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I spent a lot of time at the game store when I was younger poring through roleplaying sourcebooks. I never had a consistent group, like most people, but Numenera was one of those games that always seemed fun. The unique intersection of Science Fantasy and Post Apocalypse, an Earth completely covered in the detrius of thousands of dead civilizations, is very compelling.
The actual mechanics, though, always seemed lacking to me. And that criticism transfer over to it's video game adaptation, Tides of Numenera. The combat is extremely clunky at best; and a tedious slog at worst. Character building is very minimal; and punishing to someone uninitiated. There are some good ideas with noncombat mechanics though, like the stat pools and using your companion's skills during dialogue.
The story managed to carry the game for me, though. The opening is especially striking; falling to Earth from near orbit. And combing together your own memories throughout the game, deciding on your own identity is probably the best implementation of an amnesiac protagonist I've seen yet in a game. The main selling point of the narrative, the Tides system, is very expertly implemented; otherwise mundane side quests with binary choices gain significant depth with the ability to justify the same decision under many competing ideologies.
The story is very rushed, and the small number of locations is a shame, but it still manages to reach a satisfying conclusion. So I'm glad I picked it up again, and saw it thru after many years of dropping it. There aren't many narrative RPG adventures out there, despite how well received they usually are. Torment: Tides of Numenera is probably my favorite out of all the ones I've played so far.