Technomancer is a game developed by Spiders and published by Focus Home Entertainment back in 2016. This game seems to be a forgotten gem as it is challenging and fun to play. I have read some bad reviews from its launch, but I think the problem was that it was too challenging of a game for the reviewers as it required some actual skill at videogames.
Let’s face it when people review games they try to blow through the game using brute force so that they can be one of the first to review it, but we work differently here. We make sure we understand the mechanics of the game before we open our mouths. We also don’t suffer from a binary rating system or backdoor deals, so our reviews tend to be more honest. If a game sucks we say so and explain why instead of just bashing it for lack of understanding or praising it for revenue. That being said here is my review of Technomancers a game from 2016.
Technomancers is game I missed the first time around and I had never heard of it nor played it until a week ago. It is a beautiful mix of Mass Effect on a planetary scale and any Jedi game with a post-apocalyptic atmosphere. The Technomancers are basically Jedi if the Jedi were limited to electric based powers. If you choose to fight with a staff, you are for all purposes a Jedi.
The combat can be challenging even on normal, but it is not a huge deal once you find your effective style you will do fine. There are three different styles. There is a staff fighter, a rogue and a warrior complete with shield. The staff wielder worked for me but more importantly left me feeling like a staff-wielding side flipping Jedi which made me very happy. The second is a rogue class that performs a beautiful backflip while wielding a dagger and firearm for ranged attacks. The warrior is more a tank type warrior with a one-handed weapon and a shield, and he hops to dodge.
The combat is augmented with crafting and companions. Both are critical to your success in battle and the game overall. The crafting system is decent as it offers variety but not an endless amount of useless things to craft. Crafting is done through schematics which you buy at the merchant that sells the crafting materials and potions. The companions fight alongside you and are definitely a big help as they can keep the enemies from swarming you.
Humanoid enemies drop crafting material and with a particular skill so can creatures. This had bothered me at first as I wanted the creatures to give me something besides taking their serum but when I realized that a skill could unlock it I was no longer bothered. You also can also get crafting materials by dismantling items such as weapons and armor at a crafting station or again with a specific power do so anywhere anytime
Upgrading your gear is a must, and the equipment you can wield is based on the stats you choose when you level up. There are three different stat categories to upgrade which are staggered at different levels. Pay attention to those stats and choose wisely planning out your character carefully. You should not overlook your companion and upgrade their equipment as well. If they do not have proper gear, they won’t fight as effectively.
A frustrating downside involves quests and map directions. The problem is that not all quests give you enough information in the quest tab or map markers. Because of this downside, you must pay attention to the quest dialog. I had this issue and stumbled into the solutions, but it could have ended with more frustrations so unlike other games where you can skip through some quest dialog don’t and just be patient beside it is all part of the exciting story.
Choices you make can and will have consequences. You can choose to kill people, have them arrested or let them go. Doing or not doing things affects relationships with factions and determines if you can use that character or encounter that character later in the story and this behavior is not explained at all but I possibly missed it. Either way, it is essential to remember choices have consequences.
Now despite the game not covering quest information thoroughly and not fully explaining faction rep and choice consequences the game is very sound. It even lets you safe at will. The exception to this is in specific scenes where failure requires the scene to start over. The save feature is terrific; otherwise, I would have rage quit and probably not enjoyed it as much as I have.
I can not find much fault with this game, and I tend to be cynical. It is truly a joy to play with fairly simple mechanisms that are detailed enough to be fun but not so complex as to ruin the gameplay. The graphics are done in a manner where it ages well and the story is intriguing.
Technomancer is a game you should try and if you tried but found it difficult then try it again and remember to use your companions and dodge, dodge, dodge!
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