When first announced in 2015, The Technomancer had a promising premise: an interestingly delivered sci-fi-themed RPG, in which humanity has migrated to other planets for shelter and survival – one of which is Mars. This game tells the story of 200 years after humans created a colony on the planet Mars with the main character Zachariah “Zac” Mancer, a new member of the Technomancer corps. He was sent there to carry out a special ritual to become a full-fledged technomancer, but the mysteries he faced on the planet turned out to be much bigger and more dangerous than an ordinary special mission!
Good But Not That Great
As a Technomancer, Zac has magical powers in the form of electricity that comes out of his hands. Through this power he can throw an electric attack at the enemy, or use it on the weapons he has. By flowing electricity to the weapon, the resulting damage is greater. But is that the only weapon that Zac can use in battle? Certainly not; here there are 2 types of weapons that can be used including melee weapons such as sticks, iron bats and the like, as well as firearms used for long-range combat.
The three fighting styles and abilities possessed by Technomancers will also continue to grow with the skill tree feature that is introduced into the game system. You can unlock bigger attack abilities and new moves that are useful in combat, although basically all of those upgrades revolve around Attacking and Dodging abilities. Most of the battles lead to frantic and relentless clicking activity. Because there are many enemies that must be defeated appear around you, making you have to keep moving to attack, dodge and so on to destroy them. As a result, maybe some gamers will feel that they are not too attached to the character because they always fight with the enemy.
Focusing on the fight might not be a bad thing, especially the battles in The Technomancer (in terms of animation) feel so smooth. Not to mention that some of the movements in combat are presented pretty cool with electric effects that appear when your character uses his abilities. Visually, Technomancer comes with very good quality. Various characters are presented in detail, as well as the surrounding environment. The excitement of the battle is also supported by various effects that spice it up, and with this slick combination, every fight you do feels alive and full of action.
But even though it looks stunning in terms of visuals and sound, the hefty weight of the battle makes the game in Technomancer (over time) feel boring. This is coupled with the lack of NPCs in the game, even though the world presented is quite good and wide enough. The cities presented are cold and very quiet, even the three gamers are in a market that sells many items to buy though. Not only that, the existing NPCs also seemed not to be aware of the presence of characters when they were around them. So even though it has a karmic system so that every time a character does something (like killing), the effect is not so pronounced.
Whether it’s because the developer really wants to show the post-destruction world or something else, the lack of NPCs presented makes the game less impressive. Unlike The Witcher, which keeps the number of enemies displayed where Geralt can interact with other things outside of battle, so gamers have time to just relax from the fight and live life from a different perspective through interacting with a myriad of NPCs. Even though it looks minor, this has a big enough impact where players seem to really act as the main human character.
The Verdict
In terms of story and quality of graphics presented, Technomancer actually looks quite stunning with various details presented both in the field of character design and the world of the game. But even though it comes with a world that feels so vast, the gameplay in this game feels cold and boring with the lack of interaction with NPCs, and the weight of the battle is too big. This makes Technomancer feel like an unfinished trial game. On the other hand, the battles that are presented very well will entertain gamers who play them, especially for gamers who are really focused on the battle side. In the end, Technomancer is not a recommended game for those of you who are looking for an RPG that is balanced from various aspects of the game.
Overall Score: 6/10