Tron: Catalyst Preview - An admirably authentic adventure that isn't quite unknowable perfection

Bithell Games is perhaps best known for the lovely indie platformer Thomas Was Alone, but over the years the studio has also cranked out a multitude of other projects, some of which are licensed takes on well-known franchises. What started as John Wick Hex soon spiralled off into Tron: Identity, and now the team is shaping up to debut yet another title in that latter IP. It's known as Tron: Catalyst, and unlike Identity it's an adventure game that lets players experience a more personal and immersive story set in the iconic digital world. While the game will be arriving in full in June, I've had the chance to get an early taster of what's in store.

For one, Tron: Catalyst is one of the best representations we've seen of the Tron world in recent memory. Granted, there's not much competition on this front, as Tron, despite all of its really interesting ideas, had been put on the backburner for some time - thankfully of which is changing. In this game, the neo-futuristic theme of the Arq Grid is captured and presented with maximum effect, displaying a neon cityscape from an isometric perspective that is supported by a thumping and bass-heavy soundtrack of the kind that you expect to hear playing in the background of one of the world's many nightclubs. The art direction, the design choices, the use of colours, it's all about as authentic Tron as you could hope for from a video game.

As per the actual idea and plot of the game, you essentially play as a courier called Exo who during a routine delivery finds themselves afflicted with a strange change to your coding, the Glitch, which now enables you to somewhat control how you experience timeflow. This mishap has however led you to be forced into the Arena where you have to fight for your life with your Identity Disc all while figuring out how your new time-looping powers can be used to defeat the system and provide an escape route, almost in a roguelite-like manner. From here, you are soon thrust into a more freely explorable world where you can help characters and contacts with their many tasks to earn their trust and ultimately help you reach those who better understand the Glitch and can help you master its powers.

In terms of what we expect from a Tron story, Catalyst has everything that you could hope for; turmoil and danger, heart-pounding action, betrayal and heroes overcoming the odds. Again, it's Tron through and through and you have to give credit to Bithell Games for that. The main point of criticism I found during my preview time is the same kind of problem that affected former Bithell Games' titles like John Wick Hex, in that while the idea, ambience, and presentation all nails the task at hand with flying colours, I'm less convinced the gameplay follows suit.

The world and level design has a dungeon-like setup where you can explore and find secrets and useful tools and code to reach otherwise inaccessible areas - perhaps after resetting the timeline - and while that's a great concept, what you find doesn't really make the effort feel worthwhile. It's all about amassing a resource that you can spend in a skill tree to improve your Disc and your rideable Light Cycle, making you more effective in combat and such, but in practice it just feels like you're gathering a run-of-the-mill collectible. Also, the combat is very rudimentary and a tad flat. You can attack with basic and heavy melees, parry and dodge blows, and even throw your Disc, but that's about it. The combat lacks fluidity, speed, and challenge, which is quite strange as exploring the world is fast and smooth and one of the game's most exciting parts.

Tron: Catalyst has identified and captured everything that one might want from a Tron experience and served that up, but in a way that doesn't quite deliver gameplay that's as engaging as you would hope. Or perhaps it's just missing something to tie it all together... Sure, riding around on a Light Cycle is a blast, the voiced dialogue is excellent, and the time loop mechanic enables the gameplay to throw some spanners into the player's plans, but at the same time, I'm waiting for the typically awesome Tron combat to take off and for something other than the world design to grab and hook me as the primary reason to anticipate this adventure.