Toren brings poetry to life in an epic journey of growth, discovery and overcoming great hurdles. In Toren players guide Moonchild from birth to coming-of-age as she embarks on a dangerous journey of revelation and transformation. A distinct and unique art style, dark fantasy storytelling, innovative puzzles and beautiful soundtrack combine to make Toren a memorable gaming experience.
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I bought this on release, because the developers are from a country that doesn't make many games. They did a good job.
Toren sat in my steam library for quite a few years, but only got around to it this year.
It's a narrative game that's quite visually interesting & has a nice traversal integration the longer you progress in the story. Though even if its a brief and neat story the game is not without fault. Primarily the framerate even years later is still pretty bad - along with the fact that the gameplay in general is very shallow.
If wanting to play Toren I would recommend being able to stomach a narrative & setting being the carrying elements of the 2-3 hours experience in total. Because the other aspects of the game does not really stand out when compared to other narrative experiences.
It's a narrative game that's quite visually interesting & has a nice traversal integration the longer you progress in the story. Though even if its a brief and neat story the game is not without fault. Primarily the framerate even years later is still pretty bad - along with the fact that the gameplay in general is very shallow.
If wanting to play Toren I would recommend being able to stomach a narrative & setting being the carrying elements of the 2-3 hours experience in total. Because the other aspects of the game does not really stand out when compared to other narrative experiences.
Looks like a PS2 game and numerous glitches despite the short length.
Not very good but I appreciate the attempt.
I absolutely love short games that tell beautiful stories. A game that really doesn’t have much gameplay, but just enough to get the story and help you feel for the characters. Toren is one of those game, it has so much potential, but is extremely rough around the edges. There’s actually more negative than positive for this game, but for some reason, it’s worth a playthrough, simply for how the game is told and unfolds.
The game starts out pretty simple. You start as a baby girl who is waddling towards a sword. A pretty strong image in gaming when playing as a baby. It tends to be a sensitive subject, but Toren pulls it off just fine. After grabbing your sword you get segments of jumping puzzles and are faced with a dragon. This dragon sits in one spot and will shoot out waves of black that will freeze you. See the game is a little bit like Infinity Blade in a way. Failing is the only way to go forward (of course the failing bits are scripted). The girl will try to reach for something or solve something and the dragon will get her. She is reborn and thus can use her frozen body as a stepping stone or something to climb.
The whole point of the game is to climb this large tower called Toren to bring back the night. A dead man tells a story about a man named Solidor who tried the same thing and failed. It’s a little confusing in words and makes more sense in pictures and cutscenes. Between trying to fight off the dragon during, weak, puzzles, there are platforming segments that are set in strange dream-like areas that are just really great to look at. They aren’t tough, but this is where the flaws come in. The jumping mechanic is very floaty, there are a lot of collision detection issues, the sword fighting is barely waving your sword around aimlessly, and even controlling the girl can be a bit difficult as she feels like an ice cube walking around a frozen lake.
The visuals are even rough, while there are some nice lighting effects, the game has texture quality that is all over the place. The framerate is also everywhere, but anyone who enjoys the subtly of indie games will look past all this. The game can also be finished in one sitting; about 2 hours. While it lasted I enjoyed the game, it broke up the dragon fights with the platforming segments well, but the issues with the game make it more difficult than it needs to be.
With all that said, Toren is an interesting game with a beautiful story, but it is encased in a sloppy game with rough graphics and slippery controls.
The game starts out pretty simple. You start as a baby girl who is waddling towards a sword. A pretty strong image in gaming when playing as a baby. It tends to be a sensitive subject, but Toren pulls it off just fine. After grabbing your sword you get segments of jumping puzzles and are faced with a dragon. This dragon sits in one spot and will shoot out waves of black that will freeze you. See the game is a little bit like Infinity Blade in a way. Failing is the only way to go forward (of course the failing bits are scripted). The girl will try to reach for something or solve something and the dragon will get her. She is reborn and thus can use her frozen body as a stepping stone or something to climb.
The whole point of the game is to climb this large tower called Toren to bring back the night. A dead man tells a story about a man named Solidor who tried the same thing and failed. It’s a little confusing in words and makes more sense in pictures and cutscenes. Between trying to fight off the dragon during, weak, puzzles, there are platforming segments that are set in strange dream-like areas that are just really great to look at. They aren’t tough, but this is where the flaws come in. The jumping mechanic is very floaty, there are a lot of collision detection issues, the sword fighting is barely waving your sword around aimlessly, and even controlling the girl can be a bit difficult as she feels like an ice cube walking around a frozen lake.
The visuals are even rough, while there are some nice lighting effects, the game has texture quality that is all over the place. The framerate is also everywhere, but anyone who enjoys the subtly of indie games will look past all this. The game can also be finished in one sitting; about 2 hours. While it lasted I enjoyed the game, it broke up the dragon fights with the platforming segments well, but the issues with the game make it more difficult than it needs to be.
With all that said, Toren is an interesting game with a beautiful story, but it is encased in a sloppy game with rough graphics and slippery controls.
ICO clone but one that doesn't understand the appeal of the original, lacking the subtlety or simplicity.
Constantly interrupts it's own atmosphere with unnecessary UI prompts for how simple the mechanics are.
Poorly implemented story sequences that over explain everything with no room for interpretation but also are delivered through disconnected mini levels which ruin the sense of going on a single journey through a single location.
Lacks a character driven goal to connect to with Toren herself being void of any personality or actual progression aside from cosmetic.
The game-play itself at best is okay, although borrows many ideas and mechanics from ICO blatantly with ICO's final boss mechanic of blocking the wind being recycled all over the place, but it's brought down by the numerous technical issues with awful framerate and amateur art design.
Maybe a bit harsh toward a £2 game but the disappointing thing is that I do really like these type of experiences, with ICO being one of my favourites, so it's a shame to find out how shallow it is mechanically and negatively.
Constantly interrupts it's own atmosphere with unnecessary UI prompts for how simple the mechanics are.
Poorly implemented story sequences that over explain everything with no room for interpretation but also are delivered through disconnected mini levels which ruin the sense of going on a single journey through a single location.
Lacks a character driven goal to connect to with Toren herself being void of any personality or actual progression aside from cosmetic.
The game-play itself at best is okay, although borrows many ideas and mechanics from ICO blatantly with ICO's final boss mechanic of blocking the wind being recycled all over the place, but it's brought down by the numerous technical issues with awful framerate and amateur art design.
Maybe a bit harsh toward a £2 game but the disappointing thing is that I do really like these type of experiences, with ICO being one of my favourites, so it's a shame to find out how shallow it is mechanically and negatively.