Back in 2013 developer Spiders released the downloadable RPG known as Mars: War Logs. It was a flawed, low-budget title that was clearly trying to ape the works of BioWare at a fraction of the scale. It succeeded rather admirably considering how small the project was, and showed what potential Spiders could have if they were given the financial freedom to more fully chase their ambitions.
Three years later and out came The Technomancer. An indirect sequel that sees them revisiting the world they created on Mars, only this time backed by more money. It's not a triple-A production by any means (more like double-A), but they were certainly able to create a much better game as a result. However, The Technomancer isn't quite a true success story. Some of War Logs' issues are still hanging around. So rather that being the title that cements Spiders reputation as one of the RPG greats, it's more of just another step in the right direction that shows off their increasing skill as a developer and what heights they could reach later on down the road.
By far the game's greatest strengths lie in its world and story. Set on a version of the red planet that's plagued by an endless war between corporations over water, you play as the newest inductee into a group of powerful warriors with a pretty big secret to hide. What follows is a lot of treachery and backstabbing that sees you on the run with a group of interesting, if a tad underdeveloped companions and getting involved with various factions across Mars. Interesting stuff, and thanks to the excellent amount of player choice I really felt like I made a significant impact on the planet by the time the credits rolled.
The areas you'll discover and explore are quite memorable and full of personality. Although they aren't the prettiest to look at. The Technomancer's graphics are certainly dated. Characters animations are stiff and awkward during gameplay, and the fact that only their mouths move during conversations make everyone you come in contact with look a little plastic.
When it comes to defining your own playstyle you really get to see how deep the game's RPG mechanics are. Multiple branching skill trees allow you to outfit yourself with a variety of interesting abilities and buffs. The combat system also has a lot of flexibility as it lets you switch between four different styles on the fly. Unfortunately, neither of these elements are able to shine like they should do to some troubling balance issues.
I started the game off on normal, but quickly had to switch it to easy just to make any progress. The default difficulty setting is the equivalent of nightmare mode in any other game. No matter how much you level up even the basic enemy types can decimate in only a few hits while you're only able to continuously chip away at their seemingly much larger health bars while hoping to not die from an attack you just didn't see coming. I thought technomancers were supposed to be tough?
But even when I lowered the difficulty I wasn't exactly having a blast. Unfortunately easy mode turned out to be too, well, easy. Outside of a few boss and mini-boss encounters I was largely able to button mash my way through every fight. So I never really felt the need to experiment with all of the different styles and powers I had at my disposal. A shame because the combat system is really great on paper and the environments are littered with enemy encounters so it's not like you can really avoid fighting. With no comfortable difficulty setting to choose from, two of the game's best features are never able to be fully taken advantage of, and that's what makes The Technomancer disappointing.
Spiders fell just short of greatness with this one. Their most admirable effort to date is held back by last gen visuals, poor balancing, and technical issues. Their are also some design flaws like the one that locked out of completing one of my companion's quest threads because apparently you only have one of those going at once and there was no dialog option to go back and get it from them later on. Yet, this is still a genuinely good RPG. It's clear that player choice was the central focus in every aspect of its design and that's what drives people to play these kind of games in the first place. Spiders definitely needs to continue refining their technique, because if they learn their lessons here they could very become the genre's next household name.
7.5/10
Three years later and out came The Technomancer. An indirect sequel that sees them revisiting the world they created on Mars, only this time backed by more money. It's not a triple-A production by any means (more like double-A), but they were certainly able to create a much better game as a result. However, The Technomancer isn't quite a true success story. Some of War Logs' issues are still hanging around. So rather that being the title that cements Spiders reputation as one of the RPG greats, it's more of just another step in the right direction that shows off their increasing skill as a developer and what heights they could reach later on down the road.
By far the game's greatest strengths lie in its world and story. Set on a version of the red planet that's plagued by an endless war between corporations over water, you play as the newest inductee into a group of powerful warriors with a pretty big secret to hide. What follows is a lot of treachery and backstabbing that sees you on the run with a group of interesting, if a tad underdeveloped companions and getting involved with various factions across Mars. Interesting stuff, and thanks to the excellent amount of player choice I really felt like I made a significant impact on the planet by the time the credits rolled.
The areas you'll discover and explore are quite memorable and full of personality. Although they aren't the prettiest to look at. The Technomancer's graphics are certainly dated. Characters animations are stiff and awkward during gameplay, and the fact that only their mouths move during conversations make everyone you come in contact with look a little plastic.
When it comes to defining your own playstyle you really get to see how deep the game's RPG mechanics are. Multiple branching skill trees allow you to outfit yourself with a variety of interesting abilities and buffs. The combat system also has a lot of flexibility as it lets you switch between four different styles on the fly. Unfortunately, neither of these elements are able to shine like they should do to some troubling balance issues.
I started the game off on normal, but quickly had to switch it to easy just to make any progress. The default difficulty setting is the equivalent of nightmare mode in any other game. No matter how much you level up even the basic enemy types can decimate in only a few hits while you're only able to continuously chip away at their seemingly much larger health bars while hoping to not die from an attack you just didn't see coming. I thought technomancers were supposed to be tough?
But even when I lowered the difficulty I wasn't exactly having a blast. Unfortunately easy mode turned out to be too, well, easy. Outside of a few boss and mini-boss encounters I was largely able to button mash my way through every fight. So I never really felt the need to experiment with all of the different styles and powers I had at my disposal. A shame because the combat system is really great on paper and the environments are littered with enemy encounters so it's not like you can really avoid fighting. With no comfortable difficulty setting to choose from, two of the game's best features are never able to be fully taken advantage of, and that's what makes The Technomancer disappointing.
Spiders fell just short of greatness with this one. Their most admirable effort to date is held back by last gen visuals, poor balancing, and technical issues. Their are also some design flaws like the one that locked out of completing one of my companion's quest threads because apparently you only have one of those going at once and there was no dialog option to go back and get it from them later on. Yet, this is still a genuinely good RPG. It's clear that player choice was the central focus in every aspect of its design and that's what drives people to play these kind of games in the first place. Spiders definitely needs to continue refining their technique, because if they learn their lessons here they could very become the genre's next household name.
7.5/10