The Technomancer Review

Mars: Logs of War Flame!

Remember Spiders, developers of Mars: War Logs and Bound by Flame?

Of course you do! Well, this is their next game - The Technomancer, a sci-fi action-adventure thriller set on Mars. You play as Zachariah Mancer, a newly minted Technomancer. What follows is a convoluted and pretty fun adventure that's got a few interesting characters, but ultimately feels a bit flat at times. It's not a bad game, far from it, but it feels like it could have done with a little bit more polish here and there. There's save anywhere, and character customisation. Be warned though, if you want to play a FemMancer, you're out of luck - this is the story of Zachariah, and rather like the Witcher in that regard, a personal tale of a particular character. You can customise Zach a little, but it's not as deep as Bioware make it.

What is a Technomancer?

Technomancers are badasses, they're the kind of badass that you want to be on Mars, kicking ass with staves, knives&guns, and shield&mace style combos. A Technomancer has incredible electrical powers that supplements their arsenal of abilities. Their styles can be switched on the fly, and the controls are pretty flexible in that regard - the various styles are:

Technomancy: the core style of a Technomancer, it focuses on using your electrical powers Emperor Palpatine style, throwing bolts of lighting, or sheathing your weapon in an electrical field. It offers several ranged options, and whilst initially weak it becomes pretty powerful later on.

Warrior: the warrior style is great for crowd control, taking down groups of enemies, and who doesn't want to use a collapsible stave in combat? That's the weapon of choice for the warrior, and it looks pretty damn awesome. Later on down the skill tree you can unlock a powerful whirling attack, and some seriously beefed up staff damage.

Guardian: the guardian style is focused on defence, dealing minimal damage, resulting in longer/prolonged fights with enemies. The best thing about this style is that it offers you shield and mace style combat, traditional fighter style from a fantasy game. The shield is good at stopping damage and blocks 100% of all damage done.

Rogue: the rogue style's all about disruption, breaking the flow of your enemies' attacks with a neatly timed shot from your gun, and then stabbing them to death with the knife. It's a style which keeps you on your toes, rolling and avoiding enemy attacks until you can hit them with the gun and knife combo.

Mars: Fight Club

The combat system's fun, the game is actually quite punishing early on and it's certainly not a case of just mashing buttons. To get the best out of it you need to study your enemy, keep avoiding ranged attacks, close to melee and hit them a few times. If you don't take them down, they can stun-lock you for a while, disrupt your attacks, and when they hit - they'll hit hard. Powers can be used pretty easily, there's a pause-time menu where the action slows as you select from a radial, and item management is pretty simple.

Quest for Glory, or Revenge

There's a lot to see and do in the Technomancer, some of it's a little tedious, however with frequent back-tracking and slightly annoying fetch quests. I've been spoilt by Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, so it's tricky to play things like this after a good run with my buddy Geralt. There's some fun side quests, and there's a moral style element of choice to a lot of the outcomes, and whilst not as deep or interesting as it could be, it gives a weight to your actions when they do come back to bite you in the arse.

All about those Levels!

What Action-RPG would be complete without some kind of levelling system, and Technomancer has a pretty good one, where you can pick perks, abilities, and your various
skills. These things don't all roll in at once, they're staggered on a per-x levels basis for the perks, and ability points. The skill points come in every level and with 4 skill trees to manage you've got a lot of choice.

Fun with NPCs

There's a dialogue tree, various options, and a bunch of NPCs to befriend/annoy as you make your journey across Mars. These allies will come with you (up to 2), and help/hinder you at certain points depending on their personality, your choices, and if you're an asshole to them or not. It's an interesting cast of characters, but there's no real standouts there.

Getting Crafty!

There's bits of stuff everywhere, and like Bound by Flame you can craft your weapon/armour upgrades on the fly - in this case at a Workbench. Break stuff down into components and use them to layer on extra protection, critical hit chance, damage buffs and so on. It's classic fare for this kind of game by now, but it's done well here and is surprisingly deep.

Getting Around Mars

The map is a bit convoluted and you can sometimes find yourself getting lost until you work it out, you can pop up a mini-map as you move too with a single button press. It helps a lot if you're not quite sure where you're off to whilst exploring off the beaten quest track.

Pretty Mars, eh?

The Technomancer runs well, it looks nice, and whilst it's not standout in terms of graphics, design, or animation - it's not bad either. I've seen worse games in the past, and if you liked the aesthetic of Mars: War Logs you'll feel right at home here. Technomancer can also look downright good at times when you leave the stale corporate cities behind and venture onto the martian landscape.

Quaaaid!

I'm warming to the Technomancer in the time I've spent with it. It's going to feel a bit dated for some of you, and it's going to feel a little bit clunky compared to some of the more modern titles in the genre - that said, it's a good game, a fun game, and there's a decent story here if you want to explore the world the developers have created going beyond the one found in Mars: War Logs.

I did have one moment where the frame rate stuttered in an underground section, and so far the game's not crashed on me.

I'd say it's worth a punt if you're desperately looking for another RPG to fill the gap. Don't be put off thinking this is a low-budget title though, it's a hefty price, and a big game too - not in the league of Dragon Age: Inquisition, or Witcher 3, but big enough to offer a lengthy trip to Mars.