Planescape: Torment is one of the best Role-Playing games ever written. The writing talent and imagination that went into the game are impressive, equalled by no other game I've played with the possible exception of the classic masterpiece Star Control 2. The Planescape universe is one of the most compelling and interesting I've seen, and the game's playable characters are all distinct, well-developed, sympathetic, and memorable. The game begins with the protagonist, the Nameless One, waking up on a cold stone slab in a mortuary, his memory gone and his body covered in scars and tattoos, his senses assaulted by the smell of formaldehyde and rotting flesh coming from the nearby corpses and the zombies that are working on them. This is a dark beginning, and the game remains dark throughout, which is unappealing to some and is probably responsible for this game's relatively poor sales compared to inferior but lighter games such as Baldur's Gate. (While Torment is a dark game, it does not require you to be evil or immoral--the darkness comes from the game's exploration of tragedy. One of its central questions is "what can change the nature of a man?" Its mood is similar, but not the same as, that of the Fallout games.) The equation is simple--if you're a lover of fiction who is not turned off by darkness, you will almost certainly love Planescape: Torment.