“You, who has witnessed the secret with your own eyes, who, in your heart, knows the knowledge that he bears is true… and has understood that this knowledge could cast our kind into an endless pit of despair...” The timelines of Mars: War Logs and The Technomancer wrap around each other. This game begins some time before Mars , and ends after its resolution. This dynamism offers the player a new way to experience the hostile existentialism of the Red Planet, and its inhabitants, the struggling, forgotten children of Earth. Among the elites of humanity’s diaspora are the technomancers, a group of super soldiers whose ranks we join as lieutenant Zachariah Mancer. His induction is hounded by Colonel Viktor Watcher, the ruthless authoritarian leader of Abundance’s military state, who believes that the secrets of the cloistered technomancers are the font of everlasting power on Mars. The Technomancer assumes a high political tone, but never comes off as preachy; instead, it encourages us to think about our own convictions and place in the world. In sharp contrast to the faceless ecclesiastical tyranny of Aurora that we see in Mars , Zach’s saga confronts the propaganda of a recognizable regime. Aurora’s virtue names are replaced by a codified set of professional surnames, representative of the rigid caste system under which Abundance’s society groans. We follow Zach across Mars’ cities and through its ravaged shadow paths on his sacred duty as a technomancer: to preserve the secret, and reestablish contact with the Earth, to return the intergalactic exodus back to its roots. This story of humanity’s perpetual struggle with itself is told through four schools of fast-paced, reactive, and powerful combat, spanning a vivid, surviving, devastated planet whose populace dares to hope for a better future. TL;DR? It is truly a struggle to articulate the beauty of this game without spoilers, but I owe it to everyone who reads this to let them discover everything on their own. Spiders’ Mars saga doesn’t neatly fit into any genre delineations – it is sci-fi, political horror, post-apocalyptic, and fantastical, all at once – and this diversity does it many favours. The Technomancer is, first and foremost, a roleplaying game, and navigating the finer elements of that genre in such a beautiful muddle is a unique experience. PROS + Predictably – the characters. Many mainstream, modern games lean heavily on the action aspect, to keep the player excited and engaged. Spiders’ games, however, acknowledge the importance of the character drama. It is hard to get someone to care about the piece of media they are consuming if they are not connected or engaged with the protagonist and their friends. While the overarching narrative of The Technomancer is much larger than Zach himself, we only care about it because we care about Zach and his companions. It is this humanizing impulse that runs through all of Spiders’ games that make them so endearing. + The story is a strong assessment of power, humanity, and all its subsequent trappings. + Easily has the best combat of Spiders’ generational run of RPGs. The staff is unbelievably fun to play with, and its animations are satisfying and beautiful. You feel its every hit as Zach gracefully pirouettes with it. The nail gun and dagger are satisfying and fluid, and the animation for the Guardian’s shield unfurling scratches my brain. + Every class – Warrior, Rogue, Guardian, and of course Technomancer – plays and handles differently. You can swap between the melee classes with a quick keystroke, and use your technomancy in any stance. + Reactive combat. + The crafting system. Being able to see each modification and understand how it benefits you in the game has always been a hallmark of Spiders, and it is in The Technomancer where this truly comes into its own. + Your choices actually matter. Your companions remember what you say and what you do, and you can lose them, befriend them, or fall in love with them(!). It’s up to you. + An atmospheric masterpiece; environmental storytelling takes the starring role as you navigate abandoned colonial ruins, discover desiccated corpses, and scavenge supplies, and the engaging electric-yet-rustic soundtrack is by none other than the Olivier Derivière. + Iconic Spiders monster design. + Satisfying exploration. + The karma system is intriguing. You can fall victim to your want for serum – water, currency – but at the cost of human life… and it will affect your path. CONS - It can refuse to run on certain multicore computers. I have an i7 processor and never had an issue, yet other people couldn’t get it to stay open. - Similar to Spiders’ other works, the camera can be a bit finicky at times when you lock onto an enemy, especially in a confined area. - Cameras in dialogues are likewise awkwardly placed – we are close to Zach, but his companions are metres away, yet sound like they’re right by his side. - While the combat in The Technomancer is the most approachable of all their games, it is also the most luck-oriented, especially on higher difficulties; you can handily deal with some groups of enemies, while other groups of those same enemies will bum-rush you and force you to reload. - Act 1, while important for establishing the story and introducing us to Zach and his circumstances, feels a little protracted compared to the other acts. - The penultimate boss is underwhelming, from both a game-play and story standpoint. Reflections After I finished The Technomancer for the first time, it haunted me. The horror of being stranded so far from aid, at the mercy of megalomaniac corporations whose currency is water and secrets, unlocked some sort of primal unease deep within me. Even those characters whose loyalties splintered from the corporations only served themselves and their own interests. While I personally find the gameplay of every Spiders installment to be great, the story and its dramatis personae are what I always tend to remember the most. Zachariah is a sharp contrast to Roy. Instead of a renegade, we are a young officer, struggling to find our role on the seismic political stage of Abundance. We approach this world not through the point of view of a jaded POW, but through the fresh eyes of a cadet, who is discovering the rot and ruin of his childhood home in real time. Experiencing this disenchantment with Zach, rather than inheriting it as we do with Roy, we are privileged to see another side of Martian society. This is in no way a denunciation of Roy’s story and character, but rather a testament to the dynamism of Spiders’ storytelling. The overlapping of Roy’s journey and Zachariah’s struggle offer a better understanding of the lay of the land. That Zach is impacted by choices that Roy made thrusts us into an environment that is living and unforgiving. The flora and fauna of the rolling Martian wastelands may be alien to our eyes, yet the underpinnings of the perpetual struggle for power and our morally cannibalistic impulses is laid bare. This game is fast-paced. engaging, and an unforgettable journey that serves to reflect on the realities of human nature. In sharing Zach’s disillusionment, we are encouraged to think about our own beliefs, and how we would navigate injustice and hopelessness while trapped in a cage. The themes and ideas that undergird The Technomancer are close enough to our own reality to remain confronting. Final Verdict Overall Rating ★★★★★ Story ★★★★★ Gameplay ★★★★★ Graphics ★★★★★ Sound Design ★★★★★ Replay Value ★★★★☆ Difficulty ★★★★☆ PC Requirements ★★★☆☆ Game Length ★★★★★ Visit [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/damseldirect]Damsel Direct for more gunpowder, magic, and chaos.
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