3 days ago
TRON: Catalyst (PC) Review
When I first tried TRON: Catalyst, I was pretty happy with what I had experienced. Although my initial preview was only a vertical slice within the city of Vertical Slice, the game introduced enough good ideas that I was eager to get my hands on a much more extensive play session.
My time with TRON: Catalyst has been somewhat of a mixed experience. On the one hand, I really admire what both Bithell and the game itself are trying to do here. However, the game really needed to iron out some kinks to create a really amazing game, and it doesn't really look like they have.
I talked about it a bit during my preview, but I'll reiterate it here. Players take on the role of Exo—a simple Courier program who is caught in a massive explosion during a routine delivery. Little did she know, the explosion was caused by a Glitch Catalyst, which distorts her code and gives her the ability to rewind time back to key loop points, allowing her to use abilities and knowledge gained to outsmart and outmaneuver her opponents.
This sets off a chain of events that will lead to who decides the fate of Vertical Slice city as Exo fights against Core—the city's malevolent rulers—and a ruthless program named Conn, who pursues her throughout the Arq Grid. While I mentioned how much I liked how the game weaved its gameplay concepts into its narrative, one thing I didn't mention was how much I appreciate the game's protagonist.
Since TRON: Catalyst is set somewhere before the events of TRON: Legacy, Exo isn't just a regular program, but an Iso—Isomoprhic Algorithms that were created from nothing in Flynn's Grid. This allows not just the story to maintain the themes of race politics that were present in the film, but it also gives our protagonist a lot more agency and identity.
She has the freedom to be whatever she wants to be, and allowing her to manipulate not just her own code, but the systems around her gives the game a lot of depth and nuance that isn't made immediately present in the writing. Not only that, I really liked how TRON: Catalyst is somewhat of a sequel to TRON: Identity, as characters and factions that were established in that game find their way into this one.
Gameplay is where TRON: Catalyst leaves something to be desired. Initially, I said the game was 'Surprisingly simple,' and honestly, I feel that works both for and against the game. On the one hand, it makes it so it's not hard to get into, and gives players a lot of freedom to get good at it. On the other hand, it's never particularly challenging or as cool as something with the TRON license could be.
The biggest place this exists is in the combat. While it works well enough, giving players a pretty straightforward way to engage enemies both with their Discs and in Lightcycle chases, it always feels a little basic and by the numbers. It doesn't have the sense of fluidity or cool that was present in TRON: Evolution. When it works, it can be pretty enjoyable, but I think longtime TRON fans like myself might be left wanting for a bit more.
Not only that, but since TRON: Catalyst doesn't reward players with traditional experience—like I mentioned in my preview—it feels like some pretty basic moves like reflecting enemy Discs are locked behind a fairly restrictive wall. And while you do get a lot of cool new abilities as the story progresses, it could've made accessing the more basic ones a bit easier. Also, and this might just be a me thing, the game really could've done with a better trajectory line, particularly for bouncing your Disc off walls to hit enemies.
This is why TRON: Catalyst probably exists best as a smaller experience better suited to something like the Nintendo Switch. It creates the sense of a world that is technically small but feels big, and it's so rich with TRON lore and its world feels so genuinely realized that it's definitely worth experiencing, but in a more relaxed, second-screen kind of way.
Where TRON: Catalyst really stands out is in its visuals. The sleek, techno-cool aesthetic of TRON: Legacy is captured in an incredibly detailed and authentic way, and you can see the love and care put into the environment in every area you walk into. The music is appropriately matched. Dan Le Sac did an excellent job capturing the vibe of Daft Punk's soundtrack for TRON: Legacy, but putting his own unique touch on it for something that sounds genuinely his but uniquely TRON.
Honestly, I know this review probably sounded more negative than I wanted it to, but I think there is a lot to like about TRON: Catalyst. Like I said in my preview, Bithell stepped a bit outside their comfort zone and took a big chance, and for the most part, I think it paid off. While I wished it had a little bit more, I really loved what was there, and I think a lot of TRON fans will too.
