I apologize for the delay. It took me a while to get the review for Tron: Catalyst done because the game was simply failing to engross me. Whenever I booted it up on the ROG Ally, I’d get bored immediately after. And that’s terrible, as I was really looking forward to playing a more action-oriented take on Tron, considering how the previous outing, Tron: Identity (which Catalyst is a sequel to), was actually a visual novel of sorts. Now, before I continue, let me preface that this is not a poorly made game, nor a surefire disaster. If you want to read me rant about something truly heinous, go read our review on MindsEye. But this just truly failed to grab my attention like very few games out there.

The combat system is simplistic, and plagued by a noticeable amount of input lag.

In theory, it should have been a hit. Tron: Catalyst has some decent visuals (they are massively hampered by an excessively zoomed out isometric perspective, but the point stands) and a really interesting gameplay loop. I really enjoyed the idea behind being able to revert back in time, to the beginning of a new “cycle”, not unlike Majora’s Mask. You explore your surroundings, gather clues, learn more about when characters will show up, and then travel back to the beginning of the cycle to take advantage of the brand new information you had just acquired. You don’t need to travel back in time that often, and you don’t travel far back, so it never felt like an overused gimmick.

The problem is that everything else surrounding the well-implemented gimmick, and the puzzles that rely on it, just felt underwhelming. There’s an emphasis in combat, and I don’t have any other way to put it: it’s lame. The combat is quite simplistic. That, by itself, wouldn’t have been that much of an issue (simple might still be fun), but the combat is hampered by a noticeable amount of input lag. As a result, I never bothered to parry unless absolutely necessary; I just spammed the X button until there was no one else I had to look at.

It takes a lot of effort to make Light Cycles feel lame. Kudos to Tron: Catalyst.

So, if the combat ain’t good, and the story isn’t exactly interesting, I guess the salvation would have been the implementation of the franchise’s trademark Light Cycles, right? Wrong. I actually kept pushing on until I would reach a section completely focused on the bikes themselves, but those sections felt clunky, and absolutely frustrating in terms of their difficulty. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me. The only things that ended up feeling like “highlights” of sorts were the art direction, the time loop mechanic, and the sound department – the latter just being “good”, not exceptional.

I feel like Tron: Catalyst is a good looking game, but this camera angle doesn’t do it any favors.

Again, reiterating: it’s not that Tron: Catalyst is a disastrous game plagued by bugs, poor design choices, and technical hindrances. Nah. Technically-speaking, it’s all sorted out, and the presentation is, at least, quite good. The cycle rewind system is also a fantastic idea, reverting me back to the good old Majora’s Mask days. But it’s just a painfully boring game, as PLAYING it isn’t very interesting. You can put the blame on the crappy combat system, and the fact this is probably the least exciting Light Cycle implementation in any Tron game – nay, product in general, period. 

Tron: Catalyst is available now on PS5, Xbox Series S/X, PC and Switch.

Reviewed on Intel i7-12700H, 16GB RAM, RTX 3060 6GB and Asus ROG Ally.

A copy of Tron: Catalyst was provided by the publisher.