Reaching “Toren’s” Peak – Is the End Really the End?

I know I noted before that Toren is a rather short game. In fact, in this brief two-part playthrough of the game it will have taken less than two hours to get through it all, though I suspect the average person will take 2 to 3 hours to finish it. Yet, once you’ve beaten the game and witnessed the ending, you will likely be left like I was, wondering whether we accomplished anything or not.

The game is very philosophical at heart. It’s a timeless story about the inevitability of time itself. The game talks about how time was frozen because of humanity’s hubris in building a tower to reach the heavens, and because of the Mage’s desire to summon the Moonchild to help defeat the great dragon. Was the Mage responsible for the looping of time and the decay of the world? And after the end, when we see the progression of human history, it appears that everything cycles back in on itself once more. Throughout the tower we see symbolisms such as the serpent devouring its own tail, and so it’s easy to interpret it as a permanent failing of humanity in many ways.

That’s the beauty of it though – you are able to interpret the events of the game however you wish, and most likely there isn’t a direct truth behind any of it.

In the end, Toren is a beautiful experience that sticks with you long after completing it, and so I have no qualms suggesting that it is a game worth your time.

The year is wrapping up and the holidays are already upon us. Still, that doesn’t mean I’m done producing new content as I do have a couple more things I want to get out there, but you can expect things to simmer down for a bit in the near future though!

Still, subscribe and spread the word and, as always, stay tuned!

Jessica Brown

Retro Games and Technology Editor. She'll beat pretty much every Mega Man game without breaking a sweat.