[DISCLAIMER: There will be some small spoilers up ahead. Also, I was a beta tester for some of the boss fights when the game was in it's development stage. Also this is a re-post from the pc review,]
I really don't like scoring games over numbers, I feel this is a system that does not truly convey an interactive experience, nor I feel slicing a game on it's different systems is the way to[DISCLAIMER: There will be some small spoilers up ahead. Also, I was a beta tester for some of the boss fights when the game was in it's development stage. Also this is a re-post from the pc review,]
I really don't like scoring games over numbers, I feel this is a system that does not truly convey an interactive experience, nor I feel slicing a game on it's different systems is the way to truly say if a game is worth a look or not.
Rather, I like to look at the whole.
Toren is a game of simple mechanics. Perhaps 'subtle' is the word I am looking for, as in this is not a game defined by it's combo system Moonchild can do (despite having a sword at several points of the game and using it to actually hit and wound a Dragon), nor by the "salt the holy icons" moments the game have (which feel like a chore - both for us the players as well the character.)
I'd argue these little mechanics help tell the story.
You salt the holy symbols because it's a purification ritual.
You hide behind the statues because a terrible wind is blowing, and you do not want to fall down the platform.
The mechanics are there so you react and interact with the scenes and the story. Only when you confront the dragon there is a "fear", a "tension" that you might lose some short of progress (Well there are some platform/exploration that might end up resulting on your character death but those are uncommon).
So it's a game that doesn't want to train you or reward you for being awesome at platforms and most puzzles are basic - They often make sense in the logic of the world meaning they are really simple.
This leaves us with the center of Toren itself: It's story. It's message.
Once you actually know that it's a story is about the cycle of reincarnation as seen by some gnostic sects, all the symbolism makes sense.
All the concepts of the game match the mythos surrounding it, and the game ends with it beginning anew, as if you 'reincarnate' the experience to do all over again,
It's a game about learning 'truths' as seeing by said religious/cultural lens and navigating a beautiful world and having rituals that mark these learning experiences.
Which I guess makes Toren a "Narrative" game; A game where you do not play for it's sick jumping mechanics or kick ass sword combos, but by paying attention on it's muted and quiet story. Some reviews claim it's pretentious, yet all it does is take knowledge that exists outside the game and creating a symbolic experience for them.
If you wish to experience a story in which the gameplay helps convey some emotional moments for the experience, Toren is your jam. Take note it's a story that barely has any dialogues and it's marked by rituals. Trying to figure out said rituals was part of the fun for me, but your mileage may vary.
I truly feel even if you disagree with the game beliefs, seeing them executed in this form is interesting, unique even. I'd love to see more spiritual games like that being made, all sharing different point of views.
If anything I said here interested you, then take the game for a spin. It's cheap and in the short side length wise, you can beat it in about two hours and a half, perhaps more or less. But this game wasn't crafted to pad things up. It wishes to tell you a story, to show you a world, and then to give you the message that inspired the crafting of the story in the first place. And then it ends in a metaphor.… Expand
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