Torrent (Elden Ring)
Reception
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Alan Wen of ''[[VG247]]'' called Torrent possibly the best mount in a video game, stating that most rideable animals in video games were "annoying", such as those featured in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time]]'', ''[[The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt]]'', and ''[[Red Dead Redemption 2]]''. He compared Torrent to the horses in ''[[Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception|Uncharted 3]]'' and ''[[The Last of Us (video game)|The Last of Us]]'', "extensions" of the player's body rather than having their own will. Calling Torrent a "highlight" and an "important part of the core gameplay", he noted that Torrent's ability to appear and disappear removed the limitations of most mounts. He further praised Torrent's double-jump ability, as "a statement of intent", allowing the player to reach places that would otherwise be impossible. Wen continued on to laud the horseback combat, noting that one of his favorite moves was "riding while charging up a sword attack, with the blade running along the ground [...] before releasing the trigger to swing it up straight into your enemy’s face". Also describing Torrent as "the player's escape route", he summed up his view that Torrent alone made the game worth purchasing.{{Cite web |last=Wen |first=Alan |date=2022-02-21 |title=Why Elden Ring's Torrent could be the best gaming mount we've ever seen |url=https://www.vg247.com/elden-ring-best-torrent-mount |access-date=2024-03-10 |website=VG247 |language=en |archive-date=2022-12-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221201025540/https://www.vg247.com/elden-ring-best-torrent-mount |url-status=live }} |
Alan Wen of ''[[VG247]]'' called Torrent possibly the best mount in a video game, stating that most rideable animals in video games were "annoying", such as those featured in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time]]'', ''[[The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt]]'', and ''[[Red Dead Redemption 2]]''. He compared Torrent to the horses in ''[[Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception|Uncharted 3]]'' and ''[[The Last of Us (video game)|The Last of Us]]'', "extensions" of the player's body rather than having their own will. Calling Torrent a "highlight" and an "important part of the core gameplay", he noted that Torrent's ability to appear and disappear removed the limitations of most mounts. He further praised Torrent's double-jump ability, as "a statement of intent", allowing the player to reach places that would otherwise be impossible. Wen continued on to laud the horseback combat, noting that one of his favorite moves was "riding while charging up a sword attack, with the blade running along the ground [...] before releasing the trigger to swing it up straight into your enemy’s face". Also describing Torrent as "the player's escape route", he summed up his view that Torrent alone made the game worth purchasing.{{Cite web |last=Wen |first=Alan |date=2022-02-21 |title=Why Elden Ring's Torrent could be the best gaming mount we've ever seen |url=https://www.vg247.com/elden-ring-best-torrent-mount |access-date=2024-03-10 |website=VG247 |language=en |archive-date=2022-12-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221201025540/https://www.vg247.com/elden-ring-best-torrent-mount |url-status=live }} |
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Nicole Clark of ''[[Polygon (website)|Polygon]]'', similarly, characterized Torrent as "the ultimate horse companion", saying that he made the world more manageable, "enhancing freedom, exploration, and tomfoolery". Saying that "to ride Torrent is to know peace, if only briefly", she stated that being able to have a mount "made playing a FromSoftware game much more approachable for a first timer", due to the ability to battle on horseback, run from difficult fights and gallop through densely-packed hostile areas. Stating that Torrent "enabled my basest impulses and most chaotic dreams", she stated that she used Torrent to attack any creature that approached just to see what happened. Calling Torrent's double-jump "the real [[secret sauce]] of exploration", she noted that she was more saddened when Torrent died in combat than the player character themselves.