Review: The Charnel House Trilogy

What do you get when you cross a surreal, nightmarish, Poe-like story with Jim Sterling’s soft yet creepy voice? You get the Charnel House Trilogy of point & click adventure games.

Genre(s): Adventure (Point & Click)

Developer: Owl Cave

Publisher: Mastertronic

Release Date: April 2015

Played: Main Story (3 Episodes)

Platforms: PC

Purchase At: Steam

Good:

  • Fabulous characterisation.

  • Phenomenal gothic horror.

  • Strong sound design.

Bad:

  • Too short, feels like a prologue.

  • Shallow gameplay.

Review

I heard of the Charnel House Trilogy from one of its voice actors, Jim Sterling, one of the video game critics I follow. I purchased the game during a very good sale and only recently got to play it.

It’s difficult to say what the Charnel House Trilogy’s plot is. It’s a grim story of loss, and obsession. It’s about pain and how difficult it is to let go and just how easy it’s to spiral when dealing with these emotions. But there’s also something sinister about it all, about the old train the characters are travelling on and its passengers. At times, it feels like a nightmare—or hell. There is a lot going on that we don’t know and ultimately don’t find out, as the trilogy is just the prologue to a larger story.

Scratching out the ex...seems right!
Scratching out the ex…seems right!

Let’s take it from the start. Alex Davenport is preparing to take a trip to Augur Peak Island, where her friend Kat, an archaeologist’s assistant, is working on some ruins. Alex is still recovering from a messy breakup, and wants to take the trip to find herself. But before she can leave she needs to get the train tickets. Thankfully, Rob, her neighbour, a mild-mannered man and close confidant, has the tickets and brings them over and offers to be there is Alex needs to talk. After he leaves and before Alex does so as well, she receives a call from the hospital. Her father just died. Alex walks to the nearest window and says goodbye, if you can call it that, before picking up her bags and walking out.

At the station she meets Dr. Harold Lang, an archaeologist heading to the same destination. To help with his boredom Alex gives him her first edition copy of the Charnel House Burial, a pulp horror novel by Louis Cassel, a writer from the same island, Augur Peak.

Everyone grieves in their own way, Alex goes Noir!
Everyone grieves in their own way, Alex goes Noir!

They board the train and that’s where the first episode ends, the other two dealing with the strange experiences they each have on board of old Gloria. I won’t talk about them as I wouldn’t want to ruin the experience.

What I will say is that the Trilogy ends with the promise of a future game that will continue where this one left off, making this a very short prologue to perhaps a greater experience. Having said so, the storytelling for the three episodes is phenomenal and when it gets creepy, it does so brilliantly. I was shivering at times with the Charnel House Trilogy, especially during the second and third episodes.

For such a short game I wouldn’t have expected deep characterisation, yet Alex surprised me with how well-rounded a character she is. She’s experienced loss, and at the start feels it again, yet she marches head on with her plans and faces every situation, even if they turn weird, creepy or downright scary, especially at the end of episode 3, when her neighbour makes another appearance. She understands what’s going better than most, and accepts the the situation. I loved her as a character.

Harold Lang on the other hand is just as good though he doesn’t so much face the situations and persevere as descend in a spiral of despair. And through conversations with the bartender, Floyd, you can tell there’s a past there with alcoholism and a partner. I would’ve liked to know more about him but I feel I learned a lot in the short time I was with him.

And perhaps that is the greatest accomplishment for The Charnel House Trilogy, how it makes you care and empathise with characters you’ve met for only a few minutes and whom you won’t likely see ever again. It draws you in and makes you part of the story, and in doing so offers a rich gothic horror experience.

Best line in the game!
Best line in the game!

Gameplay is shallow, the pointing and clicking just there to see and go from point A to point B. There are a few puzzles but they’re few, far in between and quite simple. There’s really no depth to them, but they serve as pauses in the horror storytelling. It’s clear they’re not the focus of the game, as the title seems more akin to a visual novel than an adventure game. Storytelling’s the most important thing here.

In terms of visuals, it’s another Adventure Game Studio title, with the pixelated sprite style I’ve come to call Wadjet Style. They look good but I always feel they stand in contrast of the beautiful environments, and I don’t mean that in a bad way. The character portraits are also fantastic and rich and colourful.

There's some darkness in Harold's past it seems!
There’s some darkness in Harold’s past it seems!

Sound design is one thing I love about The Charnel House Trilogy. There are of course melodies, but they’re somewhat subdued, adding just enough mood to the experience, but letting the situations themselves carry the shock and horror. The one thing that stands out is the occasional dissonant tone in the background, a grating yet eerie sound that keeps you on edge as things escalate. It’s a fantastic use of sound to help the horror. Voice acting is superb and I have to say Jim Sterling did a really good job as Rob, being both thoughtful and mild-mannered and downright creepy by the end of the game—as I expected him to be right from the start!

That is one slow-booting PC!
Where it all begins, Alex’s flat!
Jim Fucking Sterling Son being his creepy self!
You’re right about that!
Love the environments
Never give away first editon copies of anything!
The three short episodes in this adventure

Conclusion

The Charnel House Trilogy might be short, and it’s really short but it’s undoubtedly one of the finest point & click gothic horror experiences in the world. I just wish we’d had the entire story and not just this prologue.

