Formally, it’s difficult to really define ‘mid-tier’ titles in a traditional sense as the explosion of independently developed games has blurred the lines between the various tiers within gaming. In my opinion, a mid-tier developed title is a game that has been developed by a small team (around 50 people), has the scope of a big-budget title and has been made with a much tighter budget than the triple-A blockbusters. Hello Games’ latest space sim No Man’s Sky falls into this category, but with its huge marketing push and economic support from Sony I consider it as more of an exception to the rule.
I do, on the other hand, consider French developer Spiders’ The Technomancer to be one of the best examples of a modern console mid-tier game, and one of the best mid-tier games I’ve played since their last RPG Bound By Flame, which I was also super enamored with. The Technomancer may not be one of my favorite games of all-time, but it is a genuine RPG treat that reminds me a lot of Deadly Premonition’s B-tier underdog fighting spirit.
Set in a dystopian future during The War of Water, players step into the shoes of an aspiring Technomancer, a sort of mage-warrior who is able to harness the power of destructive electrical Palpatine-esque powers. These fearsome warriors are trained from a young age to fight, much like Jedi, and their powers are amplified by cybernetic augmentation a la Deus Ex. The game takes you through a diverse selection of locales from the beautiful Arabian Nights-inspired merchant city of Noctis, to lost and forgotten paradises, to cities lost under the ice, to dusty shanty towns hidden within the recesses of Mars’ austere embrace.
Overall, it’s a fantastic experience, and here are a handful of reasons as to why I believe The Technomancer is a coarse, but underrated RPG gem.
