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Rating: "How can one be immortal, and yet die?"
An awakening, yet another one.
Why another one? Because you know you've already experienced this, but as you think about it, you simultaneously realize you've become an empty vessel, devoid of any memories of past lives, lives of which you only feel an intangible sensation; an intuition more than a certainty makes you understand you've lived this scene not once, not twice, but hundreds of other times.
You turn, you are lying in a large room, the faint light of the candles around you is not enough to discern the details of the place accurately, but from the penetrating smell of death that you perceive, you understand you are in a mortuary.
You turn to the other side, and a flying skull makes its entrance on stage...
This is the beginning, or at least what it feels like, when starting to play "Planescape: Torment," a game now graphically obsolete, but at the same time (or perhaps precisely because of this) generally considered the link between the video game industry and literature.
This game, seemingly a dark reinterpretation of Baldur's Gate I and II, turned out to be something else.
Never before had a video game been supported by a plot of such quality, combined with an incredible ability to merge "serious" themes like death and the search for the essence of life with comical situations and characters, all set against the splendid backdrop of Sigil, a city that by its very nature (in the D&D saga Sigil is a crossroads between different dimensional planes) becomes a tapestry of unique characters, such as Nordom, the only sentient drone, Ignus, a wizard as dangerous as he is mad, and Morte himself, the irreverent and womanizing flying skull.
It must be said, however, that the important themes tackled prevail over the comic aspect of the game, which serves only to break the distressing development of the plot and dialogues, which as mentioned, focus mainly on death, or rather immortality, but also on love, the meaning of life, morality, and justice, making it a game recommended for a mature and adult audience, who can better be captivated by the gloomy and decadent atmospheres that set the stage for the actions of the "Nameless One" and his companions.
"Time is not your enemy, eternity is"
From a gameplay perspective, it proves to be an atypical RPG, as dialogues will hold much more importance than fights, the latter based on the Advanced D&D rules, will still provide satisfaction. The interface is well-structured, quite straightforward, and does not take up excessive space from the game view (obviously talking about technical requirements in a review of a game from 11 years ago, moreover in 2D, seems pointless to me).
Nowadays, very few could even remotely think of being attracted to a game so graphically obsolete, yet it's worth it; accompanying the "Nameless One" on his physical and metaphysical journey in search of the reason for his "non-life" is an experience impossible to replicate with modern video games, which unfortunately increasingly prioritize aesthetic aspects at the expense of content.
"I am that which walks beside you throughout life. My voice is a rattle of death, the last breath in the throat, the whisper of a dying man."
P.S.
The game is not translated into Italian, being intended only for the US market (here perhaps we see the little consideration they have for us Italians, and not without reason: a game like this would have sold very little here), below I will attach a link to download the best available translation, should anyone be tempted to try this video game experience I highly recommend.
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