Tron Catalyst - Review

Outside of various cameo roles in games like Kingdom Hearts, TRON fans have not had a proper videogame since 2010, TRON: Run/r does not count. Which is why that the 2023 release of TRON: Identity was such a welcome surprise to many fans, but its visual novel approach was not what folks were after. Which is why in 2025, fans will be happy to see that not only TRON: Ares is coming to movie screens this October, but we now have the new game TRON: Catalyst available to us now. First of all, I went in blind with knowing very little of the game except that it looked like an isometric game with fighting mechanics similar to Hades. Did my lack of understanding lead to an upload of nothing but pleasant surprise, or were there errors in the program?

Not to give away too much and in a nutshell, the narrative follows the protagonist, Exo, a courier who is transporting something that begins to make noise and when she tries to get rid of it, it explodes. Waking up in a form of prison, she quickly discovers there is more going on than just being framed for a bombing. It turns out that she has been exposed to something, which is helpfully called the Glitch. This new ability provides Exo with the ability reset time, back to a certain point, which means you can reset time in a loop where you’re able to restart the level by choice. This gives her the option to change outcomes and interactions with characters you’ll meet through the game. Though this has elements of it being similar to a rogue-like by restarting the level upon death, the function doesn’t play like a rogue-like in that you don’t restart the game and have to re-pick up all your new abilities and items, but only to be used to move the narrative forward.

Now, with Exo’s new loop powers in hand, why does this give interest to the antagonist, Conn, who works for Core… the “big bad” in the game... or also seen as the ‘red colored themed people in this world, known as the Grid. Amongst Core as a faction, you meet other characters who have their own agenda who belong to Disciples of Tron, Automata and Reset, just to name a few. You also get to travel to different locations in the Grid, some that look a little familiar (in terms of aesthetics) from Tron Legacy.

Let’s talk about the loop cycle ability, which feels very much as though you’re playing Tom Cruise’s Edge of Tomorrow in the Tron world, with a little bit of Hades thrown in. Only Hades is significantly a faster paced game. TRON: Catalyst still feels relatively slow paced due to the nature of its fetch quest, making players run from one side of the map to the other and back again. Though this might be fun at times, and there are plenty of secondary side quests to complete, it all starts to feel a little bit of a chore by the halfway point of the game. The main thing holding it all together is the Tron lore narrative that the game slowly unveils through Exo’s journey, which is a win for Tron fans.

In terms of the look of the game, TRON: Catalyst definitely feels and visually emulates the world of TRON: Legacy. From its Light Cycles and Light Jets, to the familiar glowing lines (and circles) of the characters' costumes, it's done well to expand on the possibility of fashion in The Grid. Not only that, but it gives a bit of a nod to the previous films in showing Flynn’s arcade basement in the opening menu, not to the mention the original Lightcycle model when in dialogue with characters. All to say that the writers of this game obviously know the Tron franchise very well and clearly must be fans of the films. The art style during cutscene conversations, though still imagery, looks fantastic. Not only do the characters look great, but the voice acting is fantastic and brings life to the static artwork. It was honestly enough to want to keep listening to them in that the voice actors obviously put in a lot of emotion and effort in.

In terms of the difficulty, there are (as usual) three options for players to select from. Story driven, action oriented and challenge focused being equivalent to easy, medium and hard difficulty. The fighting mechanics itself isn’t too difficult to master, and the parry windows are huge to begin with, which you can also unlock to give a bigger timed window. I’d consider a lot of the control mechanics of dodging, parrying and attacking to be quite simplistic, but it definitely makes it easier to keep the narrative moving. Added with the slowness of enemy attacks, this is a game that’s definitely heavy on the story more than fighting. One other thing that makes things straight forward for players is the mission waypoints to your next mission are seen most of the time. So, as long as you’re moving towards the direction, you’ll eventually reach your goal or area you need to be in.

For a long time, fans of Tron have always wanted to ride a Light Cycle, and while newer Light jet have their own appeal, so with their inclusion in the game, you would think they would be a great time. The original TRON from 1982 gave a real sense of speed to the lightcycle and being able to experience that in the game would have been a real delight, but that is not the case here. Unfortunately, the movement when using vehicles feels a little short lived in that it doesn’t feel as though you’re moving ‘fast’. There are abilities as per the films where you’re able to emit a wall beam to stop Core’s cycles in its tracks, and also have a burst of speed and quick dodge left and right. However, the overall experience didn’t feel as what you’d expect in terms of speed. Additionally, controlling the vehicles with the joystick isn’t just moving left and right to get it to turn, but actually moving it in the direction you’re wanting, which may throw some people off initially. Lastly, using the Light Cycle and Light jet just felt a little on the sluggish side. All that to say that at least the aesthetics of the vehicles did look pretty cool.

Overall, if you’re a fan of the Tron franchise, this is a game you’ll want to play to see where the story takes you, and what outcomes and dialogues you’ll find. Visually, TRON: Catalyst is fantastic in expanding the world of The Arq Grid. The games voice artists did a fantastic job at putting life into the 2d static shots of their character, and those characters were brought to life by some incredible artists, all combined make the world feel like Tron. But if you’re plugging in only for gameplay or the expectation that this will be a fast-paced game like Hades, I’d temper your expectations.

The Score

7.0

Review code provided by Big Fan Games

The Pros

Amazing artwork and voice acting

Visually looks like the Tron Legacy universe

Loop cycle gameplay can be fun

The Cons

Fetch quests start to feel like a chore

Relatively easy difficulty

Hits its peak quite early, but leaves you wishing for more