TMA SCORE:

4/5 – Exceptional

Review: Ys VI – The Ark of Napishtim

Adol Christin does in Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim what he does best: shipwreck, wash ashore on a strange land, befriend the population and proceed to kick ass, take names and make every woman in a ten-mile radius fall in love with him.

Genre(s): Action RPG

Developer: Nihon Falcom

Publisher: XSeed Games

Release Date: April 2015

Played: Main Story (Hard)

Platforms: PC

Purchase At: Steam, GoG

Good:

  • Addictive fast combat.

  • Amazing music.

  • Beautiful environments.

Bad:

  • Weak story.

  • Excessive grinding.

  • Endless exposition.

Review

Much like every other of his adventures, Ys VI opens with Adol washing up on a beach after the pirate ship he was on capsizes in the endless maelstrom surrounding the Canaan Archipelago. The local big-eared, tailed Rehda people, in particular the paled skin sisters Ohla and Isha, pick him up and tend to him until he recovers. The chief then politely asks him to leave due to the bad relationship between the tribe and the Eresians—what they call people like Adol, from beyond the vortex. On his way out, he accidentally scares Isha and but catches up just in time to save her from a Walking Calamity, a massive scaled monster and the game’s first boss. But even though he temporarily defeats it, he can’t kill the monster and his sword breaks. Thankfully, Olha intervenes and kills the creature with an Emelas arrow. The villagers, and the chief in particular, are impressed that Adol managed to fight it off with a steel weapon, claiming only Emelas can penetrate their hard shells. Before Adol departs, the chief hands him Livart, a Blue Emelas sword and one of the Rehda’s treasures, asking that Adol do his best to find their missing relic, the Mirror of Zemeth. That when the adventure really starts.

Character portraits are beautiful!
Character portraits are beautiful!

The plot of Ys VI isn’t the deepest of stories, even though the game throws ancient civilisations, monsters, world powers, fleets and hidden mysteries at you. The story revolves around the eponymous ark, an ancient artefact capable of destroying the world and the brothers looking for it, one to control it and gain the power of the ancient winged civilisation and the other trying to stop him, but catching everyone else in their feud. It’s also the first title in the series to fully explore the origins of the Eldeen civilisation from which the winged people come from, which are central to the series’ plot—and most of the world building. As with every other Nihon Falcom title, Ys VI is quite verbose and every cutscene has extremely long conversations that delve into somewhat repetitive exposition. You’ll hear the same plot points from different characters until you can pretty much recite the plot. Having said so, there are Emelas tables that hold tons of lore and some of the game’s backstory and are optional, as they’re items hidden in chests around the world. There is practically no characterisation, no evolution in the protagonist or any of the secondary character. Adol is mostly silent though the game does tell you when he explains something or introduces himself, and he never voices his opinion on anything. The rest of the cast is a collection of tropes and certain clichés, which is standard fare for Ys to be honest.

This cyclone will give Link's spin attack whirlwind-envy!
This cyclone will give Link’s spin attack whirlwind-envy!

Ys VI gameplay will be familiar to those who played Ys: The Oath in Felghana and Ys: Origin—though not many will know that those games were developed after the original 2003 release of Ys VI. You control Adol from an isometric perspective, and you’ll attack, use powerups, items and hack away at your enemies. Combat in Ys is fast paced and you’ll be constantly on the move, be it jumping for highly-damaging downward stabs at enemies or to reach airborne ones or simply to get out of the way of attacks. Once you have your Emelas swords each of them varies the ground combo a bit, with the blue one adding fast attacks and a cyclone at the end, the red one having a ‘charge-shot’ ability for each strike to increase its power and the yellow one giving you a dash at the end of the attack sequence. You can temper the swords in town, using the Emel you collect from fallen enemies to empower the weapons. Each level increases its damage but also unlocks its special powers, such as the combo modifiers I mentioned and the ‘finisher’. When using the swords, a gauge slowly fills for each of them. Pressing the right button when it’s fully charged unleashes a powerful attack, a hurricane for the blue sword, a wave of fire from the red and a chained lightning from the yellow. These abilities and the speed at which the gauge fills improve with every new level.

Shields and Armour go a long way towards keeping you alive!
Shields and Armour go a long way towards keeping you alive!

The sword tempering, however, is also Ys VI’s greatest flaw. In previous titles, you might have had to grind to improve your damage on enemies as being considerably under-leveled made it impossible to even damage them. In this title enemy toughness against your attacks depends on both your character level and that of your weapons. A high-level character with a low-level weapon will sometimes deal less damage than a lower level character with a higher-level weapon. The real problem comes from the availability of Emel crystals as drop rates depend exclusively on the enemies. Some drop them quite frequently while others don’t at all. It can get very tedious to grind Emel, especially with the increasing amounts needed to further temper the blades. The problem is aggravated the higher the difficulty level. Playing on hard I had to make sure to raise my character level by at least 5 and he weapons by 1 or 2 in each area or the boss would simply wreck me. By the end, in hard, if you don’t have your swords maxed out and are level 50, the last set of bosses become impossible to finish. On the upside, both leveling Adol and the weapons feel significant. A single level can be the difference between dealing 1 point of damage to a boss and dealing 20. Each enemy has a ‘level’ threshold you must meet and once you do or overcome it, you can dish out plenty of damage with your assaults.

See the tiny crystal on the ground? That's Emel, what you'll be grinding for a while!
See the tiny crystal on the ground? That’s Emel, what you’ll be grinding for a while!

