Tron: Catalyst Is a Neo-Noir Action Adventure Through Time-Looping Hitman Levels
Creative director Mike Bithell takes us on a Light Cycle ride through Tron: Catalyst, a surprise action-brawler sequel that lets you kick Identity Discs back at enemies and solve an apocalyptic mystery.
Posted 2 months ago
“So, this is Tron: Catalyst,” Mike Bithell announces to me in a booth hidden away at the back of the labyrinthine Koelnmesse hall. It’s a welcome introduction, as until that moment I had nothing more than a suspicion as to what I was going to see at a mystery Gamescom meeting. “It's an isometric action-adventure game, and it is basically built on the cool Tron story and all the Tron verbs. If there's a thing you think a character should do in Tron, we're trying to deliver for you in this game.”
Tron was one of the likely scenarios that had come to mind, but nothing like what I saw in the following hands-off demo. Bithell’s previous game with the Disney license, Tron: Identity, was a visual novel punctuated with puzzles – built from a blueprint his indie studio Bithell Games had refined over a series of “Shorts” while waiting for negotiations with another film franchise to close. Catalyst is quite a shocking evolution in every way.
“We're really excited that this is going to be, hopefully, surprising to the audience,” Bithell says. “We're excited that we started with something that was a visual novel, and now we've expanded it out into this action context. That was always part of the plan. We had to kind of keep that part of the plan a little secret, but it's been great. And it's really down to the audience and to the fans that we've been able to keep playing in this world, and we're having a great time.”
©Disney / Restart
Since 2023’s Identity – set 13 years after the events of the film Tron: Legacy – Bithell Games has been busy expanding out ways to interact with a world that Mike has been enamored with since childhood. The lens for Identity had you investigating an explosion in the Arq Grid, a backup server created by Kevin Flynn to hide ISOs from Clu 2, through conversations with programs that revealed a deeper conspiracy.
Catalyst continues that setting in the Arq Grid with a new protagonist, Exo, following in the footsteps of Identity's main character, Query. After an explosion gives Exo the mysterious ability to create time loops in the system, you must investigate an apocalyptic Glitch that threatens to destroy the entire server. Just as the stakes are higher, Catalyst amps up the immersion by giving you a whole arsenal of those cool Tron verbs to interact with the world through.
“I think for me, Tron, it's all about vibes,” says Bithell. “It's the music, it's the aesthetic, it's the energy of the space. I want to go there. I want to live in that world. I want to fight people in that world, I want to ride a Light Cycle, and that became the focus for us with Tron: Catalyst. With Tron: Identity, we introduced this world, we introduced these characters, but now we want to let you go there.”
Combat against hostile programs uses your iconic Identity Disc to frisbee off enemies, and when it bounces back you can time a kick to send it right back again. Your ranged frisbee attack is complemented by melee strikes like kicks, which actually power up your Disc throw, encouraging you to mix it up in battle. You can also parry incoming attacks to stun enemies, and unlock other combat abilities through skill tree upgrades using Data Shards.
©Disney / Bithell Games
“On the combat level, obviously you look at the movies, but we also were able to bring in our previous experience working with the John Wick game,” Bithell says, referencing the other movie franchise the studio adapted prior to Tron. “We definitely look at things like Hades. That informed camera angle definitely, and some of that combat.
"But ultimately it all comes back to Tron. It's about delivering that Tron fantasy, working out how to give you that Identity Disc and let you fight in the way that you've seen in the movies, and then extending that and seeing where we can go with that, and what specific ways we can make that interesting in a game context.”
You aren't locked into a combat arena, you can just leave if you want.
While traveling around the Arq Grid to understand the Glitch, Exo can jump on a Light Cycle and run down hostile programs with Disc-based combat. There’s even an animation while riding where you scrape your Identity Disc along the road to create sparks, just as Clu does while lining up a run at Sam during the Light Cycle fight in Tron: Legacy. The love for the franchise shines through self-evidently, but there are hints in the gameplay I saw of a grander vision rather than just fanservice.
Exo’s investigation into the Glitch necessitates breaching security on occasion, and the Arq Grid’s crumbling society has developed its own form of governance through crime bosses and underlords.
This functionally creates factions you’ll need to navigate past in order to continue your mission, either through force or subterfuge. A section of gameplay I saw involved Exo looking for some credential to imprint on their Identity Disc to avoid setting off a security alert at a checkpoint.
"We really wanted to pull in a bunch of our influences from things like Hitman, from roguelikes."
At first you don’t have it, and are forced to fight your way through, but after finding the certification in an inner office, Exo can make use of the time looping mechanic to reset to before starting a big ruckus and then simply stroll through the checkpoint with the right digital papers all in order.
It gives off a sort of immersive sim vibe, and the large levels offer several routes and side alleys to achieve your objective, bringing to mind other juggernauts of the genre.
Opportunities can be missed, but by restarting the loop you can find a way to catch them in time.
©Disney / Bithell Games
“We absolutely are making a single player campaign game that's focused on that action and that forward momentum," says Bithell. "But as a team we really wanted to pull in a bunch of our influences from things like Hitman, from roguelikes, doing recursive gameplay loops that support what you're doing and give you opportunities to adjust the world and your place in it.
“It keeps you focused on progressing forward through our story, but hopefully along the way you're getting a sense of that space you're investigating, you're learning and getting comfortable in that world.”
Time your kick right and you'll get a second hit with your cyberfrisbee.
After only a brief look at that world, Catalyst has exactly the right feel – as you might expect from a creative director so dedicated to the aesthetic. The music is provided by returning Tron: Identity composer Dan Le Sac, a squarewave-heavy producer who previously soundtracked Bithell’s Shorts – Subsurface Circular and Quarantine Circular – both sci-fi worlds already heavily inspired by Tron. And ever since one of the robots from Daft Punk blew up in the Mojave desert, Le Sac is probably the closest you’ll get to the sounds of Tron: Legacy. But the visuals are equally on point in selling the fantasy.
“We are massive sci-fi nerds,” Bithell admits, proudly. “We're massive fans of bloom and lighting. We're massive fans of computers, and robots, and AIs, and sci-fi world building, and that's all kind of come together in this game. It's been an absolute delight working with Disney and finding ways to pull all of that experience and knowledge and interest into a Tron game.”
Tron: Catalyst will be launching from Devolver Digital's newly announced, adaptation-focused label Big Fan sometime in 2025.
