The Technomancer Reviews
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We've put together some very recently released reviews for The Technomancer, Spiders' action-RPG coming out today for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. They paint a very mixed picture for this grungy sci-fi story, which seems to match Spiders' past track record, at least in terms of critical reception.
IGN, 4.9/10.
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.
Push Square, 5/10.
The Technomancer offers up a couple of highs and a few too many lows. Its approach to open ended gameplay is appreciated and its combat is fun enough for the first ten hours, but the game eventually loses steam and its story is nothing worth shouting about. To make matters worse, technical problems harm the experience to the point where you'll find it hard to care about the characters during what are supposed to be emotional scenes. There's certainly something here for forgiving RPG fans, but for everyone else, we can only advise caution when it comes to this rough Martian adventure.
We Got This Covered, 4/5.
Despite these few issues, The Technomancer is actually a very accomplished game that does well to fight for place among some truly exceptional action RPGs. It has A-list ambitions with a B-list budget, but more often than not it feels more akin to the former than the latter. The fluid combat system gives more than enough cause to play and replay the adventure, and a simple but effective story is well-supplemented by a rich world and solid RPG progression techniques. The trials of Zachariah Mancer are fraught with peril and danger, but his unique skills and a band of companions mean that he is more than up to the challenge. Above all else, The Technomancer is a tremendously fun adventure that more than deserves your attention and, perhaps, a spot at the top table of action RPG titles.
The Outer Haven, 3/5.
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.
Still, if you’re a fan of other action RPG’s such as The Witcher or even Dark Souls, then Techomancer may be just the game for you. Despite some rough edges, Technomancer does more good than harm, it just suffers from doing too much during certain elements and not enough with others. Despite that,the journey is very enjoyable and that’s all that matters in the end.
God is a Geek, 5.0/10.
There’s one moment mid-game that I won’t spoil other than to say that it’s of such magnitude in the context of the universe that it deserves its own questline, but instead the entire event boils down to a handful of minute-long missions and a single line of dialogue to congratulate your achievement. It’s poor storytelling and poorer RPG design that just doesn’t cut it in a generation that has already seen Dragon Age: Inquisition and The Witcher 3. Yes, Spiders still has potential, but don’t seem to be able to do anything with it. In the end, The Technomancer, like Bound by Flame before it, tries to be too much like the genre leaders instead of finding its own way, and ends up falling way short of the mark.
PC World, 2/5.
The worst part is The Technomancer’s not even actively terrible. It’s just completely forgettable. Come for the Brutalist architecture, stay because you’ve got nothing better to do with seventeen hours of your life. And that’s a low bar, here.
LazyGamer, 7.0/10.
Technomancer makes a valiant effort to be the next big open world RPG and comes close to achieving it, but in the end it feels like the developer was trying to fit too many things in to one game.
TechRaptor, 5.5/10.
The Technomancer always had an uphill battle from the start, but by framing the entire game in the B-tier, and being proud of that fact, perhaps the audience for Spiders’ cyberpunk RPG is out there. The game is shackled by its limitations, but if the average experience was the best Spiders can do with what they have, then it certainly could have been a lot worse in the end for them.
GameWatcher, 4.5/10.
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 and a story that expects you to care even though it hasn’t given you any reason to. I appreciate the interesting world and the attempts to add a bit of choice-and-consequence to the missions, but neither make things any more enjoyable. The Technomancer is not grossly bad, but it feels cheap and is deeply mediocre. It’s a cheap game, and worse: it’s no longer a cheap price. As I said in the first paragraph, I can’t think of a reason anyone would want to buy it over any other game in existence.
PC Invasion, 5/10.
The Technomancer is something I found as charming as it was irritating. With a runtime of about 20 hours it didn’t really outstay its welcome, but it’s also a game that’s difficult to outright recommend. I don’t think I’ve ever played a Spiders RPG before so I don’t know how common this is, but it’s a game with a lot of ideas that don’t quite pan out (time of day, say, and a few actual urgent quests) and everything from the voice acting to the quest design ranges from “surprisingly good” to “surprisingly annoying.” It’s a little over-ambitious, a little truncated, and it never really hits the lofty goals it aims for, but a few unexpected successes and an interesting premise make it a generally entertaining little experience nonetheless. If nothing else, I think I’m now a cult fan of this sort of B-grade RPG.
DualShockers, 6.5/10.
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.
GamingBolt, 6/10.
If you’re looking for an alternative open world action RPG of sorts, one which channels the Mass Effect series even with its own unique setting, you might want to check out The Technomancer. That being said, there are dozens of other action RPGs with better combat, story, characters, quests and so on that you could be playing instead. The Technomancer seems to capture a lot of the mechanics involved in a genre such as this but lacks a lot of the heart, personality and polish that makes games like Mass Effect so memorable.
WhatCulture, 3/5.
In the end, The Technomancer has been put together by a great team of designers and coders, positively loaded with ambition and cool ideas - it's just a shame they're forever hampered by a middling execution.
It creates a game you’ll want to love, and you can easily see what Spider Studios were going for. Ultimately, though, for me The Technomancer falls short of its incredibly awesome premise – though, that said, many will still find a ton of fun, simply because of how slick and Matrix-cool its concept truly is.
Flickering Myth, 5.5/10.
The Technomancer isn’t a failure, but during my playtime with the game, I couldn’t help but think about how utterly dismal the first hour with the game is. It’s a boring romp through text and menus with bad combat in an uninspired, muddy landscape and I can’t help but feel like it will turn people away. In Spiders’ quest to turn The Technomancer into a RPG capable of duking it out with the best, they’ve sacrificed one key element – fun. The game isn’t fun at all. Being a Technomancer should feel amazing, but it doesn’t. In fact, this one just fizzles out.
