Torment: Tides of Numenera project lead departs, game delayed again

The ongoing development of Torment: Tides of Numenera has suffered another setback.

Torment: Tides of Numenera, inXile's crowd-funded homage to Planescape: Torment, has lost its project lead. In a lengthy new update on the game's Kickstarter page, Kevin Saunders announced his departure and gave an overview of the current build.

According to Saunders, the recent alpha test was very helpful to the devs in getting player feedback on the game's Crisis system - shown for the first time publicly. In addition, as the team continues to work on UI, the "majority" of environment art has been completed.

"As with any product launch, there will be the inevitable challenges to overcome, but like a finely tuned engine, things are humming along," said Saunders. "I'm proud to have played a part in creating and tuning that engine, which is where my unique experience and skills were most beneficial to the game.

"With the major creative and production decisions now resolved, and the team charging full speed toward completing the game, inXile and I have decided it is time for me to depart from the studio. I am proud of the project that I'm leaving in capable hands, and while I do not know what I'll do next, I look forward to new challenges and opportunities."

Chris Keenan, former project lead on Wasteland 2, will be assuming Saunders' former duties. As a result, the game has now been delayed to 2016, with a beta release expected before the year's end.

Torment: Tides of Numenera was was delayed back in 2014 to the fourth quarter of this year.