Aside from the three weapons and as with every other Ys title, you’ll have your armor, shield and accessory slots. But where Napishtim departs from the rest of the series is by giving you accessory expansions, allowing you to equip up to five of them at the same time once you’ve found them all. The other major difference and a blessing is the ability to equip an item to use in combat. You can normally go into your inventory and use items to heal unless you’re in a boss encounter, in which case you can’t. In towns, you can buy healing items and equipment, but once you’ve got those you’ll only ever use gold to restock on healing items. And even so, you’ll end up with thousands of worthless and unusable money. I would’ve loved a way to exchange gold for emel with certain merchants.

For the rerelease on Steam, XSeed games added the Catastrophe mode, which brings the game to the Ys: Origin and Oath in Felghana standards of no usable recuperative items. It significantly increases the game’s difficulty and forces you to play even smarter than before. Learning enemy and boss patterns becomes instrumental in this mode as even on the hardest difficulties the items can save you from a bad moment. Ys VI introduced us to the visuals I came to love in Felghana and Origin and which always reminded me of one of the first MMOs I ever played: Ragnarok Online. Characters are 2D sprites, somewhat stubby compared to their beautifully drawn portraits. The environments on the other hand are gorgeous to look at, and the combination of 2D sprites in 3D environments just works wonderfully. Having said so, some of the locations in the Ys VI are a bit dull, too many dank and bland caves. The Ruins of Lost Time—originally called Ruins of Amnesia—have amazing open spaces and colossal statues but they lack colour and impact and become rather dreary.

I wish these ruins were a bit snazzier!
I wish these ruins were a bit snazzier!

Ys games have always had amazing music and Napishtim is just as amazing in that category. The music in each zone helps the atmosphere. The theme for Quattera Island, where the game begins and where the Redha tribe live, is nice melody that evokes a sense of peace but also the potential for adventure, to discover new things and meet new people. Port Rimorge, the human settlement, has a tune akin to the quest hub town music from other RPGs, and it fits as it’s the closest Ys VI has to one such town. Boss fight music on the other hand is always a badass orchestral rock, with lots of guitar and always fast paced, keeping you pumped while you fight.

By the end you can use up to five accessories.
One of the optional Emelas tablets.
Normal attacks with the last sword send you into a dash!
The fire sword has this amazing wave attack.
Armors give you a big boost in defence.
Weapon levels are extremely important!
This downward stab is a staple in these games! It stun-locks and damages!
What’s that in the creepy tube?
Now how’s this handsome fellow?
You gotta whack these doors to open them!

Conclusion

It’s sometimes easy to forget that Ys VI was the first to deliver the now polished gameplay of Felghana and Origin. It’s extremely fun and addictive but part of the joy evaporates when you have to grind for levels and emel. The plot isn’t really deep but it does offer some interesting insight into the overall Ys lore.

TMA SCORE:

3/5 – Alright

The Weekly Puzzle – Green Truth

Puzzles are at the core of Adventure gameplay, they provide challenges for you to overcome with brains rather than brawn. For Action Adventures, they offer a break from the hacky-slashy-stabby-shooty element of title.

Every week I’ll bring you a new puzzle, drawn from some of the best and worst adventure or puzzle games I’ve ever played. Every two weeks I’ll even leave you one of my own for you to solve. If you do, I’ll find a way to reward you!

Last week I left a nice riddle, and someone solved it! The answer was Eclipse.

For this week’s puzzle I’ll go to a game many of you won’t have played but I enjoyed and even reviewed last year: Dracula 3 – The Path of the Dragon. In this game, you pay as Father Arno, a catholic priest sent to Romania to investigate a candidate for sainthood, a local doctor in a small village.

The puzzle you find in Budapest, in the library of Irina Boczow, the foremost expert on vampire lore, as Arno is trying to find the origins of the mysterious Path of the Dragon Vlad Dracula supposedly went through to become a vampire. At least according to folklore.

Dracula 3
(Image Credit: Moby Games) Irina’s office makes me jealous!

For this puzzle, you need to open a box with locker like dials, each with a different letter. To find the keyword you need to solve a riddle:

If you wish to contemplate a hidden, terrible and cruel beauty, yet admirable to the sight, know that the green truth may be read in a circle which you will follow in the right direction…

On top of the box is a page from a medieval book, complete with coloured letters. To solve the puzzle you need to draw a circle that hits just the right letters, so you may find the word needed to open the box.

Can you find the Green Truth?
(Image Credit: AdventureGameFan8) Can you find the Green Truth?

When I first bought the Dracula Trilogy bundle on GoG.com I didn’t know they were first person adventures like Myst. I didn’t really like that type of adventure. But Dracula 3 made me a fan and with this puzzle it showed me just how creative the designers were. There are many possible letters you can combine but only one circle gives you the answer. Even figuring out what you need to do to get those letters can take some thinking as there’s no obvious hint of what you should use. Of all the puzzles in this game this is the one I remember the most as I spent a while looking for the answer, running around the rooms trying to find a solution before deciding I had to think it through on my own. I thought there would be more clues but I had already been told everything I needed.

I just needed to put the noggin to work. Some say the best adventure game puzzles are those hard ones that lead to a “Eureka!” moment when you figure it out, and this puzzle was it for me!

