Have you ever purchased a game, played it, and when you were finished thought “Wow, I have no words to describe this game.”? That was my initial reaction after having finished Toren for the first time. Make no mistake, that reaction wasn’t out of awe or wonder but rather sprang forth from bewilderment. Indie games have a reputation of being weird, strange, out of the ordinary and Toren certainly makes no exception of this general outlook. It took me two play throughs and a bit of research for me to gain an appreciation for Toren. With eyes now more open than before I can finally give Toren its due credit.

As Brazilian game developer Sword Tales’s first game, Toren neither pushes the limits of technology, gameplay, or genre. The gameplay is simple and has limited controls. You can run, jump, use items, and attack, but that’s where it ends. I also discovered too late that a controller was recommended for playing this game. After having played it first with a keyboard and then with a controller, I understand why. Often times when I was using a keyboard I would be pressing forward, the screen angle would change, and all of a sudden I’m walking backwards into the area I just left. I also had to rebind the controls for attack and use item as they were placed on something unusual such as Z and X, unfortunately I can’t remember what the original keys were. Both of these aspects made Toren very frustrating to play the first time through.

The limited gameplay available forces Toren to have a strong emphasis on story, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. However, my first play through gave me a very simplistic view of what Torens story was. Of the few characters there are, each one relies heavily on basic archetypes. You play as a girl climbing a tower which stretches far below and far above. We’re told men built this tower to embrace the moon and sun, but the sun cursed men for their arrogance. Now, the only one who can fix it is a young girl who must climb the tower and break the curse. You have your traditional archetype of a mentor who watches over you, giving advice, but cannot do your job himself. Meanwhile a mighty dragon hinders your path as it turns everything to stone with its breath. I ended up believing Toren to be very shallow. While the art style and setting was unique, the story felt like it had no depth.

Playing through the game a second time gave me a different impression. I realized that the archetypes were placed there on purpose by the developers to enhance the nature of what Toren is truly meant to be. Before anything else Toren is designed to be a fairytale following a specific theme of a person’s journey from childhood into adulthood. The game heavily relies on symbolism to tell its story to the player, which can be seen through numerous cut scenes. Although the graphics are a bit twitchy, the intent of the artist is not lost by any means. In short, Toren is the type of game your English and Art teachers would love to dissect if they ever played it.

Overall, I believe many of the problems Toren faces are due to the growing pains of a new company. With clunky controls and twitchy graphics, many players will find the game frustrating at best. If you do enjoy shorter games which lead you along a simple story, I suggest you pick Toren up on sale since the game is certainly not for everyone. That being said, I still do look forward to what Sword Tales puts forth next. I have strong hopes that they’ll have learned from the failures of Toren and will create a more polished and in depth game in the future.