Of all the retro sci-fi series that could make a modern-day return, Tron — with its antiquated CGI and goofy city-inside-a-computer premise — feels like one of the least likely. But after 2010’s Tron: Legacy introduced the series to new audiences only for it to disappear again for more than a decade, we’re about to get a second Tron game in just two years. Bithell Games, developer of 2023’s Tron: Identity just announced Tron: Catalyst, which continues the first game’s story while adding an entirely new way to play.
Tron: Catalyst picks up after the story of Tron: Identity, but at least at a glance, it bears little resemblance to its predecessor. Where Bithell Games’ previous release is a visual novel interspersed with puzzles, Catalyst is a full-blown action game with shades of Hades.
Catalyst is played from the isometric perspective that’s all the rage in roguelike RPGs these days. Characters in the Arq Grid — the digital world of Catalyst — battle with discs, which can be used as both melee and ranged weapons. From the short trailer Bithell Games released with Catalyst’s announcement, its combat already looks slick and satisfying. Battles in the trailer show your character fighting several enemies at once, deflecting the discs they throw while launching ranged attacks that bounce between multiple foes. It looks chaotic and fun, and that’s not all Catalyst has going for it.
In addition to combat, you’ll be able to hop onto your light cycle, the iconic neon-trailing motorcycles of the Tron universe. Riding on the back of a light cycle is a quick way to get around the Grid, but it can also be used in combat. It seems like a safe bet to assume you’ll also be taking part in dangerous light cycles races at some point, though we haven’t seen footage of that yet.
If you’ve played Tron: Identity, it should be clear by now that Catalyst is a very different take on the world than its predecessor, but that doesn’t mean Bithell Games is leaving its visual novel roots behind. The developer describes Catalyst as “story-driven,” and in conversations with its characters, the game returns to a much more familiar-looking visual novel style. It’s not clear whether dialogue will lead to branching paths like it did in Identity, but it does seem like narrative will still be a focus however it plays out.
One more interesting feature of Catalyst is the introduction of glitches to the Arq Grid. Glitches add a form of time loop to the game, where you’ll be able to revisit old locations to find secrets you missed the first time around and even affect the story by manipulating the Grid’s factions. Very little has been revealed so far about how these glitches will play out in practice, but it seems like they’ll be a key feature of Catalyst.
The action-oriented Tron: Catalyst is new territory for Bithell Games. The developer built its reputation on the narrative platformer Thomas Was Alone, before delving into detective fiction visual novels like Subsurface Circular and Tron: Identity. John Wick: Hex, a strategy game based on the film series starring Keanu Reeves, is the closest the studio has come to pure action, but Catalyst is still a much further step. The biggest question surrounding Catalyst is how its action gameplay will stack up, but its focus on story means Bithell Games is at least playing partly to its strengths.
