TRON: Catalyst Review: A Solid Foundation For Future TRON Games

TRON: Catalyst is the latest attempt to bring the world of its eponymous 1982 cult classic film to life in video game form. As a sequel to Bithell Games' TRON: Identity, TRON: Catalyst continues to expand the world of the Arq Grid established in the first game. However, unlike its predecessor, TRON: Catalyst focuses more on action-oriented gameplay than puzzle solving or its visual novel elements.

That isn't to say TRON: Catalyst is devoid of story. On the contrary, there is quite a bit of dialogue, and die-hard TRON fans will likely be excited to learn more about this new Grid. When I initially previewed TRON: Catalyst, I was drawn in by its gameplay as well as the mystery introduced early in the game. I was very excited to get a chance to play the rest of the game, and while a lot of what I loved from the preview carried over to the full game, the final product was not what I expected.

TRON: Catalyst's Combat Is Polished And Addicting

TRON: Catalyst Has Satisfying Combat That Is A Highlight Of The Game

Combat in TRON: Catalyst isn't overly complicated, but it is certainly engaging. Controlling protagonist Exo feels tight and satisfying, and there is a decent sense of progression as you add on a few new abilities throughout the game. TRON: Catalyst does a good job of drip-feeding new moves and abilities, so combat stays fresh but never overwhelming. All of my abilities were second nature to me by the time a new one was introduced, so it was easy to integrate them into my existing strategy.

Some of the highlights for me were the upgrades that allowed my disc to bounce between multiple enemies, and the one that allowed me to counter my own thrown disc to shoot it back at my foes again. This would spend my disc spinning around the battlefield, doing damage while I focused on dodging enemies. When it came back, I could simply kick it back out if I wanted to, or hold onto it to deliver some melee strikes.

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Although I initially stayed away from countering too often, once I had upgraded the damage that counter-attacks did, and made the window easier to hit, I found it a much more useful part of my strategy. Later, you gain the ability to steal useful weapons from your enemies, which keeps the late game fresh, and I was happy to see a third upgrade tree added for it. One of my complaints from the first time I played TRON: Catalyst was that the upgrade system felt underdeveloped, and this third tree helped that a bit.

If I have one complaint about TRON: Catalyst's combat, it's that it feels like wasted potential. A few more unique combat abilities, or permanent new weapons instead of temporary ones, would have expanded the complexity of combat and added more replay value to the game. It would also have been nice if the game allowed me to continue playing combat scenarios with my fully upgraded Exo. Instead, the game wipes your save file after you roll credits, meaning I'd have to sink several more hours into it just to get back up to speed.

TRON: Catalyst's Time Loop Mechanic Is Interesting But Under Utilized

A Time Loop Mechanic Could Be A Great Puzzle-Solving Tool, But It Isn't Here

One of TRON: Catalyst's central mechanics is the time loop that Exo is caught in. You can use this time loop to your advantage to revisit the same area at an earlier time, meeting up with NPCs you missed previously, or allowing you to retry certain scenarios with new skills and information. This mechanic has a lot of potential in a video game, so I was disappointed to see how underutilized it was in TRON: Catalyst.

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TRON: Catalyst is a largely linear experience, and there were only two short sections of it that felt like I was doing something besides just following quest markers. This isn't inherently a bad thing in a game, but it does make the time loop mechanic feel less meaningful. You typically only reset a loop when the game dictates you should, so it feels less like a mechanic and more like a story beat you need to hit a button prompt for occasionally.

Near the end of the game, the map opens up for the first time, and you can jump around to any previous location on your journey. When this happened, I was thrilled because I thought it would be the perfect opportunity for some creative problem-solving, utilizing time travel mechanics. Unfortunately, this section is just about as linear as the rest of the game, and you are never forced to use time travel to solve any puzzles, at least not in a way that isn't heavily telegraphed by objective markers or prompts to reset the current loop.

