One of the most iconic D&D RPGs ever made stood out among Baldur's Gate and Fallout as it was the "first" to make companions "feel like fully functional parts of the story"

Planescape: Torment
(Image credit: Black Isle Studios)

Despite launching so soon after other monumental RPG releases like the first two Fallout games and the original Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment carved its name into history as one of the best titles of all time - amid fellow Dungeons & Dragons entries and otherwise.

Speaking to PC Gamer in a recent interview, Black Isle Studios founder Feargus Urquhart has the answer to Planescape: Torment's startling success - or at least a big part of it. "In Fallout and Baldur's Gate," explains the lead, "you'd have NPCs just kind of milling around, but in Torment, we really tried to make it feel more like this is a bustling city." This prompted the developers to put in some extra work, but it certainly paid off.

"So we wrote in a whole thing to allow these crowd characters to walk around the maps," he continues. "We had to create a whole different class of character so that the AI didn't bring the game to a halt." That's what Black Isle Studios did in the end, and it revolutionized the RPG scene forever. "Torment really showed what you could do with companions," Urquhart explains, comparing the characters to other games' own.

"You had companions in Fallout 1, Fallout 2, and Baldur's Gate for that matter," says the studio founder, "but they had no real dialogue. Torment was the first game that made them feel like fully functional parts of the story." As someone with far too many hours in the 1999 classic, I'm inclined to agree. Even after more modern genre icons like Baldur's Gate 3, I seem to find myself going back to Planescape annually without fail.

Itching for more Planescape? Here are the best RPGs to play now while you wait (never say never).

Anna Koselke
Staff Writer

After spending years with her head in various fantastical realms' clouds, Anna studied English Literature and then Medieval History at the University of Edinburgh, going on to specialize in narrative design and video game journalism as a writer. She has written for various publications since her postgraduate studies, including Dexerto, Fanbyte, GameSpot, IGN, PCGamesN, and more. When she's not frantically trying to form words into coherent sentences, she's probably daydreaming about becoming a fairy druid and befriending every animal or she's spending a thousand (more) hours traversing the Underdark in Baldur's Gate 3. If you spot her away from her PC, you'll always find Anna with a fantasy book, a handheld video game console of some sort, and a Tamagotchi or two on hand.

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