Torment: Tides of Numenera gets a new website and stretch goal

The Torment: Tides of Numenera Kickstarter wrapped up in April 2013 with nearly $4.2 million , but it's still possible to back the project through inXile's in-house crowdfunding campaign. In fact, the studio announced a new stretch goal today that could see the return of the Gullet, one of the areas of the Bloom that was cut earlier in production.

The announcement of the added stretch goal comes alongside the rollout of a new Torment: Tides of Numenera website , which offers a nicely organized breakdown of the game and makes it easier for backers to manage their rewards. InXile is also changing its backer system to track pledges as "inXile Points," at a rate of 100 XP for each $1 spent. The idea, according to the latest Kickstarter update , is to give the studio the ability to reward backers for things other than pledging money, although how it will put that functionality to use remains to be seen.

More interesting, I think, is the addition of the stretch goal. It's awfully late in the process for that sort of thing, but the studio said bringing back the Gullet "would add a ton to the Bloom, particularly as it provides more adventure-type gameplay and will better balance out its pacing." The team as it stands is already maxed out, however, so adding a new area will require hiring more environmental artists—thus, the stretch goal.

But because the development is already so far along, this goal has a fairly tight deadline: $4.75 million by October 16, or it's not going to happen. That's a fairly big jump: Torment: Tides of Numenera has raised just a hair over $4.6 million in total, meaning that it's added only around $410,000 in the year-and-a-half since the Kickstarter ended. Ringing up another $175,000 in just one month is going to take a big push from existing backers, as well as a lot of new supporters.

The update also provides some rather cool background to the Endless Battle, which has echoes of Planescape: Torment's Blood War , and a spot of developer Q&A as well. All in all, it's well worth a few minutes of your time if you have any interest at all in the game. Torment: Tides of Numenera is currently scheduled to come out in late 2015 .

Andy Chalk

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.