A CRPG set in the Dungeons & Dragons setting of Planescape in which The Nameless One, an immortal amnesiac, sets off on a quest across the infinite Planes and gathers a party of conflicted companions to find out who he is and reclaim his mortality. Throughout it, he faces the consequences of the horrors he committed in his past lives and tries to find the root of all the torment plaguing his companions and the Planes.
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My journey across The Planes has taken me to places that most men believe exist only in the realm of thought. These places I travelled to, the people I met, and the conversations I had fundamentally changed me as a person. I don’t fully know how, but regardless, I know some sort of change occurred. Perhaps writing about my experience with Planescape will help me better understand these changes and the person I am today.
When I was 14, I discovered Planescape: Torment, and while I thought the game was awesome, I could never really engage with the questions the game posed to me. I mean, how could I? What would the question “What can change the nature of a man?” mean to a 14-year-old who was only beginning to grapple with the concept of its own being? Looking back, it meant nothing to me. Now that I am an adult, however, the question means much more to me. Part of me is ashamed to admit I haven’t always been a ‘good’ person. Learning to be kind, understanding, mature, and responsible took me many years of struggling and hardship to achieve. Even today, I still struggle with this, but through that struggle, I came to learn more about myself and my nature. I can’t fully codify into words what my “nature” or “self” are because they are concepts that exist beyond language. Language can at times be limiting, so I look to art to help me look inward and better conceptualise these thoughts and feelings. I feel as though Planescape stirred the part of my soul that sought these answers, and despite it not giving me concrete answers, I feel satisfied with the new questions it posed to me. To me, good art never seeks to speak for the reader but instead provides them with the tools necessary to create subjective meaning from the experience they have with it. I believe Planescape does this quite well; I’d even go so far as to argue that it fully agrees with me here. When The Nameless One is posed the question, “What can change the nature of a man?” the game does not have him provide a concrete answer to the player. Instead, we are left with the game giving us the tools necessary to begin constructing our own answer to that question as the credits roll. Currently, I don't have an answer to that question, and I'm not sure if I will even have one a decade from now, but I'm okay with that. Part of growing up meant that I had to learn to be content with not always having an answer for everything; perhaps not every question needed an answer.
There’s more I could write, but perhaps it’s best that some things remain unwritten. I would love to endlessly navel-gaze, but that wouldn’t do me or you, the reader, any good. I apologise to anyone here who expected a formal review and was met instead by my self-indulgent introspection. There's really not much I can say about Planescape that hasn't already been said; it's an awesome ass game, and it deserves the reputation it has made for itself, enough said.
Anyways, I’d like to end this short write-up by saying that if you haven’t already played Planescape: Torment, you owe it to yourself to take that journey across The Planes. Sigil is known as the ‘City of Doors’, after all, so why don’t you look inside and see where one of them takes you?
When I was 14, I discovered Planescape: Torment, and while I thought the game was awesome, I could never really engage with the questions the game posed to me. I mean, how could I? What would the question “What can change the nature of a man?” mean to a 14-year-old who was only beginning to grapple with the concept of its own being? Looking back, it meant nothing to me. Now that I am an adult, however, the question means much more to me. Part of me is ashamed to admit I haven’t always been a ‘good’ person. Learning to be kind, understanding, mature, and responsible took me many years of struggling and hardship to achieve. Even today, I still struggle with this, but through that struggle, I came to learn more about myself and my nature. I can’t fully codify into words what my “nature” or “self” are because they are concepts that exist beyond language. Language can at times be limiting, so I look to art to help me look inward and better conceptualise these thoughts and feelings. I feel as though Planescape stirred the part of my soul that sought these answers, and despite it not giving me concrete answers, I feel satisfied with the new questions it posed to me. To me, good art never seeks to speak for the reader but instead provides them with the tools necessary to create subjective meaning from the experience they have with it. I believe Planescape does this quite well; I’d even go so far as to argue that it fully agrees with me here. When The Nameless One is posed the question, “What can change the nature of a man?” the game does not have him provide a concrete answer to the player. Instead, we are left with the game giving us the tools necessary to begin constructing our own answer to that question as the credits roll. Currently, I don't have an answer to that question, and I'm not sure if I will even have one a decade from now, but I'm okay with that. Part of growing up meant that I had to learn to be content with not always having an answer for everything; perhaps not every question needed an answer.
There’s more I could write, but perhaps it’s best that some things remain unwritten. I would love to endlessly navel-gaze, but that wouldn’t do me or you, the reader, any good. I apologise to anyone here who expected a formal review and was met instead by my self-indulgent introspection. There's really not much I can say about Planescape that hasn't already been said; it's an awesome ass game, and it deserves the reputation it has made for itself, enough said.
Anyways, I’d like to end this short write-up by saying that if you haven’t already played Planescape: Torment, you owe it to yourself to take that journey across The Planes. Sigil is known as the ‘City of Doors’, after all, so why don’t you look inside and see where one of them takes you?
disco elysium son, planescape: torment daughter
Janky combat and a somewhat rushed late-game does not stop this from being a revolutionary game in the CRPG landscape (even today there is still nothing quite like it, afaik). The story and writing is excellent in this one, with goofy but likeable and fully fleshed-out side characters, and not too superficial philosophical musings (it's not that deep, but keep in mind that the other major isometric crpgs that went out before this were the first two Fallout games and Baldur's Gate -- I'll also throw in the Ultima series and Diablo so as to not only cite Infinity Engine games, but hey, you get the point). The lore-dumping can be a little bit too apparent at times, but is balanced out by how fascinating and bizarre the Planescape setting is. It really feels so new when compared to the tamer, more standard DnD setting of Baldur's Gate. Finally, the ugly low budget late-90s 3D graphics may seem off-putting for a while, but in the end it fits the strange atmosphere perfectly. An excellent game overall.
(as a necessary fair warning, the game is a tad "passively" misogynistic at times, which is, of course, a bit unavoidable in games from that era, but still. it's also written mostly by Chris Avellone, a fact which may be understandably off-putting for some, given some recent events)
(as a necessary fair warning, the game is a tad "passively" misogynistic at times, which is, of course, a bit unavoidable in games from that era, but still. it's also written mostly by Chris Avellone, a fact which may be understandably off-putting for some, given some recent events)
need to get back to this one
Normally I'd ding it for ass gameplay but Planescape transcends the boorishness of combat
Finally powered through this after dropping it in the first few hours multiple times over the years. Very glad I did, because yeah, in spite of its quite dated RTWP gameplay - it's a masterpiece. Such a deep and thoughtful story, with incredible writing and worldbuilding. The art and music is incredible as well!