TRON: Catalyst Has A Strong Hook, But The Plot Is Weighed Down By Lore

A Lot Of The Game's Dialogue Is Too Heavy On Exposition Over Story

You are introduced to Exo as she works as a courier, making her usual deliveries. However, things quickly go south when one of the packages you were told to deliver turns out to be a bomb, and it goes off in the middle of the street. Exo wakes up as a prisoner of a Core authority named Conn, and is forced to fight in an arena as part of her punishment. Exo avoids the fight by using the time loop glitch, introducing this mysterious new ability to both her and the player.

I was intrigued by the early beats of TRON: Catalyst's story, and found myself asking questions like "who sent the bomb?" "Who was their intended target?" and "Why am I stuck in a time loop?" I was also excited to learn a bit more about Exo, her motivations, and how she ended up in this mess. Unfortunately, TRON: Catalyst seems far more interested in focusing on fleshing out the world of TRON than it does in creating an engaging story or crafting characters you can connect with.

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Although I was initially intrigued, I found my eyes glazing over whenever a new dialogue scene started up. Often, I find myself rushing through combat to get to dialogue scenes in better story-rich games, especially ones that allow me to participate in the conversation. Here, I found myself speed reading to get back to the action. This is partially because I felt simultaneously overwhelmed and uninterested in lore dumps about the Arq Grid, and partially because it didn't feel like my dialogue choices had any major impact on the course of the game.

I suspect if I were a major TRON fan, I would be slightly more interested in some of the minutia of the world. Likewise, if I had strong feelings for TRON: Identity, I would likely have been excited when Query popped back up in this game. As someone who falls into neither of the previous categories, I found little interest in this game's story.

TRON: Catalyst Feels Unfinished In Multiple Ways

TRON: Catalyst Under Utilizes Some Elements, And Also Has Some Frustrating Bugs

Although I enjoyed parts of TRON: Catalyst, it often felt like the game was unfinished. Although the addition of a third skill tree helped keep combat a bit more interesting, it still felt like my progress in upgrading my character stagnated pretty hard partway through the game. Although the combat stayed engaging throughout my playthrough, I still felt like I wanted more from my skill trees.

I also feel like the Light Cycle was a missed opportunity in TRON: Catalyst. I had a ton of fun derezzing enemy Light Cycles in classic TRON fashion by creating walls behind me as I drove. However, there are two, maybe three, sections of the game where you utilize the Light Cycle for more than just transportation. I was left wanting more from the Light Cycle, which is a testament to how well it was designed, but also a condemnation of its integration into the game.

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TRON: Catalyst also just feels short. I was given an estimated play time of around 12 hours, but I managed to roll credits in less than eight. I did notice there were a few secret areas I hadn't reached, but there was also no real reason for me to go there. I already had more than enough Data Shards to fully upgrade Exo, so there was no reason for me to search every corner of the map.

Worst of all were the game's glitches. Once, I managed to dodge roll through a locked door, but the key to it was on the other side. While it got me where I needed to go, it did lock me out of a few additional areas that I couldn't reach now that I didn't have the key for them. Another time, I was dodging in combat and suddenly sank through the floor and died. This set me back about 20 minutes from the previous checkpoint, which isn't terrible, but is still frustrating when it's the result of a bug.

TRON: Catalyst Is A Step In The Right Direction For TRON Games

TRON: Catalyst Is A Solid Foundation For Future TRON Games

There are small glimmers of what could one day add up to an incredible TRON game here. The sights and sounds are also spot on and are perfectly in sync with the source material. The game has a solid foundation that, if built on, could lead to some great games down the line, and I'm willing to give another TRON title from Bithell a chance in the future. That said, it's hard to recommend the game based on what it could have been, instead of what it is.

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There is clearly a lot of effort and love for the source material on display in TRON: Catalyst. This, along with the highlights of its gameplay - such as combat and driving the Light Cycle - makes me wish there was just a little more to this game, so I could give it a stronger recommendation. If you're a big TRON fan, you'll probably find something to love here. If you're not, then I might recommend waiting for a potential sequel where the foundation of this game can be built upon, making it feel like a more polished product.

Screen Rant was provided with a digital PC code for the purpose of this review.

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