TRON Catalyst marks forty-three years since Kevin Flynn first dreamt of the Grid, imagining a world of computer programs that evolved beyond belief. It’s been forty-three years since he stepped inside and discovered a realm beyond human comprehension — a place where data takes form, light becomes architecture, and the rules of reality are rewritten. What began as a visionary glimpse into digital life has grown into a living, breathing universe, constantly adapting, innovating, and challenging the limits of imagination.
And it’s been forty-three years of not nearly enough TRON content!
By it’s very nature alone, TRON is one IP that seems tailor made for videogames, if not other mediums. While the first movie has become a bona fide cult classic with visionary and influential visuals, since 1982 we’ve only had two movies and one television series and what amounts to a handful of games.
That isn’t to say there haven’t been good TRON games. Monolith Productions TRON 2.0 is still an immersive, fun and ground-breaking first person shooter that continued the TRON story when Disney had no theatrical incentive to. While some of the other games have been fun and overly reliant on fandom to get you to look their way, none have had the staying power of TRON 2.0.
This year though, Disney are giving us the third installment in the TRON franchise with TRON: Ares, set for October, and developers Bithell Games have given us a new videogame to while the time away with, with TRON Catalyst .
Set in the Arq Grid from Bithell games previous TRON title, TRON: Identity, TRON Catalyst throws you into the shoes of courier program, Exo. When one of Exo’s deliveries unexpectedly explodes, she is dropped into a conflict between different factions for control of the Grids future. Exo may only want to escape the fascist and authoritarian world the Grid has become, but her new abilities may make that impossible. . .
Played from an isometric perspective TRON Catalyst is a narrative action adventure game that hinges it’s entire story and gameplay on a Loop mechanic. You see, Exo was bombarded by glitches when her delivery exploded, giving her the ability to reset the day, forcing her into living a loop to experience the same events over and over until she reaches specific checkpoints in her journey. In short, it’s Groundhog Day in the grids neon enthused settings.
Now that may sound like a recipe for repetitiveness, but the developers have streamlined Exo’s journey in many ways so that you won’t feel like you’re doing the same thing over and over again. Unless you die or reset the loop before unlocking certain things that is. For starters, all of the abilities you acquire through the games skill tree will stay with you throughout your journey. The same goes for passwords and door unlocks, to name just a few.
This at least means that once you complete an objective, even if you have to reset Exo’s loop, that objective will still remain completed and passwords permanently engraved on your identity disc, cutting out the need to continously find the same clues or speak to the same programs over and over.
This streamlining of the Groundhog Day mechanics means that the game consistently pushes you forward, but conversely it also means that trying to alter each loop in dramatically different ways doesn’t happen. If you die in combat the loop will be reset and you can also do so manually, but Exo’s glitches and the moments when you actually need to reset the loop are all in service of the narrative ultimately.
Exo has a small, streamlined skill tree to unlock new abilities on using collected Data Shards. These shards can be found by exploring the environment or defeating enemies and it’s possible to fill out the skill tree well before the end. Some are more impactful than others, such as the ability that let’s your Disc ricochet between multiple enemies before flying back to you while others, such as one that let’s you briefly steal an enemies ability when they’re on deaths door, barely made an impact on how I chose to embrace each fight.
There’s a hack and slash approach to combat but, like the story and main gameplay loop, it’s streamlined. You have a basic combo, a heavy attack, a dodge, a parry and you can throw your Identity Disc at enemies like a deadly Frisbee. There’s just enough versatility to make use of tactics, such as enemies that can only be damaged after parrying attacks or ricocheting your Disc off of walls to hit enemies in the back, which deals higher damage. The game rarely gets difficult enough for you to use every trick in your arsenal.
And what would a TRON game be without it’s iconic Lightcycles? You get one fairly early on to help you make it around the Grid faster and a push of a button leaves a light wall behind you. But those early sections are constrained by both the isometric view and the vehicles speed as the camera clearly struggles to keep up with the vehicle if you punch it.
As with the visuals, the Lightcycle design is taken from TRON: Legacy, giving you modern vehicle control and movement resulting in curves and wide arcs unlike the original Lightcycles ninety-degree turns. In these early segments it’s frustrating to use and I spent more time smashing into things than elegantly navigating the roads while derezzing enemy programs foolish enough to take their chances with a light wall. Later sections where Lightcycle combat comes to the fore fare better.
There is a Lightjet sequence that I could have done without as you’re forced to fly through a canyon while avoiding pursuers but the isometric view and controls simply make it an exercise in awkwardness as I smacked into digital wall after digital wall.
Visually TRON Catalyst takes it’s world design from the evolved, cyberpunk-ish visuals of TRON: Legacy. The Ark Grids visuals are still stunning and can’t be mistaken for anything other than TRON, but I’m less interested in this chrome and neon tinged design than I am enamored with the originals distinct look. Bringing the look of the Grid closer to our world may make sense, but it lacks that circuit design feel of the original. That’s just my personal preference though.
While TRON Catalyst is a fun return to the world of TRON and one that I admire for continuing to flesh out this distinct digital universe, I feel that it perhaps has been constructed a little too safe, even while containing all the necessary TRON elements you could want. As such, just as with it’s cult classic namesake, I feel that TRON Catalyst is a game that will appeal to hardcore TRON fans mostly.
TRON Catalyst Trailer
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Game code was provided by the Publisher.
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