Trying every PS-Plus Extra game: Torquel

There are some places where the last letter of the title of this game is spelled "TorqueL" so just know that I am talking about that game. I'm not really sure how this is done.

My quest to play every single PS-Plus Extra game has resumed and I have returned to the minor indie games, which is what I generally enjoy doing more. We all know that the AAA games like Ghost of Tsushima are going to be great but I quite like discovering hidden gems by smaller studios a lot better.

Torquel is a physics puzzle game and I suppose it is decent but for the most part I feel as though this game is better suited to tablets and mobile devices rather than a console. The game is interesting enough but it is very basic and just seems strange to be using the power of modern consoles for such a simplistic game.

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You can tell just from the opening screen that this is a very basic game and a lot of the time this appeals to me. That being said I am not generally a fan of puzzle games because they have no other choice than to become increasingly tedious as the stages go on. I did make my full one-hour in my trial of this game but by the end of that hour I was more than ready to give up and move on.

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The only objective in this game that I was able to discover in an hour is to make it from one side of the screen to the other while avoiding anything that is red. This is referred to as lava but it can also be on the walls above and beside you. You navigate by using the control stick and by using 4 buttons you can extend a pillar of sorts from your little box to propel you over any obstacles.

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It's extremely basic and I will admit that I got bored with it pretty quickly. For people that enjoy physics puzzle games this might be fun but again, I think this would be better suited to someone sitting on a train in a commute and not necessarily for someone like me that is sitting on the sofa in their living room.

One massive gripe that I have about this game is that the reload time when you respawn back at the start is 3-4 seconds which doesn't seem like a lot but when you consider the sheer amount of times that you are going to fail the levels, this starts to seem like ages very early on.

Also, accomplishing the goal and getting to the other side often felt like dumb luck rather than anything I actually learned or did on purpose. It seemed quite chaotic at times as I would wildly fly through the air narrowly avoiding the red to land at the stage's exit.

Speedrunners might enjoy this game a bit as the amount of time that it takes you to get through a level is constantly displayed and clearly an important part of gameplay. Speedrunning has never been my thing though, and because of the simplistic graphical nature of this game, I can't really recommend it to anyone on the PS4. Sorry!

Final Analysis: Interesting for half an hour or so but long load times and repetitive gameplay made me lose interest pretty quickly. This would probably be a lot better on mobile devices rather than a console.

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Games I have already tried in my journey to play at least 1-hour of every PS-Plus Extra game

• Gravity Rush 2 (action adventure game with fast movement in every direction. It has RPG elements and a pretty decent story. Make it past the first hour and the game really opens up. Recommended)
• Oddworld: Soulstorm (2D+ platformer with great graphics, sound, and voice-acting. Unfortunately it is plagued with a lot of repetition. Recommended for a few hours)
• Bee Simulator (sort of like a flying FPS game but with no combat. It's graphically impressive and filled with tidbits of knowledge about bees... unfortunately it is repetitive as hell and gets boring fast. Not recommended)
• Prison Architect (a prison management simulator game similar to SimCity. It's a great game but just like most simulation games, it just isn't very playable using a controller. Not recommended on PS4)
• Hotline Miami 2 (a top-down shooter with gruesome violence and terrible AI. Would be great for speedrunners and hardcore gamers. Casuals like me are going to quickly tire with it)
• Battle Chasers: Nightwar (turn based RPG of medium-length that does a good job of teaching you how to play in the first hour. It's pretty old-school and I happen to like that... recommended)
• Chorus (3rd person open-world space fighting game. It's graphically impressive but combat is too repetitive to really hold your interest for the entire story. Still recommended though.)
• Portal Knights (a very well made survival action builder game similar to Minecraft. I really enjoyed this and look forward to playing it more. Recommended)
• Saints Row: The Third (clever and funny FPS game that intentionally puts you in impossible and absurd situations. It's innovative and humorous but ultimately quite dated and got repetitive and boring pretty quick. Not recommended)
• Balan Wonderworld (A rather beautiful 3D(ish) platformer that is extremely easy but still engaging enough to hold your attention for a few hours. Recommended for casual gamers)
• The Artful Escape (an adventure game of sorts with awesome visuals and music, but repetitive areas and controls combined with IMO far too much dialogue makes this game get boring, fast... Worth a look but not recommended to play)
• Until Dawn (interactive horror game that you don't really control a great deal of. It's reasonably entertaining, you can't lose, and the graphics and sound a pretty great. It's not really a game but I enjoyed it and played it to its finish. Recommended)
• 11-11: Memories Retold (a WW1 story that doesn't actually involve much input on the player's part. The game is very boring despite having a wonderful graphical style: Not recommended)
• Desperados 3 (a real time tactics / stealth game that I personally do not feel belongs on consoles at all. If you have never played these sorts of games on PC your opinion might be different. This one gets a "maybe.")
• Maneater (Action RPG where you play the role of a deadly shark. The idea is decent but ultimately the extremely repetitive gameplay makes this one easy to miss. Not recommended)
• TorqueL (physics puzzle platformer that is simplistic at first but quickly becomes maddeningly difficult. Gets boring pretty quickly on consoles and would be better suited as a time-waster on mobile devices. Not recommended on PS4)

All other games I have already reviewed (there are a lot of them)