If you haven’t played Dracula 3: Path of the Dragon, you should do so at once. It has nothing to do with Dracula 1 & 2, so you can skip those. They’re terrible anyway. If you have, tell me about your favourite puzzle!

Classic Play – Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness

So it’s come to this…time to play the bad ones.

It’s no secret that I hate this game and Chronicles. They are the worst Core Design ever came up with for the Tomb Raider franchise. I hated every second of this game and its inane mechanics, especially the ‘power-up’ thing where Lara needs to perform certain actions to become stronger and be capable of climbing further and such. I remember web comics mocking this years ago, much like I did.

Recently I completed my Legend–Anniversary–Underworld Trilogy Classic Play run, and some people voted that I should play the ones I hate. So to prove that your votes matter, I will suffer through the indignity that is The Angel of Darkness.

For this run I’m trying a new format, just a commentary at the start and end of the video, but leaving the middle of it free of my lovely voice. Let me know in the comments if you prefer it this way or you’d like me to talk all the way through the videos.

As always, before the videos you’ll find a couple of polls. Vote and let me know how you want me to play future TR games and which games to pick for the next Classic Play series. I’ll be updating this post as I record more episodes so keep an eye out in the coming weeks!

Part I – Police Escape!

Part II – Faffing about in Paris!

Part III – Crappy Cat Burglar!

Review: Crystal Deception

An alien conspiracy, a kidnapping threat, a space fleet Captain, her spy ex-boyfriend, a Crystal scientist and the most powerful AI ever created are just some of the things you’ll find in Crystal Deception. Continue reading Review: Crystal Deception

Indie Dublin: One Game a Month and DubLUDO

Last week I published the interview I did with Colm Larkin from Gambrinous. We met at the One Game a Month (aka 1GAM) meetup they hosted at Against the Grain in Dublin, a lovely pub.

The meetup started three years ago and each month has a theme, like many other game jams, but the event is relaxed and casual, the theme only there if you can’t come up with anything else. “If you have an idea for a game, then just do that, the theme is just there to help.” Colm mentioned. He sees 1Gam as an opportunity to meet new talent and catch up with friends. And that was the vibe I go from it all, these were old and new friends, sharing drinks, food and a good laugh over their ideas. There were developers, designers, artists, composers and some writers.

For this jam the theme was depth, but the games were an eclectic sort, reflecting the creative freedom One Game a Month is all about. One of them was a procedural music game. In another you controlled a quicksilver shaft across a road, avoiding giant spheres and other obstacles and another involved digging and shaping a landscape to merge spheres together. There was even a point & click adventure game, developed with a new set of tools for Unity that allow drag & drop game development.

But while other game jams focus on the competition and a winner, One Game a Month, as I previously mentioned, is more about the community. The devs there were just as interested in showing their game to the attendants as they were of sharing a good pint, a nice story and a good joke with everyone else. It was a terrific and relaxed environment and one that I feel is great for new developers. There isn’t any pressure to deliver, just enjoy your time there.

Sons of Sol looks cool already!
Sons of Sol looks cool already!

Last Thursday I went to another Dublin indie event at Colm’s suggestion, DubLUDO. Compared to 1Gam, Colm described this as a more official meet, for more professional indie developers. And if the quality of the products on show is anything to go by, he was spot on.

Owen Harris started DubLUDO two years ago with the goal of creating a space dedicated to quality. Not for marketing and sale, but for indie devs to show what they were working on and could receive honest feedback on how their game played. He told me it came to him after spending years going to evens and only hearing chats about marketing and sales, but none on polishing a game until it worked.

As it is now, DubLUDO is a more casual event where the different developers can meet and catch up and work with each other, but Owen aims for it to become that collaborative quality-focused space he envisioned.

As I arrived at the event in the Odessa Club, Owen took the mic for a speech and revealed the meaning behind the differently coloured tags everyone wore (and which confused me on arrival). Whoever had a blue tag was someone offering their services to indie developers, be it coding, art, music, etc. And those with green tags were looking for help. It might seem silly to you but I felt it was a big step in the direction of Owen’s ambition for the event. The moment he put the mic down, I saw a group of people with green and blue tags huddle together and exchange business cards and speak of their different projects. It worked, it got people to talk and hopefully collaborate on building great games and I tip my hat to Owen and co-organiser, wife and Larian Studios writer Char for the brilliant idea.

As for the games, the ones I tried hooked me instantly. Sons of Sol: Crow’s Nest is an interesting SHMUP. Your ship is part of a squad protecting a vessel through an asteroid belt. You need to destroy the giant incoming space rocks and fight off enemy fighters. Sounds straightforward so far but what makes it unique for me is that there are proper Newtonian physics at work. Thrust will generate momentum in whatever direction you’re facing, and if you want to move in the opposite direction, you’ll first have to come to a stop by using your thruster in the opposite direction and fight the current directional speed. It makes maneuvering in the asteroid field extremely challenging but also quite rewarding when you pull it off. The game is on pre-Alpha, but developer Kevin Murphy—a dude with a cool name—plans to hit kickstarter next year once he’s progressed enough. He’s currently on the lookout for a pixel artist, so if you’re interested, let me know and I’ll get you together!

F-Drum is pretty awesome!
F-Drum is pretty awesome!

