Fully convinced that the conception of this game was similar to that of Thief: The Dark Project, where deep down so much of the juice of this game revolves around moral decisions, conversation trees and so forth - sort of like if you merged a point and click adventure game with an RPG game, and the RPG mechanics are incredibly solid and precise in this one. The flipside to this is that it also exists as this streamlined version of Baldur's Gate (both this and that game revolve around the Dungeons & Dragons universe), featuring a bunch of mechanics (most notably the combat) where it's not necessarily bad, but you get the strong impression they were added into the game because the designers weren't fully convinced that they could carry a game purely on conversation trees and so forth.

Really, so much of why this game works comes from how it does so much to immerse you in these environments - and all the little subversions to gameplay mechanics and how it twists out the concept of an RPG game. For instance, your character is immortal - meaning your character can literally not stay dead, and it interestingly renders death into this really cheap and meaningless thing - something that can be equally exploited to your advantage, but also where I got the strong suspicion from the get-go that something was up. The writing is the strongest aspect of this game, and I like how so much of it has this sense of unfolding to it - both where everything you do builds up these pieces to discovering what seems to be very tragic circumstances, and how this game probes themes of regret and characters coming to terms with either do bad things or wind up making terrible perspectives. This can all be approached from either a good, evil or neutral perspective - all of which manages to oddly fit the backstory. The Nameless One is a really well-written character, both where he has enough texture and character on his own accord - but ultimately where there's a lot of room for you to apply your own perspective of the character - and where you have to weigh all the moral consequences of the decisions you make throughout.

Could probably go on about this game. Really, a must-play for anyone into RPG games.

Planescape: Torment is the second game from master developers Black Isle Studios, released in 1999 just one year after their fantastic Fallout 2. PS:T, like Fallout 2, is also directed by Chris Avellone, who also serves as writer. This is easily the highlight of his career. It is no hyperbole to suggest that here, he has written the greatest story in all of video game history, and perhaps even the greatest story of the 20th century. It all stems from the concept, which is among the greatest in design I've ever seen. You are one without a name, but you have an extensive past. This Nameless One has lived countless lives across thousands of years, and has utterly shaped the entire world around him, for better or worse. Every time he dies, he forgets everything. When you start the game, it's particularly tough because you have lost your trusty journal. So now you as the player are experiencing this strange world totally blind and are able to forge your own path despite having lived for so long. It doesn't matter if you want to be the goody two shoes, the evil maniac, or the apathetic punk, you have lived all of that and more.

The Nameless One is joined by some equally compelling protagonists. Most notable is Morte, your first. He's a floating skull masterfully portrayed by the great Rob Paulsen who serves as the true heart of the game. Morte is not only insanely useful as a deceptive tank, he's important to your journey. As hilarious as his sarcastic burns are, you will discover there is much more to him than the supposedly nonchalant devil may care punk he is. His story and relationship to you is something truly profound and unique. This goes for my personal favorite, the Githzerai warrior Dak'kon. Not only do the Githzerai already have such an interesting backstory, but Dak'kon exists to push their ideals to the absolute limit. You can read his entire Zerthimon bible and have legitimate in-depth discussion about the ideas contained within, and it's all so profound. Like Morte, he too has a fascinating connection with you that is totally heart-wrenching. This isn't it, though, there are so many great Companions, perhaps a bit too many. Annah (THE Sheena Easton) is yet another unconventional party member, being a Tiefling thief that's essentially the tsundere, although she is much more compelling due to her internal struggle over her feelings being legitimately justifiable, and she has some tragic parallels with a certain other love figure in the game. Fall-from-Grace (an unrecognizable Jennifer Hale) is another oddity, being a Puritan succubus, and she's the token healer. Her wisdom makes everything she says worthwhile. Nordom (the great Dan Castellaneta) is hilarious with his fish out of water attitude and obliviousness to the world around him. The only weak links in my opinion are Ignus and Vhailor (Keith David!). They're very one-dimensional, although justifiably so, and are kinda useless (Ignus' skills can all be learned by Nameless One and Vhailor is a tank that arrives way too late in the game and is rather outclassed). Although depending on your alignment, you will get some great moments with them later on, they are best left on the sidelines.

The game may get criticism for the second half being very linear, but it thematically makes perfect sense. You spend the whole first half roaming Sigil, confused about everything. You're lost and trying to find yourself and others, and eventually you do and are given a main quest. Then, you just have to focus on that with your newfound determination. That's linearity done right, it's a very realistic portrayal of a hero's journey. Even after the linearity kicks in, you're still able to go back to Sigil, so it's possible to break it up by still doing quests you may have missed.

PS:T does not focus on combat like one would expect. Any situation you can talk out of is much preferable, because then you get to experience the game's endlessly amazing dialogue. The combat system is very surface level and simplified compared to Fallout and Baldur's Gate, but again, that is not the focus. No game had made me feel such strong emotions as this one, from happy to sad. The writing can be so hilarious and tragic yet it never feels out of place. The Planescape D&D setting is one that is so rich with potential and interest, and Avellone and crew take full advantage of it. The lore is dense, but if you put the time into understanding it all, it is very rewarding, because then you can respond to people and situations in this world more efficiently. There are little changes to the engine that are much appreciated, such as better animations (especially for spells) and a more robust map that lets you make custom notes. However, it still has minor yet nevertheless irritating issues with pathfinding and characters blocking each other. Still, it's near perfect game design.

