Torn Apart

It’s not easy to come up with original concepts nowadays when it comes to video games, not when there already are thousands of titles available out there. On the other hand, designers can still create new worlds and stories to dazzle the players with, because that can be enough make the experience feel unique. Hence, maybe we’ve seen enough orcs and elves lately and it’s time for something new.

Torn Apart is an adventure game that throws you into a fascinating new world, one that is made entirely out of paper. It may sound pretty silly at first, but the concept is mighty intriguing if you give it a chance. The gameplay needs more work at the moment, since it’s quite difficult to interact with objects and complete the missions, but everything appears to be on the right path to success.

The story talks about a world contained in a book and guarded by two creatures, namely Oru and Kami. However, this world is torn apart at the middle, which also separates the two guardians from each other. Hence, your task is to play as one of the guardians and try to find the missing pages, in order to reconstruct the book and reunite with the other protector.

As of right now, the missions you undertake are quite basic, but the game is still an early prototype, so you cannot expect too much anyway. However, the movement can be a bit stiff, especially since you cannot use the mouse to control the camera. It’s enough to get relatively close to an object or a character to interact with it, and thankfully there aren’t any fast-paced sections to struggle with.

Since the game world is unique, the level design is quite mesmerizing as well, although it’s a bit linear and full of invisible walls that block any exploration attempts. Most of the environment is either dark or glowing, so the contrast is striking and it influences the overall atmosphere as well. Still, there are performance issues and severe frame drops in certain locations, which means that more optimization is required.

Even if Torn Apart is in a pretty rough shape at the moment, the game can be polished and refined over time, which could transform it into a fan favorite. So far, the story and the setting are its biggest strengths.