Ballistic started out as “The Paddle Game,” before Andrew Carass decided to give it a proper name. I only had a few minutes to play it but it struck me as a wonderful party game. Each player takes control of a coloured paddle in a multicoloured-walled cage. There are light balls bouncing around the room, and you need to intercept them with your paddle to change their colour and that of the walls they hit. But with the balls coming from multiple angles, you need to turn your paddle to face them or they destroy you, forcing you to respawn and waste time and possibly lose the walls you had already claimed. It’s fast-paced, engaging and extremely fun! The game is Andrew’s final project for university and he has plans on taking it further, hoping Steam or Xbox Live and PSN.

The Umbrella Game is a project by Stephen Larkin and Peter Cantwell, two of Owen’s students. It’s an umbrella-flying simulator. As the name implies you control an umbrella and you float, glide and pivot to move through the environment. What I played was a proof of concept demo, but the guys assured me they had a lot more planned. And to keep with the feedback and quality focus of DubLUDO, they grilled me for honest feedback on what worked and what didn’t and I obliged.

F-Drum Masta is Esteban Moreno’s graduation project. It’s a visually simple game but it’s extremely fun and complex. It’s a rhythm game, like Rock Band or Guitar Hero, but instead of playing on a guitar or similar instrument, you press button on a small number-pad-like controller. Each button has a color and it matches one on screen. As the notes scroll towards a black & white bar on the edge of the screen you need to press the buttons on time to keep the music going. It sounds simple but with 9 possible buttons to press, it takes precision and coordination, and I don’t have much of that to be honest. Still, I managed to clear the intro level and Esteban congratulated me for being the only one to finish it that evening. Then again, I only had one pint of Guinness in me while the rest had about triple that amount by the time I arrived, so maybe being sober is the way to go.

As I’ll be living in Dublin now, I think I’ll go to more of these events and see what new stuff the Irish indie community comes up with and to keep an eye out on the progress on some of these titles I’ve seen.

I’d like to thank Colm Larkin once more for inviting me to both events!

Review: Toren

During Rezzed 2015 I played a few minutes of the Toren demo and since then I’ve had my eye on the title. I finally got my hands on it, read on to find out what I think about it!

Genre(s): Adventure (Point & Click)

Developer: Swordtales

Publisher: Versus Evil

Release Date: April 2015

Played: Main Story (3 playthroughs)

Platforms: PC, PS4.

Purchase At: Steam, GoG, Green Man Gaming

Good:

  • Wonderful story.

  • Surreal setting.

  • Outstanding music.

Bad:

  • Unpolished protagonist model.

  • Repetitive dream sequence mechanics.

  • Too short.

Review

Toren, developed by Brazilian studio Swordtales and published by Versus Evil, puts you in the bare feet of the Moonchild, seeking to reclaim her memories, her sword and make it to the top of the eponymous tower to confront her greatest enemy, the Dragon, guided only by the ancient Mage, a figure who speaks in riddles and takes her on dream journeys to help her grow.

When I say grow I mean it literally. After a prologue in which the character seemingly dies, she reverts to a small baby, crawling on the floor and later taking her first steps. After waddling a bit she falls unconscious and wakes up a young girl. This is where the adventure truly starts, at the bottom of the tower. The Mage instructs us to push forward and reclaim our memories and sword, but to do so we must plant a seedling and help it grow in any way we can.

The main screen is amazing, and it shifts depending on your progress!
The main screen is amazing, and it shifts depending on your progress!

Toren’s plot is a Sun and Moon myth mixed with hints of the Tower of Babel (or some similar story). Exposition comes in fragments, sporadic and often cryptic, though the backstory of the Mage’s tower, how he ripped the Moon from the heavens and put it in a child’s body, and the Sun’s knight are at the core of game’s premise. Completing tasks in each dream journey gives you another message from the Mage, an advice, a warning or a bit of storytelling as well as aging the Moonchild a bit more until she eventually regains her former self. In the real world there are small fragments of lore, but they’re very few and very far in between, such as the one with the telescope that gives you fragments of Solidor’s story. Finally, when you die, it triggers a vision in which the mysterious horned sorcerer imparts his wisdom on you.

The plot itself is very simple and quite straightforward, but both the nature of the story or myth and the way it’s told open it to perhaps multiple interpretations, especially on what it all represents. You can see it as a Sun & Moon myth with some lessons on mortal hubris—the Mage—or you can see it as the journey of life, how everything seems a dream and we stumble and fall and learn from our mistakes. You can also see it as the constant struggle to defy fate, to impose our will on the world. Or you could even look at it as Light versus Dark, Good versus Evil—no pun intended on the publisher. The great thing about this kind of story is that everyone will find different things in the same plot, different lessons, which is the point of a myth in the end.

Dragon 1 - Moonchild 0
Dragon 1 – Moonchild 0

When you first launch Toren it recommends playing with a controller, but I played it with my keyboard & mouse (yes, I’m a rebel!), and the controls are extremely simple with only three buttons: jump, interact and look. The latter is available at all times, to look at important details in the tower but you’ll rarely need it. Interaction can be anything from moving a pillar or clinging to one in a strong breeze to attacking with the sword.

Jumps feel odd in Toren. There is no weight to them. The character leaps as though she were on low gravity and I often found jumping was faster than walking, especially considering you don’t need a running start. With the way they work it’s sometimes difficult to measure jumps and I often overshot the distance and fell down the tower. There’s also some issues with the controls, as I often found myself mashing the jump button but still the character fell of an edge.

Moonchild in awe!
Moonchild in awe!

