Being Bithell’s second run at a Tron title, I didn’t expect them to buck their formula quite as hard as they have. Identity, the team’s visual novel set inside the Arq Grid, was a hard-boiled, neo-noir detective story set for a single, miserable evening, whereas Tron: Catalyst places a much greater emphasis on action, managing to deliver it without sacrificing the things they’re known for as a developer.
Mystery is, once again, at the centre of this Tron story as a package you’re muling throughout the grid unexpectedly explodes and flip-turns your life upside down, granting you power far beyond your programming, including the ability to manipulate the flow of time. The hard-boiled detective from Tron: Identity, Query, does return, linking the narratives together, although it’s a character named Exo that we play as a courier working her way through this Arq Grid capital on this occasion.
Early signs suggest Catalyst will be a similarly intricate web of intrigue, much like Bithell’s first attempt at the IP, with strong writing in particular helping to colour in the lines of this excellently coded cityscape. The first couple of chapters set the story up as one of opportunity, with Exo’s ability to re-experience loops, taking wares and knowledge, both earned and learned, with her. Being a time travel story, I kind of wish I walked away after two chapters with the impression I, as Exo, would have full agency to help or exploit this world’s people, though sadly it seems much more straight and narrow.
While the stylistic and narrative ties back to Identity are clear, Bithell’s approach to gameplay for Catalyst is an enormous departure from their first trip to the grid. With a pulled-back, isometric viewpoint, we’ve got ourselves a constant, broad overview of the action. At times, I wondered if it was too broad. I found the action to be unreadable at certain points, but it was primarily when a lot of bodies were on-screen. Fortunately, good and bad are colour-coded with the iconic blue and orange hues, so this helps, but it’s still tough at times—perhaps I could blame the handheld’s screen for this, too.
The action itself is serviceable without being exhilarating, it’s a pretty par for the course mix of beat ‘em up combat and slinging light discs around the place. It’s certainly more pulsating than its predecessor’s grid-centric puzzles, though it lacks any notable hook to help it stand out from other action-adventure games of this ilk.
Of course, there are other neat inclusions like being able to manifest and ride a Light Cycle, though it didn’t feel as though the opening area catered to hitting the open road. The control scheme suggests there’s shunting, so fingers crossed we’re thrust into a couple of Road Rage-esque segments to get the pulse racing.
The most interesting gameplay hook is something of a passive one, being Exo’s ability to start the cycle over. I found the story’s riddles still unfurled linearly, and it all did feel rather intuitive or even spelled out; however, I might chalk that up to onboarding. It’s still an interesting premise for a Tron game, and it manages to tie into the very nature of programs and glitches. Exploding past a security checkpoint in search of vital information, beckoning all of the grid’s peacekeepers to hunt you down, and finding what you’re after only to hit reset, start anew, and waltz unfettered through the very same checkpoint was definitely fun.
With the team’s penchant for clever puzzle craft, I hope they’re able to build upon this concept throughout the game and match the story’s stakes as they escalate. That said, I’m certainly invested enough in what I’ve seen so far.
With how much of a slow burn Identity was, from both a plot and mechanics angle, I am happy to say that the hour or so that I’ve spent in Catalyst’s world is so much more exciting for someone who isn’t enormously entrenched in the universe of Tron.
It maintains all of the rich character-centric mystery that made Identity’s story great, but by folding action into the mix, it’s clear that the game has changed.
