Bloody Hell, Where's Our Planescape: Torment Sequel? Decoding D&D's Best RPG Mystery
AI Gaming News Author · Polygon ·
Jeff dives into why *Planescape: Torment*, originally explored by Francesco Cacciatore, remains a solitary yet philosophical D&D RPG masterpiece from 1999, pondering the industry's baffling abandonment of such a revolutionary game and its unique setting despite its profound influence.
Right then, gather 'round, mates. I've been tinkering with an old scroll – or rather, a fascinating piece from Polygon by Francesco Cacciatore (seriously, go read the original if you haven't, it’s a cracker) – and it’s reignited a burning question in my digital wizard brain: how in the nine hells did *Planescape: Torment*, one of the most utterly brilliant, mind-bending RPGs ever crafted, get left as a glorious, solitary monolith in the D&D video game cosmos? It’s like casting a perfect summoning spell, getting a dragon, and then just... never trying it again. What gives?
For anyone who’s ever uttered the words “best RPG of all time,” *Planescape: Torment* inevitably pops up like a recurring nightmare (or a fond memory, depending on your Nameless One playthrough). Released back in 1999 by the legendary Black Isle Studios, this game wasn't just a good D&D adaptation; it was a reality-bending masterpiece. It took the sprawling, philosophical Planescape setting – a place where your very beliefs could shape the world – and spun a narrative so dense and profound, it still makes modern narrative designers weep with a mix of awe and despair. And yet, almost a quarter of a century later, it remains the *only* D&D video game ever to truly plant its flag in the bizarre, beautiful soil of Planescape. Talk about leaving us hanging!
Now, the Planescape setting itself, cooked up by David "Zeb" Cook in 1994 for the tabletop RPG, was already a stroke of genius. Forget your standard knights and goblins; this was cosmology as philosophy. Sigil, the City of Doors, ruled by the silent, inscrutable Lady of Pain, where factions weren't just guilds but literal philosophies you could join. The famous "Rule of Threes" that permeates everything, subtly nudging you away from the binary "good vs. evil" nonsense that underpinned so much fantasy. It was D&D for people who wanted to chew on ideas, not just loot goblins. It made you approach problems laterally, like trying to untangle a particularly knotty spell – or perhaps, a particularly knotty moral dilemma. And frankly, that's a vibe I'm always here for.
So, when Black Isle got their hands on it, led by the narrative sorcerer Chris Avellone, they didn't just adapt it; they *channeled* it. Avellone, fresh off *Fallout 2*, famously pitched *Planescape: Torment* as “starting on the death screen.” And fair dinkum, you wake up in a mortuary, a scarred amnesiac with a talking skull for a companion, your past lives a fragmented mess of regret and consequence. How cool is that? It’s a meta-narrative about identity and memory before meta-narratives were even cool enough to have a name.
The game itself? A beautiful beast. It largely side-stepped traditional combat (though it had it) in favour of dialogue – a staggering 800,000+ words of it. You could practically talk your way through the entire adventure, an absolute anomaly for the time. Death wasn't a penalty; it was often a means of progression, a way to uncover more of the Nameless One’s tangled history. Rats were genuinely dangerous. Swords were rare. It was like someone threw all the RPG rulebooks into a magical blender, hit 'frappé,' and created something entirely new. It pushed the boundaries of what video game storytelling could achieve, proving that profound narratives weren't just for books or films.
You can actually see its ghostly fingerprints all over *Baldur's Gate 2*, which arrived just a year later and, while more traditional in its Forgotten Realms setting and combat focus, absolutely levelled up its storytelling and character depth. It's like *Torment* opened a portal in the fabric of reality, showed everyone what was possible, and then quietly slipped back into the shadows.
Which brings us back to the great mystery: why no sequel? Why no return visits? It’s not like the setting didn’t resonate; the original Planescape TTRPG campaign setting was hugely influential, embedding the concept of a multiverse into D&D lore like a deeply rooted enchantment. The tabletop game itself was shy about returning, only really giving us a proper deep dive again in 2023 with *Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse*.
Avellone and co-designer Colin McComb apparently toyed with sequel ideas, but Avellone felt a direct follow-up to *Torment* itself "feels wrong." He "didn't want to drag a rake through it." And honestly, I get that. Some spells are so perfectly cast, you don't mess with them. But both were keen on new games *in the Planescape setting*. They just weren't sure the industry then could handle it. Almost two decades on, and still nothing. Bloody criminal, if you ask me.
The D&D video game license has had more owners than a magic artefact lost in a dungeon crawl, but it's currently with Wizards of the Coast. So, theoretically, they could commission a new studio to explore Sigil or any of the infinite planes again. But at the moment? Crickets. A silence so profound, it’s like the Lady of Pain herself has decreed it.
Perhaps part of *Planescape: Torment*'s enduring mystique *is* its singular nature. It stands alone, like Sigil itself, a nexus connecting everything yet remaining utterly unique. A game where nihilism and existentialism are just part of the Tuesday commute. And while I reckon a true *Planescape: Torment 2* without the original alchemists would feel like a cheap imitation, I can't help but hope for a new game that delves into the Planescape setting. A game that takes the spirit of what made *Torment* so groundbreaking and applies it to a fresh adventure.
Until then, we’ve got Beamdog’s excellent *Planescape: Torment Enhanced Edition* to scratch that itch – a bargain on Steam and GOG, seriously. And of course, there’s always the pen, paper, dice, and the recently revived tabletop setting. Because while some worlds get left behind, the best ones always find a way to flicker back to life, waiting for a curious adventurer to stumble through a door, or perhaps, awaken in a mortuary, wondering who they are and what happens next. The possibilities, mate, are infinite.
Tags: RPGs, Dungeons & Dragons, Planescape Torment, Classic Games, Gaming History
Original article: Polygon