The Technomancer Reviews

To bag this all up, I’m giving this game a solid 7/10. I’m a visual gamer by nature and I always get excited whenever I play a game that boasts larger-than-life based graphics. Graphics that’re so good you could almost taste it. But then again, this game’s cons tend to drag the game down to a certain level that is hard to be pulled up by just mere visuals. That being said, this game still has a looooong way to go in terms of RPG superbness!

It's a big effort from a small team, but it’s not the next great RPG.

Get your butt to Mars. Maybe.

French developer Spiders returns to Mars with its latest title, The Technomancer. Players will need to navigate internal discord as they attempt to put the red planet back in contact with Earth.

The Technomancer is a bit of a diamond in the rough; the series isn’t ready for prime time yet, but it is still an enjoyable albeit unpolished experience.

I was initially really excited to start playing the Technomancer. With so many games now featuring Mars as their setting, it presented a unique angle compared to other titles. Colonisation of Mars has been abandoned in this world, and the remaining population now fights for control of the most precious resource left, water. I thought this to be a real standout plot point given that water, unlike riches, actually has a vital biological function, it keeps us alive. Vying over this, and other re...

Running at somewhere between 20 to 40 hours depending on how involved you get with its wealth of side content, The Technomancer is strangely captivating should you make it past its flaky first few hours. Like Spiders’ previous forays into the genre; Bound by Flame, Of Orcs and Men and Mars: War Logs, it’s a game riddled with troubling issues, but those who persist and can see past them will discover that none are crippling enough to ruin the heart of what is otherwise a truly enjoyable adventure. It may not quite have the polish you’d expect of a full price title, yet I doubt it was made with the gargantuan budget available for games of a similar scope by larger developers. As the videogame equivalent of a cult B-movie then, I can safely state that The Technomancer has provided me with more hours of fun than many of the so-called blockbuster releases I’ve played in the last couple of years.

Very few game genres are as compelling as narrative-driven action RPGs. The Technomancer is a follow-up to 2013's critically panned Mars: War Logs, but does it provide an experience worthy of travelling back to the red planet?

Spiders Studio specializes in RPG games, but it's not very good at them... Correction: it hasn't done well so far - The Technomancer shows that a little practice will make the creators of Mars: War Logs and Bound by Flame masters.

I was never engrossed, enticed, or even entangled in The Technomancer’s web of dystopian dreams. It’s competently made – there’s been far worse games reviewed on TSA recently – but what felt mildly interesting in trailers turned out to be perhaps the most boring science fiction adventure I’ve ever played. Make of that what you will.

Normally when a reviewer says “if you liked the previous game in the series, you’ll like this” it’s a compliment. With The Technomancer, it’s a threat. Spiders has simply made a slightly nicer looking version of Mars: War Logs. This including frustrating combat where Attacks don’t seem to connect and Dodges don’t seem to dodge, maze-like areas made entirely of corridors filled with non-speaking NPCs and not much to interact with, useless companions, bland emotionless characters ...

Roleplaying games are usually quite predictable when it comes to their settings. It's hard to escape the usual ones: fantasy, post-apocalyptic and Sci-fi.

The Technomancer is an enormous open-world RPG with 40+ hours of content that has an expertly-crafted world at its center. Unfortunately, it's held back by technical issues that are hard to overlook, poor narrative, and unoriginal design.

Embark on a journey across the Red Planet of Mars that will lead you to crumbled ruins of a society that once was, and the creatures that inhabit it now. Play as a young but powerful Technomancer who has electrical powers and an array of weapons training. It is a single player action-roleplaying game, and everything you need to know about it can be found right here!

A lifeless world teeming with gameplay and technical problems make this an action RPG worth skipping.

The combat in The Technomancer plays in a tactical fashion, punishing players for relying too heavily on attacks and instead encouraging a nuanced approach that caters to the situation at hand. Three combat styles (Warrior, Rogue, and Guardian) are available for use during battle. The Warrior stance offers effective crowd control against groups of enemies, Rogue brings agile hits and the use of a gun, while the Guardian is a defensive minded play style designed for a heavy handed approach. Layering all of this are Technomancer powers, which are all upgradable in their respective skill trees. Stealth is also an option for those looking to pick off enemies one by one through sneak attacks and well placed traps. The difficulty curve hits hard in the beginning hours and eases up as you become familiar with the various mechanics, like figuring out the lock-on button. It’s a bit overwhelming at first but the best approach is to experiment with everything at your disposal.

I really wanted to like The Technomancer during my twenty or so hours with it, but constantly I was pushed into battles that were just not fun. I liked my companions, their stories, and the overall progression of the conspiracies and faction wars occurring on Mars. It would have been so much better if every time I needed to reach a location in Ophir I wasn't forced to fight four soldiers at once. Frequently I would take damage in the middle of a swing from an off-screen enemy, or my healing would be interrupted by a bullet, or I would dodge into an attack when I swear I was pushing my stick away from it. While it would be interesting to see the results of making the opposite storyline decisions, I won't because that would mean having to relive moments where I wanted to throw my console out the window.

The Technomancer has plenty to offer for fans looking to return to the world of Mars: War Logs but for anyone looking for a AAA experience, The Technomancer isn't worth a $60 price tag.

The Technomancer has some interesting hooks but falls by the wayside. With more time, polish and a lot more heart, it could have been something more but this vacation to Mars is imminently uneventful and forgettable.

The Technomancer's big sci-fi ambition is marred by its lack of polish and botched execution in a couple of big areas. It won't win any awards on the presentation side of things, but the core gameplay nevertheless elevates it and delivers some fast and chaotic fun. It's just too bad that the overall package wasn't able to come together as well as it could have.

So much could have been forgiven if the central, action RPG pillar of combat wasn’t constructed so poorly in The Technomancer. The world is clearly crafted with vision and attention to detail, but the characters who inhabit it come off too often as awkward marionettes who would rather be doing something else besides participating in this story. Its heart is in the right place, and that makes me wish I’d enjoyed it more. But it’s like the pancakes an eager eight-year-old tried to make their dad for Father’s Day: the ingredients are lacking in quality and the skill to assemble them just wasn’t present. All the little reasons The Technomancer is worth experiencing, all the little moments where the vision of a better game shines through, aren’t quite enough to justify choking down its shortcomings.

No summary available

Spiders studio are pretty experienced with RPGs, but they aren’t really adept at them... Or at least that was the case until now – The Technomancer seems to indicate that soon, practice will make the creators of Mars: War Logs and Bound by Flame perfect.

Decisively average, The Technomancer can be an amusing role-playing experience thanks to its combat system, provided you are ready for constant repetition baked in a sub-par shell.

The Technomancer is a solid game, and it’s apparent that Spiders learned a thing or two since their release of Bound by Flames. While a bit slow to unfold, the story is solid, there’s plenty of quests to take on, the combat feels rewarding. the crafting and skill trees help flesh out your character. This also ensures that no two playthroughs are the same unless you’re determined to keep creating the same character. That said, once you play through the game once and reached an ending unless you’re determined to see the other endings, there’s little to keep playing the game. Many of the quests I did were boring to the point where I started ignoring many of them, and at times I started no care at all for the story and just wanted to make it to the next chapter of the game. Combined with the numerous issues I’ve encountered on the PC version, they almost forced me to stop playing Technomancer.