Planescape: Torment designer hints at possible sequel

Posted By: Michael Lacerna In: Console News, Gaming News, PC On: 03 Dec

Planescape: Torment is one of the most beloved PC RPG’s of the 90’s, but despite its cult following and almost universally positive critical reception, the game didn’t sell too well when it was first released, and most people assumed that we’d never see a proper follow-up to the Nameless One’s adventures as a result. Thankfully, Torment’s original designer, Colin McComb, recently posted a blog entry to his personal website that seems to suggest that a sequel to the game may be in the works.

McComb is currently working on the Kickstarter funded Wasteland 2, along with RPG vets Brian Fargo (creator of Fallout) and Chris Avellone (who also worked on Planescape: Torment, as well as Icewind Dale and Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance.) McComb says his share of the work on Wasteland 2 is almost finished, and for his next project he’d like to revisit the themes that Planescape: Torment touched upon:

“The first step in designing a new Torment story is to ask the primary question. I’m older than I was when I worked on Torment, and my questions now are different than they were. I have children now, and I look at the world through their eyes and through mine, and that’s changed me – in fact, the intervening years have changed me so much that I have new answers for the central story in the original Torment. So now that I know what can change the nature of a man, I ask: What does one life matter? … and does it matter at all?

McComb suggests that a new game would likely move away from the Planescape setting and would also probably ditch the D&D gameplay system that the original game used in favor of something “more subjective,” without the rigid Good/Evil and Law/Chaos morality systems of D&D. McComb also revealed that another Planescape sequel, entitled Planescape: Last Rites, was in development for the Playstation a few years back, but was ultimately cancelled by the game’s publisher.

McComb stops short of confirming that a new game is indeed in development, but he seems pretty serious about the idea of a new game in the series, and ends his blog post by asking fans of the original game to tell him why they loved that game so much, and what they’d like to see in the game’s still hypothetical sequel.

In case you missed Planescape: Torment back when it was originally released (and god knows a lot of people did,) the fine folks at Good Old Games have re-released the game for a reasonable $9.99. Anyone who’s a fan of modern Western-style RPG’s owes it to themselves to go back and play it.

Source: Colin McComb’s personal website

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Tags: Black Isle, gog.com, interplay, pc, Planescape: Torment