Review: TOEM A Photo Adventure
Available on: Steam, Playstation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch
Cost: €19:50
Genre: Photography Adventure
Developer: Something We Made
Publisher: Something We Made, popagenda
Journey around various Scandinavian towns and complete tasks by taking photos in TOEM, a cute photography adventure game. With a striking black and white cartoon design, quirky characters to meet and fun tasks to complete, TOEM is a relaxing and engaging game with plenty to see and collect and cute animals to photograph for your album.
Story
Play as a young photographer leaving your Grandmother’s house to journey to climb a mountain to witness a phenomenon known as Toem. As you travel to different towns, from sunny seaside to bustling city, you meet a variety of characters with tasks they need help with. The story is straightforward enough, and building to the final mountain accession to view the phenomenon is delightful. But the real enjoyment of the game is completing the tasks and capturing photos of unique animals and situations relevant to that area, with some light puzzles.
Gameplay
The main gameplay revolves around taking on tasks and puzzles that you can solve with taking photos. Each photography task you complete gains you stamps, and with enough stamps you can progress to a new area. The controls are lovely and smooth, and you can get a good amount of variation and depth control with the camera, allowing you to take that perfect shot. You can then build to complete your compendium in each area, snapping wildlife and animals to complete your album.
Graphics and Visuals
The greyscale colour scheme works really well in the game. It has a lovely newspaper like design to it, and what the game lacks in colour, it more than makes up for in the detail with something interesting filling each corner of the areas. The character designs are fun and silly, while the animal designs are cute and exciting to find a new creature to snap. Each area has it’s own unique style, and all the cartoon elements work together to give each area an individual look and theme.
Longevity
The story can be completed in a little under 4 hours, and honestly I’d have happily played for many more hours. There’s a relaxing feel to playing that you get immersed in, taking it at your own pace and exploring, and I was sad when it was over. The developers have added an extra level after completion of the story which was a nice touch, and if you’ve not completed your compendium you can return back to any of the areas and get the photos you need. I could see myself replaying the game.
Conclusion
Overall, TOEM is a sweet, funny and relaxing game that I thoroughly enjoyed, and was sad to finish. The visuals and design are unique and enchanting, with detail around every corner and something new to find and explore. The tasks are enjoyable to complete, characters are funny to chat to, and I happily worked through my compendium to take all the photos to complete it. There’s also a relaxing soundtrack that really helps with the immersion. I would absolutely recommend this game to anyone looking for a relaxed adventure you can take at your own pace and collect sweet and funny photos.