{{Cite web |last=Clark |first=Nicole |date=2022-03-01 |title=Elden Ring's Torrent is the ultimate horse companion |url=https://www.polygon.com/22957071/elden-ring-torrent-ultimate-horse-companion |access-date=2024-03-10 |website=Polygon |language=en-US |archive-date=2023-12-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204002115/https://www.polygon.com/22957071/elden-ring-torrent-ultimate-horse-companion |url-status=live }} Luke Plunkett of ''[[Kotaku]]'' brought attention to a review of Torrent in ''The Mane Quest'', a blog dedicated to video game horses, saying that he could not "un-see" the goat-like anatomy of Torrent, noting that his legs may have designed to resemble the movements of a goat in order to ensure smooth movement during gameplay, despite it being "weird" and "aesthetically jarring". He stated that the developers may have decided that a normal horse was "not fucked-up enough" compared to a horse with goat legs.{{Cite web |last=Plunkett |first=Luke |date=2022-03-15 |title=A Very Detailed Review Of Elden Ring's Horse |url=https://kotaku.com/elden-ring-fromsoftware-horse-mount-torrent-souls-revie-1848652225 |access-date=2024-03-10 |website=Kotaku |language=en |archive-date=2023-11-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231111063936/https://kotaku.com/elden-ring-fromsoftware-horse-mount-torrent-souls-revie-1848652225 |url-status=live }} |
Nicole Clark of ''[[Polygon (website)|Polygon]]'', similarly, characterized Torrent as "the ultimate horse companion", saying that he made the world more manageable, "enhancing freedom, exploration, and tomfoolery". Saying that "to ride Torrent is to know peace, if only briefly", she stated that being able to have a mount "made playing a FromSoftware game much more approachable for a first timer", due to the ability to battle on horseback, run from difficult fights and gallop through densely-packed hostile areas. Stating that Torrent "enabled my basest impulses and most chaotic dreams", she stated that she used Torrent to attack any creature that approached just to see what happened. Calling Torrent's double-jump "the real [[secret sauce]] of exploration", she noted that she was more saddened when Torrent died in combat than the player character themselves.{{Cite web |last=Clark |first=Nicole |date=2022-03-01 |title=Elden Ring's Torrent is the ultimate horse companion |url=https://www.polygon.com/22957071/elden-ring-torrent-ultimate-horse-companion |access-date=2024-03-10 |website=Polygon |language=en-US |archive-date=2023-12-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231204002115/https://www.polygon.com/22957071/elden-ring-torrent-ultimate-horse-companion |url-status=live }} Luke Plunkett of ''[[Kotaku]]'' brought attention to a review of Torrent in ''The Mane Quest'', a blog dedicated to video game horses, saying that he could not "un-see" the goat-like anatomy of Torrent, noting that his legs may have been designed to resemble the movements of a goat in order to ensure smooth movement during gameplay, despite it being "weird" and "aesthetically jarring". He stated that the developers may have decided that a normal horse was "not fucked-up enough" compared to a horse with goat legs.{{Cite web |last=Plunkett |first=Luke |date=2022-03-15 |title=A Very Detailed Review Of Elden Ring's Horse |url=https://kotaku.com/elden-ring-fromsoftware-horse-mount-torrent-souls-revie-1848652225 |access-date=2024-03-10 |website=Kotaku |language=en |archive-date=2023-11-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231111063936/https://kotaku.com/elden-ring-fromsoftware-horse-mount-torrent-souls-revie-1848652225 |url-status=live }} |
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Torrent was not universally praised, and Rich Stanton of ''[[PC Gamer]]'' criticized the horse as "not having much utility" compared to using [[fast travel]], and having a large turning radius. However, Fraser Brown of the same publication disagreed with this stance, calling Torrent "my best horse pal", and "an integral part of the world", and noting that he was "the only way to reach some places". Stanton responded that combat on Torrent sometimes involved "flailing away" into the air without hitting an enemy, a contrast to ''Elden Ring'' |
Torrent was not universally praised, and Rich Stanton of ''[[PC Gamer]]'' criticized the horse as "not having much utility" compared to using [[fast travel]], and having a large turning radius. However, Fraser Brown of the same publication disagreed with this stance, calling Torrent "my best horse pal", and "an integral part of the world", and noting that he was "the only way to reach some places". Stanton responded that combat on Torrent sometimes involved "flailing away" into the air without hitting an enemy, a contrast to ''Elden Ring'' |
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