Swordplay is clumsy, but as you control a girl with an oversized sword, I don’t mind it. Combat itself, however, is pointless except when fighting the Dragon. The few enemies you face you don’t even need to kill as jumping makes you somehow invincible to their attacks. If they do manage to latch on to you, a small round of button mashing (or furious mouse clicking for me) will take them off you. You don’t have any health to speak off so an enemy clinging to you is more an annoyance than a hazard.

I wish the dream sequences had varied game mechanics, as it would’ve helped the surreal and highly conceptual presentation. But instead, they all boil down to these three steps: trace symbols on the ground with salt, do some platforming and listen to what the Mage says. The salt pouring in particular gets old very quick because the character moves at a snail’s pace while performing the action. Only the first dream sequence offers a nice change of pace with some underwater platforming. It’s not a big change, but the physics work differently enough to make it refreshing.

Overall, the game lacks challenge. Only the dragon provides a hazard…sometimes. If you do die, you’ll respawn at the nearest checkpoint and get to go again, no penalty or anything. At one point in the game, in a dream sequence, you need to die on purpose to the Dragon’s petrifying breath and respawn to make use of yourself as a pillar to avoid the beast’s attack. I found that a novel idea, each death helping you overcome the challenge, but you only see it used that one time. Some checkpoints are considerably far away from where you’re likely to die, making the trek back a tad annoying.

Movement is one of my greatest gripes with the game, not just jumping. This game loves to put you in forced walking segments. What I mean by this is that you might be running (and as she ages, the Moonchild runs faster) but then reach a scripted walking segment and things will slow down to a crawl and it hurts the game’s pacing and drops the fun-value considerably. You know a mechanic is annoying when you sigh and say “not this again.”

The tower is surreal, rock and metal coexisting with grass and a growing tree. It looks amazing. Sadly, the Moonchild’s models don’t have the same level of polish. Her hair is stiff and moves like a thick rope. Worse still, the character’s body will often poke through the clothes. The character also looks extremely stiff in cutscenes. One example is right at the start, the room with the well, the character looks in awe at the structure and looks like a doll with its mouth open instead of an amazed girl. The expression doesn’t feel natural.

The rest of the limited cast, including enemies, look very good. I particularly liked the druid-ish look of the Mage–though he too is as stiff as the Moonchild–and the amazing cape Solidor wears. The Dragon is especially good, as even if it looks like a dark World of Warcraft Faerie Dragon, it’s convincing and intimidating. The way its breath petrifies things and spreads like darkness is really cool.

The Mage imparting his wisdom!
The Mage imparting his wisdom!

The music is perhaps the best part of the entire game. There are calming melodies, some more mysterious, the prerequisite action tunes and some with chants and other wonderful vocals, and they all have a tribal vibe to it that matches perfectly with the game’s style and plot. I particularly love the ending theme, which plays during the credits. It’s perhaps the most memorable song in the entire game. Voice acting beyond the Mage is nonexistent and the man speaks in a made up language (I think) so it’s difficult to judge how good or bad the acting is. What I can judge is that the voice acting for this character will often cut out mid-sentence and sometimes the environmental sound effects will drown out his voice.

Toren isn’t a long game. I finished my first playthrough in one 3 hour sitting. But, as I finished it, I saw a cutscene where the Mage speaks of “changing fate” while showing I still hadn’t found all dream sequences. At any point in the game, you can take a look at the Papyrus in the game menu to read up on previous ‘conversations’ and you can also take a look at the Tree of Life, a diagram showing you eight possible dream sequences. I’ve found four or five, and I’ve played through the game three times. So while the game is short, the search for all the sequences keep you playing–unless you find them all in one go, in which case that’s all you’re getting out of Toren.

At your mercy!
Grab hold of something!
Dragon Shield, not fair! Love the clash effect!
Under da sea!!
“In my world your dress is crimson, in your dreams it’s white.”
They grow up so fast!
The Abyss is creepy!
One of the many visions!
Keep a flame lit or you’ll freeze. Love the defrost effect on the tree!
Just plant your sword and hold on!
The haze on the edges of the screen help sell the dream sequences!
Moonchild in awe!
Dragon vs Moonchild. Round 1, FIGHT!

Conclusion

Toren’s story or myth is wonderful and amazingly told, opening itself to multiple interpretations. Sadly, some bad design choices, a lack of challenge and an unpolished protagonist model keep it from reaching true excellence!

TMA SCORE:

3.5/5 – Good

The Weekly Puzzle – Underhanded Recruitment

Puzzles are at the core of Adventure gameplay, they provide challenges for you to overcome with brains rather than brawn. For Action Adventures, they offer a break from the hacky-slashy-stabby-shooty element of title.

Every week I’ll bring you a new puzzle, drawn from some of the best and worst adventure or puzzle games I’ve ever played. Every two weeks I’ll even leave you one of my own for you to solve. If you do, I’ll find a way to reward you!

As promised and overdue, here’s the new puzzle from my noggin and for yours to decipher. A simple riddle. I’ll admit I’m not the best at making there. I love solving them but they’re not my creative forte. But I wanted to create one as a challenge so here it is. I do apologise, I think I made it a bit too obscure. As always, drop the solution in the comments or wait two weeks for the solution:

“We rarely meet, but when we do, the party’s astronomical. Everyone is welcome to see us, but if you pry, we’ll hurt you.”

