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What will you do with the power in your hands?

The Technomancer is a cyberpunk/space opera RPG developed by Spiders and published by Focus Home Interactive for PC and eighth generation consoles in 2016. It is the sequel/spiritual successor to the 2013 game Mars: War Logs, taking place on Mars several decades after a cataclysmic solar event cut off the fledgling Martian colony from Earth and gave rise to a post-Apocalyptic Scavenger World ruled over by the four Water Guilds who control the planet's water supply. The oldest and most powerful of the Guilds, Abundance, is currently engaged in a prolonged war against the youngest of the Guilds, Aurora.

While Mars: War Logs followed the story of an older Auroran fugitive named Roy, The Technomancer focuses on a young Abundance military officer and Technomancer named Zachariah Mancer. The game takes place around the same time period as Mars: War Logs, and sees Zachariah attempting to discover a way to re-establish contact with Earth while contending with the ASC, Abundance's all-powerful and totalitarian Secret Police.


The Technomancer contains examples of:

  • Amazon Brigade: The Black Dahlias are a girl gang found in the slums and are the main rivals of the Vory gang.
  • Ascended Extra: Scum, a mutant preacher who had a minor role in the first Act of Mars: War Logs, returns in The Technomancer with a much more central role in the third Act.
  • Badass Longcoat: Some of the armor options include these. Notably, the Master Technomancer's uniform and the military uniform worn by the Big Bad both are this.
  • Bittersweet Ending: In the end, Zach and his comrades activate the ancient communication relay only to learn that Earth was destroyed long ago, and the survivors on Mars are on their own. At the same time, their actions in overthrowing Colonel Viktor and any other good deeds they may have accomplished give a decent chance for Mars to heal and find some measure of peace.
  • But Thou Must!: No matter how you complete your missions for the military, Colonel Viktor will always frame you to make it look like you let Boris the deserter and Bulgakov the Resistance leader escape, even if you captured/executed them both as ordered like a loyal fascist. As a result, you might as well just let them both escape anyway since you're going to be blamed for it no matter what.
  • Death by Falling Over: The game makes a point that enemies defeated in combat are merely knocked out, and you actually have to execute them to kill them, which lowers your Karma score. The exception is the Big Bad, who conveniently seems to have a heart attack and falls over dead once you beat him.
  • Elite Mooks: ASC agents are tougher than regular Abundance military soldiers and are equipped with special armor that resists electrical damage, which is tricky since as a Technomancer electricity is your primary form of special attack.
  • Equal-Opportunity Evil: Most martial organizations in the game, including the Abundance military and the Vory mafia, have what looks like a 50/50 gender balance. This can lead to some unusual group compositions, such as one side-mission where you fight a rape gang and half the members are female.
  • Fantastic Racism: Mutants are generally treated like slaves and second class citizens even in the more open and free settlements of mars. A group of humans even performed a lynching in Noctis without anyone speaking out against it, which has left the local mutant population uneasy and vengeful.
  • Giant Mook: "Elite" enemies are 7-foot tall slabs of muscle with about twice as much health as regular soldiers and who fight with either heavy two-handed weapons or a number of unique Wrestler in All of Us moves.
  • Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: At the end of the game, after you defeat the Big Bad, a humongous mutant monster shows up out of nowhere solely to serve as a Final Boss fight.
  • Gladiator Subquest: One of the sidequests in the game involves fighting humans and mutants in arena battles to become the champion of mars.
  • Merchant City: Noctis is a hidden city of merchants that most people believe is only a legend. The player flees there to avoid capture by the ASC at the end of act 1.
  • Nintendo Hard: The Technomancer is quite a challenging game even on Normal difficulty; even with fully upgraded armor and a decently leveled character, you usually die in just a few hits in combat. In fact basic Mooks have twice as much health as you do, while dealing out a comparable amount of damage.
  • Pacifist Run: The game can be completed without executing anyone, but there are at least 2 side quests (the drug dealer in Ophir and the pimp in Noctis) where not executing someone is considered the "evil" option and will lose you karma.
  • Poisoned Weapons: Some enemy types carry weapons that will poison the player on impact. The effect wears off fairly quickly, but takes a sizable chunk of the health bar with it when it does.
  • Practical Currency: Serum. Humans on mars need it to live and draining it out of defeated enemies will kill them. It can also be used in crafting healing items if the player doesn't mind the hit to their wallet.
  • Same Character, But Different: Sean, the main antagonist of Mars: War Logs's Act I, reappears in the beginning of The Technomancer as Zachariah's mentor. While he was a jerk and a Bad Boss in Mars: War Logs, here he's presented as a genuinely heroic Reasonable Authority Figure. The game's first Act takes place some time before the events of Mars: War Logs, and some dialogue in Mars: War Logs from Sean's next apprentice Mary may suggest his experiences in the war may have hardened him somewhat.
  • Scavenger World: Somewhat less so that Mars: War Logs, as Abundance is older and more established than Aurora (many buildings even in the poorer areas are concrete rather than sheet metal), but the "used, worn out future" aesthetic is still there.
  • Sequel Escalation: The Technomancer is a bigger game in pretty much every way compared to Mars: War Logs, with a larger development budget as well.
  • Shock and Awe: All Technomancers have this power.
  • Sword and Gun: The Rogue combat style utilizes a shortsword in one hand and a pistol in the other, essentially being the closest to the combat style of Mars: War Logs.
  • Take Your Time: Generally played straight, like in most games, but some missions actually are timed from the moment you receive them.
  • Tom Boy And Girly Girl: Amelia Reacher is a rough, blue-collar Fiery Redhead while Niesha is a more feminine celebrity singer. The tom boy is a straightforward working-class Jane while the girly girl turns out to be a spy.
  • Useless Useful Stealth: At base level stealth attacks only deal enough damage to remove about half of its targets health bar and immediately alerts all nearby foes to the players location. For stealth to be anywhere near useful the player will have to dump several talent points into it to improve its effectiveness, points that are hard to come by and better spent on more useful abilities.

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