InXile's Torment: Tides of Numenera did something that I didn't honestly think it could: It succeeded as a "spiritual successor" to the great RPG Planescape: Torment. It wasn't without flaws, obviously, but impressive "both as a follow-up to a beloved RPG and as the digital debut of a fascinating setting," as we said in our review. The Servant of the Tides update released today on Steam (and coming soon to GOG and other platforms) promises to make it even better with the addition of a brand new companion, fixes and balance changes, and the Voluminous Codex.
The new character, Oom, "is a new stretch goal character who you will discover on your journey through the Ninth World," inXile explained. "Oom features its own companion quest, 'Servant of the Tides,' its own unique abilities for use in combat and exploration, and interactions with various characters throughout the game." The Voluminous Codex is also a stretch goal feature that "unlocks lore and character entries as you explore the game world."
The Servant of the Tides update is free for all players, but inXile strongly recommended that players start a new game before diving into the update, "as the new content is best experienced from the start of the game (and Oom must be added to the party during Sagus Cliffs)." Highlights from the patch notes are available below, while the full notes—with a warning that they may contain spoilers—are available at inxile-entertainment.com.
- New Companion: Oom. Oom is a new stretch goal character who you will discover on your journey through the Ninth World. Oom features its own companion quest, "Servant of the Tides", its own unique abilities for use in combat and exploration, and interactions with various characters throughout the game.
- Added the Voluminous Codex. This new stretch goal feature unlocks lore and character entries as you explore the game world.
- Added a new user interface element to the Inventory Screen which makes it easier to view companion attitudes toward the Last Castoff.
Added a new user interface element to the Common Panel which better messages the Last Castoff's current Legacy. - Players can now advance to Tier 5 and Tier 6, allowing players to spend their Experience Points more in the later game. This also allows the Last Castoff to gain abilities from other character types.
- Various balance improvements to Crisis gameplay throughout the game.
Various balance improvements to exploration gameplay, especially in the later stages of the game. - Added zoom in/out key binding to the Options Menu. This allows players without mouse wheels to remap the zoom functions.
- Cypher Sickness initialization is now delayed until after Equipment initialization. This should prevent issues where loading a save file where equipment was preventing a cypher explosion would cause input to freeze up (fix may not be retroactive).
- Remove all non-gameplay Fettles from companions when they're removed from the party. This should prevent certain freezes from occurring.
- Numerous small UI fixes.
- Numerous small quest fixes.