Now for this week’s puzzle I’m going back to LucasArts for a three-part puzzle. It’s from The Curse of Monkey Island: the Recruitment. As with every title in the series, the great hero and Mighty Pirate, Guybrush Threepwood needs to find a crew and a worthy vessel. Thankfully for him there’s a trio of pirate barbers in Puerto Pollo. The barbers are Haggis McMutton, Cutthroat Bill and Edward Van Helgen.

The big puzzle is to get them all to work for you, but each of them has a requirement. Haggis won’t go with you unless he respects you, and he won’t unless you show him how strong you are. Being Scottish, he goes for caber tossing and that is too much for spindly Guybrush. You need to challenge Van Helgen to a duel and beat him, and he’s just too good with a pistol. Finally, Bill wants to know how good you are at treasure hunting, and no, those wooden coins in your pocket won’t be enough.

The finest Pirate Barbers in all the seas!
The finest Pirate Barbers in all the seas!

The three puzzles are all about cheating. For Haggis it’s finding a light and bouncy log that doesn’t require much strength. For Van Helgen it’s choosing something non-lethal for the duel and then change the rules midway, to prove to him just how much of an underhanded bastard you can be. And Bill, well, you just need to be extremely friendly, get his jawbreaker candy and use that to relieve someone else of the pressures of jewelry teeth.

What I loved about this sequence is how ridiculous it gets. Bill’s starts out simple, just Guybrush screwing over someone to take advantage of the situation, but when you get to the end, you’ll have met a guy terrified of a giant chicken, El Pollo Diablo. Haggis’ challenge can go on forever unless you realise how to bend the rules to your advantage. And nothing beats Ven Helgen’s banjo solo…until you interrupt him.

Time to jam Guybrush!
Time to jam Guybrush!

The Curse of Monkey island is not my favourite Monkey Island game, but I will always remember it because it was a game that led me to a really good friend. We’d been discussing games and we discovered our mutual love for Monkey Island, so he lent me his copy of Curse, and we spoke about it at length for the next few days. And we both laughed while talking about the crew.

I’d love to know if any of you have fun memories with a Monkey Island title, or any other game for that matter!

Writing a Novel: First Draft Sample

During the Second Draft and Beyond article, I mentioned I’d give you examples of the iterative editing process we go through while writing a novel. This week I make good on that promise.

The following is a simple scene I will be working on for the next few weeks. For this first article, you’ll have the roughest version, the first draft. There will be mistakes, things that don’t add anything to the story and things that simply don’t work, much like there are in every first draft. As I mentioned in that article, the point of a first draft is just to get to the end. Next week, I’ll have a more polished version of it and the week after that a finalised and streamlined edition.

Do note that I have intentionally made storytelling mistakes with this draft, to make it as rough as possible. There are things you’ll pick up immediately and shake your head disapprovingly. But before you judge, wait until the next few weeks when I’ll be turning this first draft into something workable and worth reading!

This scene is for the Melvin Backbreaker story concept I outlined weeks ago.

 

There were days when Melvin hated his job. He was good at it, mind you, but he just loathed being a clerk sometimes. As he looked up at the burly, greasy-haired man and heard his abuse, he sighed deeply and tried to keep his best smile on his face.

The man complained about the unneeded bureaucracy, the roundabout way of doing even the simplest of things. Melvin agreed with him apologetically and raised his hands and shrugged, in a “what can you do?” kind of way. Personally, Melvin didn’t mind it, he always enjoyed order, even if it had to be in triplicate and with accompanying forms and stamps.

He opened his drawer and produced a handy guide he’d written months before, with the steps needed for almost every occasion, with the forms listed, the documents required and the processing times. He handed it to the man and hoped he would thank him and most importantly, leave.

“Breaker!” He heard his nickname called from behind him. No one called him by his surname, Backbreaker, because they thought it was silly. Melvin turned and saw the message clerk come by with a large brown envelope for him. He was just handing a few letters to Matilda, Melvin’s co-worker, friend and he wished much more. “Letter from your solicitor!”

“I don’t have a solicitor.” He said dismissively.

“Well, then your pa’s, but you got this anyway!”

Grumbling, Melvin left his post, apologising to the next person in line, a vehement old woman clutching her bag like a deadly weapon, the intent of using it clear in the malicious glint in her eye.

He almost ripped the envelope from the clerk’s hand, much to Matilda’s surprise, she’d never seen him in such a bad mood. “What does the old fool want now?” He complained, mostly to himself, but as he’d said it too loud, all eyes were on him.

He carelessly ripped into the envelope and pulled out a letter, noticing it came with a stack of documents. Probably some family paperwork I have no intention on signing.

The letter was concise and to the point. Austin Backbreaker was dead and in the envelope were the instructions Melvin needed to follow according to his father’s will. He stared at the letter for the longest time and to anyone else it might seem as if he were unable to process what had happened, but inside, he struggled with how to act. He’s dead, good riddance! He mused, but struggled to look content or happy even. Their estrangement was no secret, but no one knew just how bad things were between them.

“Breaker, everything ok?” The clerk asked.

“My father died.” He said, trying to sound shocked and numb, but the only thing that surprised him was how long it had taken.

His coworkers all approached to say how sorry they were, and in that, Melvin remained impassive, seeming stunned, but he just didn’t care.

