The first significant Torment: Tides of Numenera update addressing annoying performance issues has been rolled out on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
The upshot of the many nips and tucks - listed in the longer Torment patch notes - is to make the game a pacier, less stuttery experience, which was a particularly noticeable problem in the console versions. Frame-rates have been improved, then, as have combat encounters.
Be warned there are slight spoilers in the patch notes.
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UPDATE 29TH MARCH: The Enhanced Edition of Planescape: Torment will be released 11th April on PC and Mac for Ł15. Mobile Android and iOS versions are "coming soon" and will cost $9.99.
What will the Enhanced Edition have that modded versions of Planescape: Torment currently do not? "Lots!" answered the official website. "A new interface rebuilt for 4K, better compatibility with modern hardware, no loading times between areas, a remastered musical score, and great Enhanced Edition features like quickloot, zooming, floating combat log, widescreen support, and more. And, of course, less hassle because you don't need to mod your game to get it running properly."
What exactly has Chris Avellone, lead designer of PST, done for the Enhanced Edition? "He reviewed and approved all user interface adjustments and did an editorial pass of all the text in the game," said the website. "In addition, in the few instances where new text was needed (ie. additional journal entries and special ability descriptions), Chris wrote the text himself."
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One 4am nearly five years ago I ended a Skype call and went to sleep, but two of the people I was chatting to stuck around. They were Chris Avellone and Colin McComb. I had been speaking to them, and others, about Planescape: Torment, a game they all helped make. And it was a really good game. A legend, if you like.
The Souls effect will reach fever pitch this week with the release of Bloodborne, and very important gaming people at lunch around the world will wonder how they can copy it. Feels like a recent thing, given that Dark Souls appeared in 2011 to really kick it all off. But as I discovered, in something of a crypt in London recently, the Souls effect was felt a long, long time ago.
It's 1996 and Super Mario 64 has come out, Quake has come out, Tomb Raider has come out. The Spice Girls are only just coming out (I could have worded that differently). Meanwhile, over in America, Colin McComb writes Planescape campaigns for Dungeons & Dragons. But he wants to go to California because there's this girl there. Then he sees his chance.
"Come on out and be the lead designer of this PlayStation game that we're doing with the Planescape licence," a company offers him.
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Guido Henkel, the man whose masked face dominates the Planescape: Torment box art, is working on a new role-playing game called Deathfire.
Chris Avellone was the lead designer of Planescape: Torment, his number-two was Colin McComb. Colin McComb is the lead designer of Torment: Tides of Numenera, that thematic successor to PST that's absolutely flying on Kickstarter.
For months I believed Wizards of the Coast had, for whatever reason, declined use of the Planescape Dungeons & Dragons licence for another video game.
A successor to Planescape: Torment is happening. No it's not Project Eternity, no it's not Chris Avellone; it's Colin McComb (Planescape: Torment second in command) and inXile (Wasteland 2). And it has the blessing of Chris Avellone, the lead designer of PST.
The Dungeons & Dragons PC role-playing games that started it all have been discounted to dirt-cheap on GOG.com.
Oh my, could Obsidian's new RPG be a spiritual successor to Planescape: Torment?
The newly resurrected Black Isle Studios intends to make triple-A role-playing games based on Interplay's intellectual property, it's said.
Update: Former Black Isle lead designer Chris Avellone has given Eurogamer his take on the news.
Why only post-mortem new games? Why not, say, reach back in time for one of the best-loved role-playing games, try and track down the key people involved, and gather them for an hour-long chat and post-mortem?
Kickstarter darling Wasteland 2 has attracted more mouth-watering talent - game designer, writer and author Colin McComb, who played a pivotal role making revered RPG Planescape: Torment. He also worked on Fallout 2.
Decorated RPG designer Chris Avellone is "very tempted" by the idea of reviving Planescape: Torment using Kickstarter, he told GamesIndustry International.
Fallout: New Vegas developer Obsidian Entertainment has asked fans what game they would like to see it make if it called for funding through Kickstarter.
Finally, an official playable version of Black Isle's cherished RPG Planescape: Torment has arrived.
Saying I'm a fan of Planescape: Torment is a bit like saying that Vlad III Dracula enjoyed a spot of impaling - it gets the point across, but doesn't quite convey the extent of the fervour.
Amidst the dusty annals of video gaming, there are games only mentioned in hushed tones. There are games that are traded in back-alleys, games where the few extant copies are guarded by hooded, pale-faced men who worship the old gods Mintah, Ammygah and Com O'door. Games where only one person has ever played it, and he whispers its plot endlessly from his isolated, padded rooms in Bedlam...
