The third game, the average game, is a little more problematic. Neither impressive enough to be good, nor broken enough to be bad, these games seem content to revel in their mediocrity. These are the hardest games to write about. It’s like writing about a middling restaurant or an unremarkable movie: “Yeah, it was alright, I guess?” I mean, really, what else can you say?

" In Toren, you’ll play Moonchild, a young girl trapped inside a decaying tower. The tower, the titular Toren, was built by arrogant men in an attempt to seize great comic power. As you no doubt guessed, this doesn’t work out that well, and all of humanity is punished for the arrogance of the Toren’s architects."

Unfortunately, Toren falls into the last category. In Toren, you’ll play Moonchild, a young girl trapped inside a decaying tower. The tower, the titular Toren, was built by arrogant men in an attempt to seize great comic power. As you no doubt guessed, this doesn’t work out that well, and all of humanity is punished for the arrogance of the Toren’s architects. Mankind’s last hope is Moonchild, a young girl doomed to repeat an endless cycle of death and rebirth until she can scale the tower and slay the monstrous dragon that shares her prison.

What’s perhaps most interesting about Toren is the game’s take on the nature of time. Moonchild starts out as a toddler, but she ages as she climbs the tower, usually in conjunction with the Tree of Life, a symbolic tree she is given as a child by the tower’s only other resident – the Wizard. As the tree grows, so does Moonchild. The uncoordinated, bouncy movements she displays as a toddler gradually give way to grace, control, and poise as she ages. The sword that you acquire early on takes all of her effort to swing as a young girl, but moves with ease in the hands of the woman Moonchild eventually becomes.

Time isn’t a linear construct in Toren, however. When Moonchild dies, she leaves behind a stone statue that you’ll encounter when you return to the area later. It’s a cool idea with interesting implications, especially when you come into a particularly dangerous area for the first time and see dozens of statues there waiting for you. How long has this been going on? What, exactly, is resurrecting Moonchild? What is her relationship with the mysterious warrior the story keeps mentioning? How does the Wizard factor into all of this? And what’s the deal with that dragon, anyway?

"Toren’s story and setting, and how it explores them, are legitimately interesting. Unfortunately, it’s also a game that pushes story and theme at the expense of everything else, especially gameplay. Nothing about playing Toren really feels good."

Toren’s story does explain all of this, but you’ll have to do some digging if you want to hear all of it. This isn’t the kind of game that is going to sit you down and explain its plot in detail. The malleable nature of time means that Moonchild has lost many of her memories, so you’ll have to retrieve them by completing short, mostly optional “dreams” that will usually end with the Wizard explaining a bit more of the plot and offering some pseudo-deep philosophy on the nature of mankind. These are the best parts of the game, and fairly easy to miss, which can hinder your understanding of the plot. Still, everything more or less comes together in the end, as long as you’ve been paying attention.

Toren’s story and setting, and how it explores them, are legitimately interesting. Unfortunately, it’s also a game that pushes story and theme at the expense of everything else, especially gameplay. Nothing about playing Toren really feels good. The controls are clunky, especially when Moonchild is young, and don’t really become any better as the game progresses. Moonchild’s ability to jump is nebulous at best and seems to change depending where she’s jumping from. The camera also tends to get stuck in the environment at the worst possible times, and the best the game can do in terms of combat, even during boss fights, is have to have you dodge attacks that will instantly kill you before striking the enemy in question with all the force of a six-year-old hitting a professional wrestler with a wiffle bat.

The game makes up for the inconsistent gameplay by being almost insultingly easy. Everything, from the combat to the environmental challenges, can be conquered fairly quickly and without much thought, unless the game decides to deliberately waste your time, which it does frequently. One such instance requires you to navigate a maze positioned above an abyss. It’s pretty simple, but the issue is the environment is pitch black, and you have to wait for sporadic lightning strikes to illuminate the paths and puzzles. As you might imagine, the light only lasts for a few seconds, which means you won’t be able to get much done before you have to wait for the next bolt to strike.