While talking to co-workers, accepting Matilda’s support and simply nodding when people told him comforting words, he read the Will. Inside were a series of steps:

  • Travel to the Backbreaker estate on Macallum. You must arrive before the 22nd of April.
  • You will find all travel documents and arrangements enclosed.
  • You will be briefed on the details of the inheritance process on arrival by Ducky, your father’s Butler.
  • If you perform the required tasks to satisfaction, the entirety of the Backbreaker estate will be transferred to you.

Melvin went over the documents and it was just as the instructions mentioned, there were visas and even interplanetary flight tickets. They were set for tomorrow. He didn’t like his father, but the inheritance would help him quit the job and never have to look back again. In a day like this, his father dying was the best news he could’ve received.

He quickly turned and looked for his supervisor. He was in his office.

Melvin graciously pushed past his coworkers and into his Adrian Thomas’ office. “Breaker, what do you want?” He said bitterly, putting out a cigarette on the overflowing ashtray.

Melvin wished he was a better actor and could cry on demand, but just looked straight into his boss’ face. “My father died…I need to go take care of everything.” He said flatly, offering no details but handing over the solicitor’s letter, keeping the instructions to himself. “I’m taking my holidays for this…all of them.” He said, and Thomas’ eyes widened. Melvin had over two months’ worth of saved holidays. Their ministry had never set up a cut-off point for accumulated free time, as no one ever took much time off.

Melvin could see how much his supervisor wanted to deny the admittedly big request, but then he noticed everyone else was at the door, Matilda at the front and they were all glaring. Thomas sighed and nodded. “Just let us know how things go with everything, ok?” Melvin nodded. “And I am sorry for your loss, Breaker. If you need anything, let us know.”

“Thank you.”

Melvin picked up his things, gave Matilda a big hug, bit down what he’d wanted to tell her for years now, as he always did, and left to pack his bags.

He didn’t remember much of the estate, but the nightmares had always been vivid.

Come back next week when I’ll be showing you the Second Draft of this scene while pointing out all the mistakes in this one!

My Dublin Perspective

I’ve been in Dublin for two months now, and with a job secured it looks like I’ll be here for a while longer. But ever since I came here, the city’s struck me as odd—so many contradictions and quirks—more than I’ve seen in any other city I’ve visited.

Dublin is a city, but doesn’t feel like one, it feels like a big town instead. There’s a sense of familiarity, of close-knitted community that is perhaps impossible to find in any other capital in the world. Dubliners themselves are a mix of open and friendly townies, always keen to hear a new story and see a new face, and victims of what I call Big City Syndrome—no one looks at you in the eye and just walks on taking care of their own business. At any point of the day you can meet either type of Dubliner.

Dublin has a ‘robust’ public transport system…that no one understands. I felt better about being new in town when I saw locals having trouble figuring out which bus went where. There are buses running through the city all day and it’s not uncommon for people to wait for a specific one even if the two before it had the same overall route. I’ve seen people give up on finding a bus and just take a taxi.

Thankfully, it’s a very walkable city. As long as you’re within walking distance of the city centre, you can get anywhere.

After living in Canada, the postal system in Dublin makes very little sense to me. Unlike other countries with six-letter postal codes, Dublin postal codes are much simpler and depend a lot more on street name and house number than a specific code. There are 24 postal zones in Dublin, Dublin 1 to Dublin 24, with odd numbers north side and even ones for the south, the River Liffey being the line separating them. Funnily enough, the distance between one Dublin zone and another is minimal. At the moment I’m writing this I’m in Dublin 9 and that is about 30 minutes away from the city centre on foot.

 

For me, as an immigrant and admittedly someone who’s still discovering what he’s capable of, a bit of a late bloomer in that regard at 31 years of age, Dublin has perhaps offered me more chances than any other place in the world to do things and have new experiences.

I didn’t like going out until late at night or going to pubs, as I don’t really drink. I did have a pint of Guinness two weeks ago, but mostly for trying something new. As I did, I spoke to an old Dubliner in the bar and realised the appeal of the Pub. I understood the pub culture of Ireland and why even with hundreds if not thousands of them in the city, they were all packed to the rafters every single night.

People think it’s the drinking and Irish people have a reputation for it. But there’s much more to it. Pubs are about community, about having fun in an amazing and relaxed environment. The drinks are just icebreakers in the end. Pubs are places where everyone is equal, the young man and the old fellow, the big boss and the fresh employee. In a pub everyone’s just another man or woman looking to have a good time.

In the past three weeks I’ve sang—butchered—Irish traditional music, I’ve gone to lectures on famous Irish Writers, met up with fun people I had never met before and even walked home close to midnight. This last bit would scared the hell out of me in the past, but here it’s not a problem. Dublin might feel like a small town but it’s one of the most active cities I’ve ever seen and the streets are full until very late in the evening, even in the middle of the week.

 

I’ve expanded my tastes since I’ve come here and every week has had a new experiences, something fun to do and something more to learn about myself and the people around me. So when I say this, believe me that it is true: I’m happy I came here.

This place and its people are mental, they’re strange and interesting and it doesn’t take much to have fun. Having said so, Dublin can seem boring at first, like there’s not much to do except go drinking and eating. But when you start looking for trouble and go through the websites for city events you start to see just how much there is to do, especially if you love stories, good music, art, theatre and that beautiful Gaelic.

This is a strange place, but it’s also really fun.

Now I can’t wait to see the rest of the country!