Mike Bithell's catalog of games has always explored sci-fi and technology in small, intimate worlds that feel massive beyond its barriers. Thomas Was Alone was a platformer about shapes with feelings and lives, Subsurface Circular is an entire urban robot city mystery thriller taking place entirely within a subway car. Taking on an existing property is a totally different animal, and this time Bithell has set their next story in the world of Tron, a complex hierarchal techno world where the software we create exists as part of their own ecosystem and society. Bithell adapts to the source material well, doing a great job not to alienate newcomers to the franchise, but unfortunately fails to create stakes that matter in this short adventure.
You play as Query, a detective sent to investigate an explosion at an important site for data and knowledge. Tron: Identity mainly plays as a visual novel, asking players to read all text and make dialogue choices to parse new information and develop relationships with the other remaining characters/suspects. There are a few unmarked key choices that lead to branching paths in the narrative, but overall, the story and dialogue choices are mostly the same and only matter in those key moments. The story takes place completely within one building, and with a small cast of interesting people, but unfortunately the game doesn't give its cast enough time to shine and you end up not caring about them, and what their fates become due to your decisions. Playing the game through 3 times, much of the important decisions come down to the character lives, dies, or escapes, and that didn't ever feel like enough. The ending, no matter which one you get, feels largely unresolved, and repeat playthroughs don't color the ending in different ways. Overall, Tron: Identity feels like a setup to something else in the franchise rather than a fully independent story.
At certain points in the story, you'll encounter characters who need to recover parts of their memory back. You complete this by playing a minigame of sorts that is most similar to Bithell's previous game The Solitaire Conspiracy. A disc of cards with a number and a suit must be matched by either icon to clear from the board. It's a fun puzzle setup to break up the text and it was used sparingly enough to not become frustrating. The game reteaches all mechanics on repeat playthroughs, which is a minor annoyance, but there is an endless mode if you fall into liking the puzzle elements for more than a few instinces in the main story.
Tron: Identity is an engaging noir thriller set in a generally underused IP. As is the norm for Tron, the music by Bithell's go-to composer Dan Le Sac is excellent and is a general standout for the whole piece. Its writing is great, but doesn't have the actual plot to sustain it, and sometimes feels like its not the best showcase for the world or the developer.
You play as Query, a detective sent to investigate an explosion at an important site for data and knowledge. Tron: Identity mainly plays as a visual novel, asking players to read all text and make dialogue choices to parse new information and develop relationships with the other remaining characters/suspects. There are a few unmarked key choices that lead to branching paths in the narrative, but overall, the story and dialogue choices are mostly the same and only matter in those key moments. The story takes place completely within one building, and with a small cast of interesting people, but unfortunately the game doesn't give its cast enough time to shine and you end up not caring about them, and what their fates become due to your decisions. Playing the game through 3 times, much of the important decisions come down to the character lives, dies, or escapes, and that didn't ever feel like enough. The ending, no matter which one you get, feels largely unresolved, and repeat playthroughs don't color the ending in different ways. Overall, Tron: Identity feels like a setup to something else in the franchise rather than a fully independent story.
At certain points in the story, you'll encounter characters who need to recover parts of their memory back. You complete this by playing a minigame of sorts that is most similar to Bithell's previous game The Solitaire Conspiracy. A disc of cards with a number and a suit must be matched by either icon to clear from the board. It's a fun puzzle setup to break up the text and it was used sparingly enough to not become frustrating. The game reteaches all mechanics on repeat playthroughs, which is a minor annoyance, but there is an endless mode if you fall into liking the puzzle elements for more than a few instinces in the main story.
Tron: Identity is an engaging noir thriller set in a generally underused IP. As is the norm for Tron, the music by Bithell's go-to composer Dan Le Sac is excellent and is a general standout for the whole piece. Its writing is great, but doesn't have the actual plot to sustain it, and sometimes feels like its not the best showcase for the world or the developer.