Toem Review
Available on Switch, PC, Steam, and PS5
Photography is something magical: the ability to capture people, moments, and memories forever. So much so that photo mode has essentially become an industry standard nowadays. With the way art has evolved, developers want players to take the time to appreciate every little detail filling in their worlds. Give that power to a small child on an adventure to experience the phenomenon known as TOEM and you have yourself a charming little title that makes you appreciate the smaller details and happenings in life that far too often go unnoticed.
Toem puts you in the shoes of our young adventurer, armed with nothing but a camera and a pair of clogs from Grandma, with one goal: to experience the phenomenon known as Toem. Using your camera, you'll traverse 5 distinct locations (6 with a free DLC thanking the fans afterwards) helping residents with tasks to earn stamps for your community card to continue your journey. Stamp tasks range from taking pictures of specific areas, objects, or even mythical creatures to help residents. While some of these have slight puzzle aspects, I never got stuck for an extended time in my roughly 5-hour platinum journey. The characters you meet really bring charm to the game, with locals and fauna that look taken from a middle schooler's notebook doodles. Paired with humorous dialog, I found myself talking with everyone I came across and wanting to view each little area. Each local in Toem is set up with a layout of smaller, simplified, shadow box-esque levels that can be rotated and viewed from different angles. During your adventure, you may come across pieces of clothing like goggles or hats to dress up in; while these are mostly used for missions, I found myself switching between different pieces of clothing to make absurd characters.
The gameplay of Toem is simple: taking photos. This is expanded on as you progress with things like a tripod you can set up to take pictures from afar while including yourself. Your photographs can be further changed with filters and captions to really leave your mark on the ones you consider masterpieces. Toem isn't here to test your brain with riddles or extreme puzzles but rather to lead you along its journey in a scavenger hunt kind of way.
Toem took me back to when I first started playing games, and everything was an exciting adventure. It captures a simpler time when games could just be enjoyed without some competitive aspect and unraveling the world was a reward in itself. Toem is really a gem that should be experienced if you have the time, but until then, the team at Something We Made has crafted a picture-perfect experience in Toem.