Planescape Torment Retrospective - Video Game Conventions Weaved Into Plotline

Awakening with no memory of who or even what you are is not an entirely new premise in fiction. But Planescape Torment brought to PC games what no other game did. It brought an absolutely immersive story that was far flung from reality. Black Isles Studio did this is with witty dialogue, creative ways in which they weave the storyline around gameplay, and a protagonist you define based on his actions, who he becomes.


I bashed a zombie to death in the beginning area only to realise these pour souls were once humans. They were entirely passive. I felt a lode of guilt and left them to their own devices. Why is it do we expect all things that shamble and look rotten to be hostile in a video game?

Many people hate the starting area. I loved the fact that you had to learn just where the heck you were.

Planescape Torment is weird that way, as it dances around macabre themes such as death, reincarnation, zombification, and even suicide(and breaks conventions). Very adult(albeit not exactly realistic themes all the time, with zombies and other dimensions) themes that might just unsettle you at times. And Planescape is at many times, an unsettling experience. Your character, the nameless one just can’t die. He’s immortal, forever trapped in this twisted world of Sigil.

As an immortal, perhaps the practises of the mysterious death sect, the Dustmen, seem to make sense to you. As you play along you start to realise perhaps their fetish with death isn't such a bad thing for you. Perhaps death is a sweet release to the misery of life in the world of Planescape. Sigil is such a ‘tormented’ city that not being able to die, is the cruelest of fates. You’d perhaps meet many Dustmen along the way and even have philosophical debates with them regarding their philosophy.

Lots of dialogue. Certainly not for those that hate to read but you know what? READING IS GOOD FOR YOU!

It’s hard for anyone to start playing Planescape Torment and fall in love with the world immediately. In fact, it should shock you, make you feel this isn’t a place you would want to be in. It is that revolting at times. I feel the infinity engine games, despite their technical flaws, and limitations, did a great job of giving you a sense of the world in a believable(albeit technically limited) way.

It’s not so much as a testament of the engine itself, but the pedigree of the developers that have used this engine to make amazing games. While Bioware’s Baldur’s Gate and its sequel gave you the sense that you were in this fantasy themed D&D world with elves and dwarves and an epic back story, Black Isles Planescape Torment places you in a world you have never seen before. You won’t know what to expect and it is a foreboding place.

Sigil isn't a pretty place.

Planescape was also a game known for having some incredibly memorable character. Morte, the talking skull being the most referenced character in the game. For good reasons. He’s the first NPC you meet as you wake up in the morgue. Lets just say that he may seem like comic relief but ends up being much more significant than you thought in the beginning. Nothing in Planescape Torment, is what it seems. From the plot, to the characters, to the factions. You're constantly having to rethink what you thought about a particular subject/character/faction in the game as more things are revealed to you.

Planescape Torment was also an RPG that was heavy on dialogue. Expect to read a lot(they were good, so it was a delight to read them). You didn’t solve quests by brute force, although you certainly could, but with your wits(if you had them). As long as you keep in mind the fact that you are ‘immortal’, you’ll find some really clever ways to solve puzzles and get past what seemed to be a brick wall. 

What Victoria II is for strategy game, Planescape Torment is for RPGs. It’s dense, heavy and requires commitment. It isn’t difficult to get into but it would challenge most modern gamers these days with its lengthy dialogue and difficulty curve(also with the very awkward interface). It’s like a good novel(not a comment on the quality of the writing), it gets better as you put in the time into it, take your time to process things more. Well worth the effort considering this is one of the most unique RPG stories ever told.

Planescape Torment is available at GoG for USD9.99. If you do get it, you need to check out this blog post that explains very clearly what mods you need to install and how you go about doing that. If you need help if you ever get stuck playing the game, Game Banshee has always been very reliable for me(I've used their walkthroughs to help me out in Baldur’s Gate II) and their walkthroughs don’t spoil the game at all. I've been careful not to spoil anything in this write up so that anyone reading this will have the chance to discover things for themselves in the game. Get this game!