Messofanego
Banned
Just finished this Toren game, as part of playing the thirdperson indie games that came out in 2015 (Toren, Submerged, Beyond Eyes, Dreamfall Chapters). Now coming away from it, think it is kind of underappreciated. Loved it.
Main criticisms would be production-wise mainly, it's just unpolished. Clipping, collision detection, floaty platforming, what little of the combat there is lacks much feedback. But I feel the lack of polish is excused considering like 30 people in total worked on the game (including composer, producers) and with the variety of visuals on offer here. On the level of Zeno Clash 2. Much like that game, also South American developers (Swordtales is Brazilian, ACE Team is Chilean) so props to seeing more games from that continent.
If those don't bother you so much, check it out for a really interesting coming-of-age dark fantasy experience. It's short but complete, around 3 hours. Perfect for one sitting. There is oodles of poeticism and surrealism involving ashen children, blood, seasons, and celestial bodies. Basically, men's ambition and arrogance has failed them, so a girl is the only one who can save it all while being guided by a mage, but her childhood will have to be sacrificed. Seasons and her age changes, as she makes a tree tower to the top. Celestial bodies get involved. Reminded me fondly of Tale of Princess Kaguya. There's only about 3 characters involved: a girl, a soldier, and a dragon. It's a pretty grim and lonely affair
when you realise it's a post-human world
If you're up for something more sombre from an action-adventure game in the vein of Team Ico with the dark surrealism of something like Alice Madness Returns, 70s psychedelia, and a cool female protagonist in a memorable tale, give it a shot. The music by Vinicius Kleinsorgen is memorably excellent. It's like $4/£3 right now on Steam (also on GOG and Humble). Worth it just for the visuals, mang.
