Release Date: May 12, 2015
Set in a fairy tale-like world, Toren is an action game developed by Swordtales, an indie studio from Brazil. We play as a princess who was imprisoned in a tower, and our job is to escape. That task may not be as easy as one might think. We will have to face many obstacles, from platform elements to battles with various tough enemies. However, a flying dragon-like creature is our biggest opponent here. It tries to keep us inside the tower.
Toren is an action adventure game with a poetic fairy tale atmosphere to it. It was developed by Swordtales, an independent Brazilian development studio.
We assume the role of a young princess trapped inside a great tower. Our task is to help her escape that place of imprisonment. During the campaign, another tale of a lone knight travelling through a desert land to the very same tower is being told at the same time. The storyline revolves around a long poem and, by the means of gameplay, takes on such themes as searching for the meaning of life and the inexorable age of time.
As far as gameplay mechanics are concerned, Toren is a standard action adventure game, similar style-wise to ICO or The Legend of Zelda. During the game, we mostly explore and solve puzzles. There are also lots of arcade elements – getting to some places requires skills typically associated with platformer games. In the course of the campaign, we will be forced to fight every now and then, and since the princess isn’t a trained warrior, each combat encounter will pose a challenge.
The tower has its guardian, a fierce dragon, who constantly tries to stop the princess from escaping her prison. The beast ensures the everlasting feeling of immediate danger, and tries to slow our progress at every step. We can’t actually defeat him, and every time we manage to trick him, we only buy ourselves some additional time.
System Requirements for Toren Video Game:
PC / Windows
Minimum System Requirements:
Dual Core 2 GHz, 2 GB RAM, graphic card 256 MB GeForce 8600 GT or better, 3 GB HDD, Windows 7/8.
Recommended System Requirements:
Intel Core i5-750 2.6 GHz/AMD Phenom X4 955 3.2 GHz, 4 GB RAM, graphic card 1 GB GeForce GTX 480/Radeon HD 5870 or better, 3 GB HDD, Windows 7/8.1.
PlayStation 4
s:
PlayStation Network
Game Ratings for Toren Video Game.
Game Revolution: 4 / 5 by Gil Almogi
Regardless of my complaints, Toren still successfully brings home an intriguing experience, rife with beauty and intrigue. Its technical merits or lack thereof may frustrate some, but I feel no worse for wear. If you're looking for a short, colorful adventure to entertain you for a few hours, it's hard to go wrong here. Just watch your step.
Push Square: 4 / 10 by Graham Banas
Terrible textures aside, there's a beauty to Toren's art and audio direction that's worth beholding. The problem is that outside of these assets, Swordtales' two hour adventure falls short. A plethora of technical problems and uninteresting level design win out over the positive aspects, and this experience is below par as a consequence. Listen and look at it by all means – just try to avoid actually playing it.
Shacknews: 7 / 10 by Steven Wong
Toren is an experience that's worth at least one run. Then, it gets put up on a shelf like a nice book, where it ends up disappearing alongside the other novels.
Average score from votes.