Torn: A Modern Game With An Awesome Throwback Feel

Sometimes we get offers to review games and due to time or personal issues (and just adulting in general) we cannot always get to give some games the proper time they deserve. Torn was one such game. A one of a kind gaming experience that brings in old school gaming concepts and meshes them perfectly with new school gaming standards. What am I saying? Well, Torn is the world’s first text-based MMORPG. Yes, you just read that correctly. Intrigued? I know, so were we. But you want to know the best part. It is free. No fine print, no B.S. Click that link and go play it right now. And being someone who cannot give you a full review but has spent some ample time playing it, it is a unique and compelling experience unlike anything else on the market right now.

The Team Behind It

This is what first impressed me most about Torn. It has been technically running since 2004 and was initially created by just one guy named Joe Chedburn who decided to drop out of college and make games. That thought alone has been one many of us have flirted with, so major kudos that he had the balls to listen and actually follow through.

Though his company has grown slightly, the heart of it is still one man, putting his passion behind something he believes in. The end result of all that work is Torn. And now years later, Torn is getting integrated into tablet and phone markets, and in doing so, will be turning itself into an MMORPG gamers can meet up online and play together.

But how do you play a text based game as multiplayer? Fair question. The answer play any way you want to.

What is Torn and What Do We Do?

Imagine being dropped into a world where anything goes? You build your character like most modern games, and start with very little. You are dropped into ‘Torn City” and can essentially do whatever you want. Want it to be a real life simulator, so be it. Find and engage another player and maybe eventually propose in-game. No joke.

Or maybe you wanna drop in and become a Joker like mad man character. In that case, just drop in and mess with other player’s games while getting more XP and aging (in game). That is the beauty of Torn. Torn, as a game, is whatever you want it to be.

How many games can say that?

But It Is Gritty, Make No Mistakes

Keep in mind, you can play it passive, but the real grit of the game comes from rising up in the criminal world and becoming a name to fear in Torn city. Commit acts and and do deeds that would, very much in real life, catch the attention of the wrong kind of people (which is just what you want if you want to truly rise to power in Torn). This is not a kind place, and if you want people to know who you are, you may have to shed some text based blood to get there.

But what is so cool is this game has all the features you LOVE in most modern RPG’s and action games. From taking side quests to joining factions who will aid you in your specific game and what tasks you need or choose to meet, it is all cool and open ended and familair while still being new.

You may wonder and gawk at the curiosity of how all that will work in a text game, but you just need to jump into Torn and find out for yourself. It is old school and new school, all at once, and somehow it meshes in a way that feels organic and downright fun.

Free, Fun, Twisted, and Retro

If you look at all the keynotes that Torn hits on listed above, at this point it is not whether you should play it, but more over, why aren’t you already? I understand the apprehension when hearing about a text based video game in 2016, but once you start playing Torn, that apprehension will make way to nostalgia which will then make way to “I can’t put this game down” and is there a higher compliment for a video game than that?

Nope. no there isn’t.

Pokemon Go Game Review