The climax of the game is so drastically different from any other I played and can play out in so many different ways based on how you interact with the world. As for the ending itself, I'm still trying to process it all. It is not the ending you may want, but it certainly is the one you need. The story never once loses itself or muddles its themes. It's a wholly consistent experience which is more than be said for most games. I could go on and on about every individual moment and how perfect each one is, but 1. This review is long enough and 2. I don't want to spoil too much of one's experience. Intimidated by old games? Give PS:T a try. It's less cluttered and esoteric in design than Baldur's Gate and the real time combat can be more intuitive than Fallout's turn based system. Since it's a dialogue driven game, you just gotta bring your brain, and perhaps some reading glasses. Even if CRPG's aren't your thing, you will surely be dragged in by the amazing and strikingly unique world, populated by equally so characters and stories.

The remaster is fantastic in many areas. It runs at your desktop resolution, and does so without flaw as far as I can see. There's some ugly changes, but everything can be toggled, and if you so wish, it comes with the original untouched version! I recommend playing without the zoom and outline feature, as it just highlights PS:T's admittedly graphical shortcomings, even for its time. Still, the music never sounded better, and the quality of life changes are extremely minor but still appreciative. Nothing breaks the original experience, and what a near perfect experience that is. Deservedly so among the top pantheon of entertainment, ever.

Planescape is a top-down RPG where you play as a strange immortal amnesiac who finds himself in a nexus of worlds based off of the Great Wheel in Dungeons and Dragons. You will be interact with a variety of strange dimensional travelers and spirits to find out your past and save reality from a maniacal deity. It is truly a classic, but perhaps not quite as perfect as many will say as it does carry a distinct flaw.
The games writing and world absolutely deserve the praise given, the land of Sigil and all within are fantastically made and the story is engaging from start to finish.
Planescape’s focus on writing though is not just it’s biggest strength, but it’s biggest weakness. As an actual RPG, Planescape is really just okay at best. Most of the quests are bog standard fetch quests and combat is awkward, nothing truly bad but nothing special and if it didn’t have such an interesting world Planescape would become boring quickly. This is a game you play to experience the world and writing, similar with games like Undertale, Myst, and Deadly Premonition. Go into it with the mindset of reading a book and you will probably love Planescape, go into it wanting to actually play an RPG and you will probably be disappointed.

Like many others have said, Planescape: Torment has one of the greatest video game stories of all time, but (and I hate to say this because I know how much P:T fans would disagree) it's in dire need of a remake. The combat flat out sucks, and the exploration can be a little slow.

Still, the characters are amazing, the narrative is excellent, and the world is interesting in ways that make other video game worlds feel boring. Buy it for sure, but don't be ashamed if you have to knock the difficulty down.

10/10 writing in a 3/10 game.
And "enhanced" my ass, it is LITTERED with game-breaking bugs. You literally have to skip an entire AREA (modron maze) to not completely fuck over the game. The combat is atrocious, and the alignment system is fucking bullshit.

One time, after trying my absolute best to uncover every dialogue option while speaking to one character, and then finding out I had somehow fucking missed a line of dialogue that allowed to leave the depths of hell itself, I was kind of getting sick of this game. What's that? Want to get the good ending? Wanted to use one of the items you've had since the start of the game and unlock more dialogue? I hope you have precognition, because if you don't you can enjoy reloading your save and enjoy doing the final area all over again. The ending more than makes up for it, but of course I still had to suffer through making myself invincible with console commands so I would stop getting killed during an unskippable cutscene.

The game will punish you for speaking certain dialogue choices, but also punish you for not exhausting every last one. It is impossible to know what dialogue choice will result in what, and whether you will lose out on something, change your alignment, or get blocked from speaking to the character in question any further entirely. You can miss out on entire characters and moments in the story just by doing something slightly out of order.

It's the first game to well up my eyes in a long time though. Twice. I cannot bring myself to give it any less than 4 stars. I recommend, reading, listening and looking at this game. But playing it? No.

As a 'videogame' it's far from flawless, there are a lot of boring fetch quests that damages the pacing a lot, combat doesn't really go far from mindlessly clicking enemies and healing when it's necessary, there are some important content that are easy to miss(like most of the companions).And dungeon designs are very linear. But stuff the game does right are so good, it makes up for it. World is really detailed and unique(especially first areas)most of the NPC's has something worthwhile to say,and visual design of areas are varied and memorable.Story is one of the best i've ever seen in a game.It's engaging from beggining to the end with a lot of philosophical concepts,heavily supported by an incredibly quality writing.It's easily the best part of the game
My biggest problem aren't any of the gameplay or design issues i mentioned, it's the characters, they actually have fleshed out personalities, but only if you choose to talk to them.They aren't interacting with each other at all,and because most of them are optional, they have zero effect on the main story
Even with the flaws, i think this is an excellent game, and something everyone should experince