GamingTrend, 75/100.
Each combat style plays completely differently, and they’re all a lot of fun, but the star of the show is the technomancer abilities that allow the player to shoot lightning bolts at their enemies, imbue their weapons with lightning properties, shield themselves in a forcefield of static electricity, and much more. The player is almost always outnumber by enemies, and can only survive by dashing quickly around the battlefield, and hitting the enemy quickly, and getting out even faster. It’s a fast-paced, exciting, and surprisingly difficult experience that end up being one of the highlights of the game.
OnlySP, 7/10.
The Technomancer, isn’t a perfect game. Not by a long shot. It has some serious pacing issues and the usual quirks to combat and levelling that seem to make the opening of every Spider RPG way more hassle than they ever need to be. But despite these issues, I still couldn’t help but fall for its charms; the intelligent world building, multi-layered plot, great monster designs, and (eventually) the combat (once you have those upgrades) more than make up for its somewhat mediocre opening and initial teething troubles. It’s nowhere near Witcher 3 levels of perfection (then again it doesn’t have to be), but still a great mid-tier action RPG that’s well worth checking out
GameSkinny, 8/10.
Other than all of that, and some serviceable delivery of lines, The Technomancer is an excellent example of, not only what can be done on such a comparatively small budget, but of action RPGs in general. It gives players the ability to swiftly switch strategy on the fly, while making each equally as valid as the previous one -- and just as fun. The Technomancer also follows a rather interesting plot, and even has multiple endings based on your decisions throughout the game. It starts as one man's journey to contact earth, and turns into a fight to free the people of Mars. It has interesting characters, who are not perfect, with some doing morally horrible things for the protection of the larger group. Some characters start out appearing selfish, but turn out to just be a little lost in what they were doing.
If you are a fan of action RPGs, and can stomach some flat line deliveries and awkward pauses, The Technomancer is definitely a game you should pick up.
DarkZero, 4/10.
I highly recommend playing this game with a controller of some kind, especially if you are playing on the PC like I did, as it makes the game feel more fluid as the combat system is generally just a serious of non-sensical button mashing. Think Tekken but with customisable boots. I found the controls somewhat slow to react especially when trying to stop running as this would last a little longer than needed. I keep coming back to the voice acting but a big part of an RPG is the how the story is conveyed and this game falls flat on it’s face here making the story seem drab rather than the colourful tale they have crafted. The environments are nice but overall nothing to write home about. The game looked good on paper but unfortunately it has too many pitfalls causing it to feel very lackluster.
Brash Games, 7/10.
Spiders has a very ambitious RPG on their hands with their newest release, The Technomancer. Chock full of futuristic loot to grab, weapons and gear, various locations to explore, and an awesome original story arc, there’s much promise. I enjoyed my venture onto a war torn Mars, but not for an extended stay. I quickly felt homesick when confronted with the wobbly controls and the lack of modern features and mechanics you’d expect from the genre. As you play, the appeal of the world fades, and the shortcomings begin to shine. It’s a playable adventure, just not a re-playable one. I give praise to the concept and story The Technomancer boasts, but not the game it’s built within.
Attack of the Fanboy, 3/5.
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.
Impulse Gamer, 3.2/5.
The Technomancer is a case of creative ambition mired by the realities of budgets. I said a similar statement when reviewing developer Spiders’ previous game, Bound by Flame, and it remains relevant here. While The Technomancer and its sci-fi backdrop and deeper role-playing mechanics are a lot more intriguing and involved than the last, the lack of polish in the overall package will inevitably drive away potential fans expecting something more. But for those who stick through it, you may find a satisfying mid-budget RPG similar to Mars: War Logs, with a punchy combat system and surprising level of choice and reactivity in how you play through the story, fun for one or two playthroughs.
KeenGamer, 8/10.
The Technomancer is a solid game. The combat is similar to that of Witcher 3 which was a major hit in 2015 and into 2016. It has a feel of originality but follows alongside nearly every stereotype you would have regarding a space-based adventure while also giving you a fairly engaging story. At times it may feel a little slow as there is no fast traveling and the navigation map is a little too small to trust, especially with no enemy indications, but getting past the small imperfections, it makes for a great game. No news of planned DLC may make old news quickly, but regardless, it will make for an exceptional gaming experience.
SegmentNext, 6/10.
Much like how there are cities buried under the harsh sand dunes on Mars, there is a good role-playing experience to be had in The Technomancer. However, reaching to that point is going to require some serious excavation. Spiders seemingly had assembled all the required materials on the workbench, but just couldn’t combine them to craft a good sci-fi RPG.
On an ending note, the first stage was packed full of horrendous visual glitches for me. For some reason restarting the game would either clear the issue or make it worse. Here’s me wondering how to reach the enemy target across the barrier, when I twitched the mouse cursor a bit and the truth dawned upon me.
SAGamer, 5.7/10.
The Technomancer is a flawed game. It struggles in creating a rich world and providing the means for player investment, visually it is a mess at points but still has a simple charm in the design, and combat can be unfair at times and grow tedious quickly. Yet, if you are willing to overlook these issues and welcome the clumsy weirdness with open arms, The Technomancer can be an enjoyable experience. When the game starts to feel tiresome it somehow manages to keep to interested enough to push on to the end. With most Eurojank games, a tolerance is required for the issues and it is required to overlook them to really enjoy the game. Unfortunately, at the current asking price it might be worth waiting for a sale or price drop. There is definitely something worth exploring over the 30 hour plus experience, but the unpolished nature of the game doesn’t justify a purchase right now. If you ever in the mood for some Eurojank fun on Mars, check it out some point down the line.