"There’s certainly beauty here, and the game has quite a few flashes of something special. For every moment of striking art or good design, however, there’s something wrong with the game technically or in terms of its moment to moment gameplay."

The upside is that the game is pretty – or, at least, fairly pretty. There are some very noticeable low quality models and some low-res textures, but Torn makes up for this with a beautiful art style, striking color palette, and a detailed game world. You can tell a lot of care was put into the game’s art, despite the sometimes obviously low production values. Even the credits, which feature painted artwork, are worth your time for the visuals alone. This is complemented by a lovely soundtrack that really accentuates the game world and everything in it.

Toren’s not a long game; I finished it in a couple of hours, and ended up experiencing most of what it has to offer. Even with the brief runtime, I’m not particularly compelled to go back for seconds. There’s certainly beauty here, and the game has quite a few flashes of something special. For every moment of striking art or good design, however, there’s something wrong with the game technically or in terms of its moment to moment gameplay.

Ultimately, like Moonchild herself, Toren would have benefitted from a bit more time in the tower, exploring its own design and ideas before rushing to the top. There’s very few things that are more ironic than a game that plays with the notion of time feeling rushed.

This game was reviewed on the PC.

GamingBolt had a chance to speak to creative director Alessandro Martinello about the experience, primarily about the inspiration for the game (hint: it’s ICO) and what mechanics players can look forward to.

"co is one of the great inspirations of the project because of its minimalist character, which is perfect for an indie game. Other inspirations are The Legend of Zelda and the movies from Hayao Miyazaki."

Rashid K. Sayed: To begin with, can you tell us about yourself and the company you are working for?

Alessandro Martinello: I’m Alessandro Martinello, Creative Director of the team. Swordtales it’s an indie studio from southern Brazil.

Rashid K. Sayed: I can’t help but ask this question. ICO seems to be a big inspiration here. 

Alessandro Martinello: Yes, Ico is one of the great inspirations of the project because of its minimalist character, which is perfect for an indie game. Other inspirations are The Legend of Zelda and the movies from Hayao Miyazaki.

Rashid K. Sayed: So tell us about the main character and the story Toren tries to tell?

Alessandro Martinello: The main character is a girl trapped in a tower without knowing why. She is led in a journey of physical and spiritual growth as she progress through the tower towards the skies. You’ll learn more about her and the story as you play.

Rashid K. Sayed: One of the major challenges for an indie game is to tell an engaging story. What kind of challenges are you facing for the same in case of Toren?

Alessandro Martinello: The biggest challenge is to make natural history with the gameplay, try to mix the two things for the game not to lose fluidity it’s been very hard in this project. We’ve made a very unique story that engages with players in many different ways while still making the player feel connected to the main character.

Rashid K. Sayed: The main character does not seem to have any weapons or possess any skills or abilities or you guys haven’t revealed them yet. Can you talk about them?

Alessandro Martinello: The main differential of the game is that the main character will grow during the course of the game and it will change the mechanics, as well as the strength of the character. Along her journey, she can find weapons and items that will help her in change from a helpless child until she becomes a warrior.

"The environment is present forming obstacles, but it can also be used to get rid of enemies and assisting the player in boss fights, always involving a small problem to be solved."

Rashid K. Sayed: Is the game going to be divided into different levels or is it going to be a seamless adventure encouraging exploration?

Alessandro Martinello: The whole game is like one big dungeon, the best dungeon we could imagine. We encourage the exploration for the player who wants to uncover the great enigma about what this journey truly is.

Rashid K. Sayed: What can you tell us about the environmental puzzles?  Are they the player’s biggest enemies?

Alessandro Martinello: Moving forward is always challenging and engaging. The environment is present forming obstacles, but it can also be used to get rid of enemies and assisting the player in boss fights, always involving a small problem to be solved. Sometimes the best path to proceed doesn’t mean going forward.

