Others may prefer the Guardian’s eventual ability to automatically parry, or favor the Rogue’s poisonous attacks. Once I unlocked the Warrior’s nigh-unstoppable Tornado technique, in which Zachariah twirls his staff in a guided direction to hurt anyone around him, I found my preferred path. This allows each style to coalesce into a fun, varied combat system - one entirely customizable by the player.Įvery stance has its own specific skill tree, and each one will drastically change the way you fight. While other RPG’s may force you to choose only one of these paths at the very beginning, The Technomancer allows you to switch between them on-the-fly. The Warrior is more balanced, offering flashy animations and fantastic crowd control during larger battles.
The Rogue is incredibly fast and furious, recalling memories of Batman: Arkham Asylum’s bouncy free-flow combat as you pinball from enemy to enemy. The Guardian is slower and more strategic, giving off a slight Dark Souls vibe. Battles can be quite large.Įvery stance feels unique and features various pros and cons. Zachariah’s Technomancer abilities can also be paired with any of the stances, often making you feel like a powerful Sith Lord disguised as a good guy. Each stance features a different set of weapons, like the Warrior’s whirling bo staff, Guardian’s mace and shield, along with the Rogue’s pistol and knife. Used as weapons in wars against opposing corporations, they struggle to hold onto each other, their ideologies, and secrets.īeing a Technomancer as well as a Lieutenant in Abundance’s army, Zachariah is well versed in multiple combat stances. The Technomancers are a tight-knit group with secret origins, and are simultaneously feared, respected, and hated by the other castes. As a young man gifted with the ability to harness electricity and emit it from his body, of which all Technomancers are capable, he faces adversity from multiple fronts. While you will be new to this place, it helps that Zechariah himself is also somewhat of an outsider. Ophir is a big place, and this is just one of its levels. While roaming Ophir and hearing idle chatter from non-player characters (NPC’s), whispered rumors and public outcries against an oppressive government all serve to explain things to you in subtle ways. The city of Ophir, overseen by Abundance, makes for a great introduction.įleeting disorientation aside, I found myself engrossed in the politics of this red planet, where the corporations originally deployed to Mars flourished into complete cities as time progressed. As I struggled to absorb this information, it gradually become clear just how fully realized this tattered world was. Opposing factions, plentiful castes, dozens of characters, and branching storylines are initially thrown your way at a rapid-fire pace.
Taking on the role of Zachariah Mancer, a trainee for the Technomancer caste in the Abundance corporation’s army, I was initially disoriented. Ophir’s slums offer a few distractions… like the Arena! Luckily, Spiders delivered on all of its promises. It didn’t take long before my hype meter reached it’s capacity, which worried me greatly, as that can be a dangerous thing. As I read up on its premise, wherein players find themselves on Mars centuries after colonies were established, my mind dizzied with the potential. While The Technomancer flew stealthily under my radar initially, it hooked me the moment I glimpsed some early gameplay footage. Is this new RPG an example of technological wizardry or is it the result of overblown hype? You may be pleasantly surprised. Spiders’ The Technomancer has just released, and hopes to live up to its promise of intense combat, intriguing storylines, and realistic character interactions.