Game Review: The Technomancer

About the game

The Technomancer is an RPG style game that was released on Xbox in June 28th, 2016, by the Developer: Spiders. Having always wanted to play this game, the opportunity finally arose when it became free to play on the Xbox Games with Gold program.

Getting started

You begin as Zachariah Mancer, a freshly trained Technomancer trying to find his footing. A Technomancer is basically a Jedi in another universe. Starting out the game feels rather linear, with a really ho-hum tutorial. Once you have mastered the basics, you discover that you can wander and fight for a long time without making much progress in the actual story line. This leaves the opportunity for hours of fun.

There is a soft karmatic morale system in which the choices you make reflect how you are viewed in the world. In the beginning, you are very highly regarded, but as you progress this can soon change. When I began my quest, every time I knocked out an enemy it gave me the option to drain serum from their body. I figured “Hey serum must be useful.” So I continually did it and my mentor became very upset and disappointed with me. It turned out that I was actually killing them all. There are also achievements available for getting very bad karma.

Crafting System

Very early on in the game I was excited to discover a crafting table, even more so by the surprising crafting system they have in place on this game. The serum I previously mentioned can be used to make coveted healing potions that are very useful and important. Of course the best defense is a good offense, so don’t get hit and you will be a-ok! You are also able to craft very limited weapons and armor. This includes add-ons or upgrades to improve your gear. You can also scrap your cruddy gear for raw materials to assist in this process. I am very into customisation. This game isn’t what I would call chalk full of it, but the crafting and upgrades were a warm welcome into what could sometimes feel like a tad stale game play.

Gameplay

You have the ability to choose and adapt into 3 types of classes. There is a “bow staff” – a fun way to go about the game. The bow staff is a 2 handed weapon with smooth and fluid maneuverability that you can charge up with your Technomancy to electrify your opponents. It can really be a shocking experience! The staff lends its way to the “Warrior style” type of gameplay. This is very up close and personal.

My personal favorite and in my opinion the only real way to play the game is the way of the Rogue or “Rogue style” game play. Traditionally in RPG games the Rogue class is very stealth based and often you will use 2 daggers to accomplish this incognito way of play. In the Technomancer they have a fun spin on this class. You do in fact get 1 dagger but, in your other hand you wield a pistol. Personally I found this very fun and very versatile. As a Dark Souls veteran, I charge up my dagger with my tech and use my dodge rolls to roll around and shoot everything. You don’t have bullet count to worry about so your main focus is waiting on the cool-down cycle of the gun. You can also use stealth, but once you shoot that gun your cover is blown.

Lastly, you have the Mace and Shield game play otherwise known as “Guardian Style”. This offers the ability to parry, block and hit. As always you can use your Technomancy to charge up your weapon and get in some hard hits. You do drastically sacrifice mobility in this mode.

Enemies

There are a good mix of enemies in this game! You fight anything from electrified locusts, humans, to what I would call a??knock offa?? Resident Evil Hunters. The combat is challenging and death is very easy to come by. Saving is a really big deal if you enjoy making any progress. The Locusts use elemental attacks against you while the humans you fight use very similar if not the exact same weapons you have at your disposal.

The skill trees are very helpful and highly accommodate each class. You also have the ability to level up attributes and skills to enhance your game-play. There is looting involved which is a fun aspect. Expect a lot of running here, there and everywhere for sometimes minuscule rewards.

Overall Impression

I really enjoyed the Technomancer in the overall scope of things. I loved rolling around dodging enemies like I was playing some high tech “Souls” game. If you do a quick search online, you will see this game received some really hard hits from the usual game reviewers. The Technomancer is not a top budget game. It might not have the best graphics imaginable, however, it is really enjoyable to play. I would recommend it as a casual game to play for many hours on end. My rating is a 6.5 out of 10.

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