Rashid K. Sayed: Do we have precise date on when it’s coming out on the PS4 and PC? Are you guys aiming for a simultaneous launch?

Alessandro Martinello: We want a simultaneous launch and we don’t have specific dates yet, but we’re full steam ahead.

Rashid K. Sayed: Roughly speaking, how long will the game last?

Alessandro Martinello: Depends on each player, the game was made ​​to have around four hours. We’ve had people take much longer depending on their choices and interactions with the world.

Rashid K. Sayed: Toren has been announced for the PC and PlayStation 4. Is there any reason why it’s not coming to the Xbox One?

Alessandro Martinello: The reason is that we had early access to the ps4 dev kit and this gave us the certainty that we will launch on Sony’s console. But we don’t exclude the possibility of release in other platforms.

Rashid K. Sayed: Is the game going to run at 1080p and 60fps on the PlayStation 4?

Alessandro Martinello: For sure!

"We expect to deliver more of these different and special games that as a player I need to wait years to play."

Rashid K. Sayed: The game has a beautiful art design and vistas. How are you pushing?

Alessandro Martinello: The game runs much faster than a regular PC, and we haven’t made changes to use all this power. We intend to use more realistic and detailed lighting on ps4, but our main goal is to guarantee the 60 fps performance.

Rashid K. Sayed: During the early PS3/Xbox 360 days there was no such thing as a resolution and frame rate debate. But now every game is gauged on 1080p and 60fps. What are your thoughts on this debate?

Alessandro Martinello: I think this is a genuine debate when deciding factor on the hardware you want to buy. But it doesn’t make sense when it’s a choice of a studio for its game can be more beautiful. Nowadays, I hope that all studios don’t need any more having to choose 720p for your game can have all the visuals that it wants to achieve.

Rashid K. Sayed: Are you using the PS4’s touch pad in anyway?

Alessandro Martinello: We are studying the possibility of using it in the menus, but I’m more interested in the output of independent sound that exists in control.

Rashid K. Sayed: Is there anything else you want to tell us before you leave?

Alessandro Martinello: We expect to deliver more of these different and special games that as a player I need to wait years to play. I hope there are even more games in that way. Thank you.

Swordtales’ Toren, a fantasy adventure game with a dark tone, may not be the biggest blockbuster out for the PS4 (along with PC and Mac) in 2015 but it’s stylings and overall atmosphere have certainly caught our attention. The question as always though is whether it isn’t heading to the Xbox One as well.

Speaking to creative director Alessandro Martinello, he stated that the lack of an Xbox One release was because, “We had early access to the PS4 dev kit and this gave us the certainty that we will launch on Sony’s console. But we don’t exclude the possibility of release in other platforms.”

As for the game’s art style, Martinello talked about the power of the PS4’s GPU in handling the game compared to your average PC. “The game runs much faster than a regular PC, and we haven’t made changes to use all this power. We intend to use more realistic and detailed lighting on PS4, but our main goal is to guarantee the 60 fps performance.”

Thoughts on Toren possibly hitting Xbox One as well? Let us know in the comments.

Swordtales is currently working on Toren, a puzzle platformer that will instantly remind you ICO and Shadow of the Colossus. The game uses the environment as a constant threat as the player finds himself against time and mortality.

GamingBolt recently got in touch with the game’s creative director Alessandro Martinello and were able to ask about his thoughts on the on going resolution and frame rate debate between the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

“I think this is a genuine debate and a deciding factor for which hardware you want to buy,” he said. “But it doesn’t make sense when it’s a choice of a studio when its game can be more beautiful. Nowadays, I hope that all studios don’t choose 720p because your game can have all the visuals that it wants to achieve.”

He also confirmed that Toren will be running at 1080p and 60fps on the PlayStation 4. Besides the PlayStation 4, the game will be coming to PC but will be skipping the Xbox One. For more on the game check out the gameplay video below.