Planescape: Torment is an RPG - developed by Black Isle Studios of Fallout and Baldur's Gate fame - set in the D&D-campaign-setting of Planescape.
It's hard to describe what makes Planescape: Torment special without giving away some of the greatest moments in the game. If the game's catchphrase "What changes the nature of a man?" is the kind of thing that makes you curious, do yourself a favor and go in blind before looking for videos or articles about the game's life lessons. The game consistently presents you with unexpected scenarios and right from the early game, NPCs will share the philosophical ideas of the factions they represent with you. And besides the great setpieces and interesting characters, the game's detective-mystery plot is enticing and not just a chase after some McGuffin.
If you want to know some things about the game from a gameplay perspective: It is an isometric RPG with D&D-inspired dice roll combat, which can be grating for newcomers to the genre, such as myself. However, the game places a much greater focus on dialogue and the dialogue skills often come in handy to avoid fights or get more information out of someone. And if all else fails, the difficulty can be adjusted on the go via the menu.
All in all, you should really just ask yourself whether you're here for a story or not. Because the game will be a lot of reading; Planescape: Torment consistently shows up in lists of the longest videogame scripts ever, and if the word counts found on Google are anything to be believed, the game's script is easily longer than the entire Lord Of The Rings book trilogy. But don't think it will be slow or boring; while I started skipping over some dialogue in the endgame, I only did so because I wanted to progress the story. In the early and mid game, the imaginative writing reads like a good book while being more engaging thanks to dialogue choices and, well, the game surrounding it. The sheer amount of content ensures that you'll miss a lot of it, making for great replay value. (For example: I only learned about 3 of 15 factions on my first playthrough where I strictly followed the main story, and some major story beads are completely optional.)
I only give 4 out of 5 because the gameplay itself can be archaic, but if you like western RPGs, you better play this.
My rating:
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