Review: Toren (PS4)

Experience the mysterious, timeless world of Toren, the first adventure game from Brazilian indie developer Swordtales. You are Moonchild, destined to climb the tower (known as Toren) on a hauntingly solitary journey to find your purpose.

Pros:

• Wonderful hand drawn art style graphics. The art work for each character is just sublime with some jaw dropping landscapes.
• Soundtrack is that of a chilled almost sombre tone to it all.
• Game engine cut scenes for 90% of the game with a few pre rendered ones thrown in.
• Atmosphere in this is top drawer, Prevoking mystery and wonder as you interpret your own take on what is happening in game.
• The story is a weird one, You start off as a baby, Take your first steps as you then grow to a young child,teenager and then an adult. I dont want to say too much as you need to experience it yourself.
• Has a strong Ico, Papa and Yo, Brothers vibe about it. Its not the story but the way in which it is told.
• Has light combat sections, few puzzle elements and is more a platformer type of game play.
• 12 trophies to unlock.
• Easy trophy list for the most part.
• The game is an experience over an actual game.
• You can enter dreams and learn back story whilst evolving your self with knowledge and exploration.
• Fast loading game.
• Auto saves.
• Chapter select.
• Checkpoints.
• Simple control scheme.

Cons:

• Choppy framerate a lot of the time coupled with screen tearing.
• Camera is all over the place, It changes as you move along. You have some control of it but it doesn’t really help.
• The controls are weird as they feel sluggish and delayed. Pressing jump feels like it takes a good few seconds to action, Grabbing and climbing ledges takes ages.
• No guidance.
• Clipping through walls/floors and can cause needless deaths.
• Short game and can be done well under 3 hours.

In summary, This game is an awesome experience! Yes it has performance issues and out of whack controls but who cares. Its what the game gives you that makes it so good. It has you interpreting the story, Thinking about what you do and did, It transports you into a whole new world and you love it. Now I will be honest and say a few bits got me annoyed and the beginning is a bit slow, But stick with it and the game rewards you and then some. I am so glad I have experienced it and its one I would love to come back too. For the future I would love to see more content added or a new game exactly like this. Any game that has you forgetting your playing a game, Thinking about everything in the world is a winner and a welcome change of pace. In short, A flawed masterpiece that must be experienced.