D Video Games," said Black Isle Studios created a unique experience that no other RPG has matched. The gameplay was often compared to Baldur's Gate, another Interplay game that used the same engine. Robert Mayer of Computer Games Magazine said the game was "dark and interesting," with macabre humor, unusual sexual references, and strange elements that might not appeal to fans of traditional fantasy. Kieron Gillen of PC Gamer UK said the game tried to be different in a genre that usually follows the same patterns, and he supported its effort.
Reviewers liked the game's story and writing. A review in The New York Times said the game's details and emotional impact made some players look for literary friends. Players enjoyed shaping their character's journey as they wished. In 2005, GameSpot said the game had the best role-playing experience for an evil character ever made. The main character, the Nameless One, was different from typical heroes, who were often seen as kind and selfless. Reviewers liked how the character gained new powers by remembering past lives. The game's dark and varied version of the D&D Planescape world was praised as a fresh idea compared to traditional fantasy. A review in Next Generation said the game had the best RPG gameplay available. Uros Jojic of Actiontrip said the game proved it was possible to make an original and fun game in a genre full of similar titles. Diane Carr of Game Studies called the game's setting "a freak show, a long story, a zoo, and a cabinet of talkative curiosities," and described the creatures as "grotesque rather than scary." Cindy Yans of Computer Games Magazine said the game's world was one where knowledge and thoughts were more powerful than swords, and belief could change the world. Cindy Vanous of Computer Games Magazine said the game's creatures and landscapes were strange and ever-changing. Planescape: Torment was the first video game set in the Planescape universe.
The game's limits were hard to define. Small choices often led to unexpected results, and the game avoided clear answers or easy understanding. The story was complex and needed to be explored slowly with companions.
The game's technical aspects were also praised. Although the game's default screen size (640×480) was not considered advanced at the time, reviewers liked the art design and colors of the environments. The sound and music were called "well above the norm" and "superb." One reviewer said the only complaint was that there wasn't enough music. Another said the game had "just about the best sound" they had ever heard. GamePro said the characters had voices that sounded like real professional actors during important dialogues. The graphics were moderately well received, with some reviewers saying they could be a bit plain but with good spell effects.
The game's interface was praised. The US edition of PC Gamer said the automap marked important locations and allowed players to add notes, and the journal separated completed quests from unfinished ones. The magazine also praised the Infinity Engine's improvements, like the radial menu, which let players focus on the game instead of managing many screens.
Reviewers said the game's story was the main reason they enjoyed it. One reviewer said, "We were swept away by Planescape: Torment. It wasn't the engine, characters, or settings that won us. It was the rich storyline. This tale is more a reflection of your true self than any game ever made."
Criticism of the game was rare, but some issues were mentioned. Problems included long load times and the game slowing down during combat. Bugs caused slowdowns when too many graphical elements were on screen, but a fix was released. Allgame's Derek Williams said the combat was simple, similar to Diablo, making the game too easy. Eurogamer gave the game seven out of ten, later increasing it to eight after a patch. They disliked the character's immortality, saying it made other characters' lives "cheap and meaningless," but other reviews said this feature was well done. Eurogamer also disliked the amount of experience given for certain dialogues, but others said this made the game stand out. Some reviewers said the game's pathfinding AI was not impressive.
Planescape: Torment is often called one of the greatest video games of all time and has a dedicated fan group. It won several Editor's Choice awards, was named RPG of the Year for 1999 by GameSpot and Computer Gaming World, and won the Vault Network's Game of the Year for 1999. PC Gamer US called it "Game of the Month" in March 2000 and nominated it for its 1999 "Best Roleplaying Game" award, which went to System Shock 2. At the 3rd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards, it was a finalist for "Computer Adventure / Role-Playing Game of the Year" and "Outstanding Achievement in Character or Story Development."
In 2006, The A.V. Club listed Planescape: Torment in their "11 of Video Gaming's Strangest Moments" because of how death was used to advance the story. In 2006, Gamasutra asked video game professionals which RPG made the biggest "quantum leap" in the genre's history. Planescape: Torment was ranked second after Fallout, earning a "Quantum Leap Award." The game also received an honorable mention for the same award in the "Storytelling" category.
Legacy
The game was released on DVD in 2009 and became available for purchase on GOG.com on September 28, 2010. After the release of Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition, Beamdog's Overhaul Games announced plans to improve other games in the Dungeons & Dragons universe, starting with Planescape: Torment. They stated that these improvements would depend on the success of Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition. In November 2012, Penny Arcade Report reported that Brian Fargo, the leader of inXile Entertainment, had acquired the rights to Torment. In January 2013, Brian Fargo announced the development of a new game, Torment: Tides of Numenera, which would take place in the Numenera universe created by Monte Cook. Colin McComb, who helped design Planescape and Torment, led the game's development. It was released in February 2017.
A sequel, Planescape: Unraveled, was being developed by Beamdog after completing Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear. David Gaider designed the project, with Avellone providing guidance. However, the project was canceled in 2016.
In March 2017, Beamdog announced Planescape: Torment: Enhanced Edition, an improved version of the game. It was released on April 11, 2017, for Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android devices. The update included changes similar to those made for other enhanced editions. Avellone helped select and refine the improvements. Beamdog used the original game's source code and design documents to restore content removed in the original version and complete missing sections. The company did not make major changes to the game, with CEO Trent Oster stating that significant changes would be like "repainting the smile on the Mona Lisa." Skybound Games, part of Skybound Entertainment, released the remastered version on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on October 15, 2019.