Torn Away [Review]
Torn Away is beautiful, tragic, and emotional adventure game.
Image credit: perelsoq / OverGamez
Indie studio perelesoq and publisher OverGamez have brought their heartwrenching adventure game Torn Away to Nintendo Switch and Playstation 4 / 5. It was previously released late last year for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S.
Torn Away is an adventure game about a ten year old Russian girl, Asya, who is taken prisoner along with her mother by Nazis as they invade the USSR during WWII. After months in a labor camp, she has the opportunity to escape, and starts on her journey on foot across Germany and Poland to find her home village.
Playing the game as Asya is very effective at putting you in her shoes and making you understand her feelings and hardships. For most of the game, Asya talks with Comrade Mitten, an imaginary friend embodied as a blue mitten with buttons for eyes. Conversations with the mitten and the mitten’s encouraging narration both do a lot to communicate the despair of the situation, along with Asya’s hope and sheer will to survive.
Image credit: perelsoq / OverGamez
This game is similar to The Light in the Darkness, a narrative game I reviewed recently. Both are games about children facing the horrors of war and invasion. However, Torn Away succeeds in many ways the other game fails. Torn Away has far more engaging gameplay, which in turn contributes to greater engagement in the story. There are three types of gameplay in the game: traditional point and click adventure, side-scrolling with light platforming and stealth, and first person exploration or minigames. The game alternates depending on what kind of events are transpiring.
When Asya is escaping from pursuers, or stealthily avoiding wolves or guards, the gameplay is side-scrolling, with Asya able to run, jump, crawl, and climb. Stealth is handled simply; the player must just avoid being in the enemies’ field of view. This is telegraphed by head turns, or by flashlights shining on the ground. If running, Arya might have to jump over small gaps or hazards that will make her trip and fall. None of this is difficult, as the game is more interested in you making it through the story rather than challenging your skills.
Image credit: perelsoq / OverGamez
Point and click adventure gameplay occurs when Asya must search for items or use items. For example, Asya seeks shelter from a snowstorm in an abandoned cabin, and must search for tools and items to make a fire. None of the item-based puzzles are difficult. If you need to combine items, the game walks you through the steps. When using an item, the game selects it for you when you select a target, with no need for an inventory screen. No usable items are carried over from one scene to the next, so there’s never a packed inventory. The game also helpfully provides a hint feature that highlights all examinable objects near Asya.
Image credit: perelsoq / OverGamez
First person exploration happens in a few sections where Asya must navigate danger. In a section of the game, Asya is lost in a forest. In another, she must seek shelter behind rocks to protect herself from heavy oncoming winds from a snowstorm.
Over the course of the game, Asya must complete some tasks that the player must do in first person, putting herself in Asya’s shoes. It could be coloring a drawing, mending her mitten, or helping her mother fix shoes in the labor camp. It’s not possible to fail these minigames, and all of them are pivotal to the story or emotional affect.
Image credit: perelsoq / OverGamez
The game’s art is gorgeous. Level backgrounds are layered and painterly, with animated elements. Everything looks like a paint wash. Characters are detailed, emotive, and fully animated. If Asya is cold, fatigued, or hungry, you’ll see it on the motion of her body and her face. The beautiful visuals and stirring soundtrack are simply captivating, immersing the player in the game’s tragic world and story. One thing that bothered me is that the game censors Nazi swastikas on flags or uniforms by changing the symbol. Considering the aims of this game, hiding that historical detail seems counterproductive.
Image credit: perelsoq / OverGamez
Torn Away is a short but engaging and moving experience. I completed it in around four hours over two sittings; if I didn’t have to go to sleep, I would have played the whole game through because of how invested I was in the story. Like with The Light in the Darkness, it’s important to know and remember stories like these. Torn Away is particularly effective in really making you feel and understand the tragedy. I’ve included the trailer below, but it doesn’t do the game justice.
Torn Away is available now on Steam for PC, Xbox One / Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and Playstation 4 / 5.
Overall Score: 9/10
Played on: Xbox Series X
