In the year that we finally got a new Pokemon Snap game, who would've thought that my favorite photography game would be a cute little indie. Toem does what I wanted a new Pokemon Snap to do - it's an exploration photography game. You cruise around levels, following a vague list of things to find and take photos of. Some of these are just scattered around the environment, others require you to perform specific tasks to create the opportunity to take a special photo. It's a wonderful scavenger hunt of a game with a chill vibe and cute visuals. I loved it

the moment after taking hundreds of photographs of whatever the fuck was in front of you during this long journey through completely different biomes of the world you finally manage to "experience toem" (more on that later) is probably one of the most powerful moments I've experienced lately in a video game and i wish i was joking

toem is a very strange and alienating game in the sense that even now i dont completely know how I feel about it (currently my neurons are debating whether to put 3.5 or 4 we will see how that will go stay tuned)

the main mechanics of the game all revolve around taking pictures of the most random shit thats there to complete a certain amount of missions that allow you to move on to the next place and then repeat this process for another 5 times or something

if you ask me how exactly these mechanics work id have no clue how to explain this gameplay apart from "umhhhh cute lil boy takes photos of stuff hehe cute" the end like i think its better to just try the game yourself or watch some videos honestly this is difficult stuff me italiano mamma mia i no talk english well excuse

now the way in which i explained these mechanics makes it seem like the game is boring as hell but in reality the missions are so different from one another (albeit still in the "take a pic of X format" duh fucking brand of the game) and the things to photograph are so many that they completely saturate a game that lasts 3 hours no 100% and 5 hours 100% (approximate data of how long it took me at least also considering the DLC although tbh i kind of speed ran it through the last levels dont know why maybe im just too mentally unstable for videogames)

in addition to that the game also shoves in other kinds of mechanics in such a way as to provide you with a varied and never fully soporific experience (not fully because the sometimes unclear requirements for some quests make you wander around the map for a bit and they get frustrating honestly im just not good with this stuff idk why i played this game i got zero brain toem why are you giving me riddles like wtf)

honestly for a game with this premise it can be a bit of a challenge (of patience at that) so its not really just strolling and bird watching

theres also clothes ! if you like that kind of stuff i know you chicory people will like it and also some quest kind of work like the moons in super mario odyssey accessible only if you dress as idk a fucking pole dancer if you know what im talking about

anyhow point is gameplay is fine very fine very innovative very ughhhh other adjectives that im not competent enough to put here like ughhh endowed is this a word whatever

what pulled me into this game was possibly the art style which is majestic even though very minimalistic but honestly minimalistic isnt always a bad thing and somehow they managed to put a wide array of diversity in the world design character design and everything else design

now i will just segue into something that completely bewitched me the atmospheric nature of this game is just astounding i swear every single level has a clear and direct vibe theyre trying to convey and they deliver in that regard beautifully and all into a black and white lense and that will also segue into

the final picture you take took my breath away its such a wonderful little crescendo into something absolutely majestic

mom at the beginning of the game tells you that its finally time for you to experience the magical might of TOEM something that the player and possibly also the little protagonist have no fucking idea what it is

its at the top of kiiruberg mountain region and it should be experienced at least 1 time in the lifespan of a person and so you just journey through the world to get a sight of this magnificent phenomenon

MILD SPOILER IG when you get to the mountain you acknowledge that toem is a fucking parallelepiped ? ok whatever i was weirded out THEN you look at it . the ost keeps going on a steady pace until it stops and toem exposes its mystical colored northern lights and another ost begins and youre just left there gawking at this beautiful sight and honestly ? trying to convey this kind of majestic beauty through a game isnt that easy ive seen a lot of stuff listened to a lot of stuff and sometimes stuff just gets repetitive or you start to not get that amazed at it anymore like you used to

when i actually "experienced toem" it made me feel like i was looking at something out of the ordinary like it was a big deal and in a world where everything is black and white a sight that explodes into a myriad of colors IS a big deal and i was just left there observing this estatic godlike experience like i was actually living in the world of toem i got shivers im not joking i kind of got emotional too im a mess lets just end this review rn

toem is cool you should try it ig

going around just spinning the map is entertaining af how do they do that like i could be spinning the map for an hour straight

can i pet the mysterious figure aka the beavers

every animal in this game MUST be petted or else youre a monster and you shouldnt be living on this planet im sorry thats just the truth

i want to date the rock metal guy who gives bread to the pigeons hes just my type

i dont usually 100% games but this one deserved it

(wrote this one at like 1 am when i was supposed to be sleeping for my first day of uni this is gonna be a fucked up review im so sorry people)

Toem is centered around completing requests from various creatures you'll meet, which will get you stamps, and if you have enough of them you'll unlock a bus ride to the next location. Very wholesome solution for public transportation, btw. These requests are usually about finding a certain item to take photo of, or using items you collected to solve a problem. While most of these requests are quite basic, the game keeps it fun by making a world that has its own quirky personality. It's fun to see the cute animals you'll run into, the creatures you'll be helping out, the weird problems they're facing. It's very much about the joys of exploration, and making memories with your camera along the way. By the end of the game, it was nice to see my photo album being filled, and I felt that typically dissonant "ah, it flew by so fast" feeling that one would have while viewing an old photo album, even though this game is actually pretty short, so it's not exactly dissonant. I wasn't particularly impressed by anything in the game, it doesn't have a special "Wow!" factor, but it is a pleasant short adventure that didn't feel like a waste of time. It's like going out on the weekends to a place that you're familiar with, and you're having fun like you always have.

What is TOEM?
Chill photo-taking missions in a goofy Paper Mario-esque world.

Who made TOEM? When did TOEM release?
An independent Swedish studio called Something We Made, this is their first full game. Released September 2021 for PC/Switch/PS5.

Why should you play TOEM?
Cozy locations, lots of wonderful, soothing background music, and little encapsulated moments of joy with unique characters.

Where does TOEM fail?
Not much creativity or challenge with the photo missions despite the possibilities, for the most part it is simply a game of point and shoot.

How would you rate it?
On a scale of Pass/Meh/Fine/Cool/Play It!...

TOEM is Fine.

The simple black and white world of Toem - a blend of Earthbound and Peppa Pig - presents like an all-age picture book filled with quirks and details that need only to be captured with the photo mechanic. It's a game that encourages the player simply to take it in at the most leisurely pace imaginable - no one is in danger, no one is going to die, nothing. That said, the moments where you find only so many pieces of a photo challenge only to find out there are more in later levels becomes amplified annoyance. But the connectedness and clean presentation brings out the completionist in most players.
Bottom line, its another cutsie zero-risk indie title to relax to and shut out the horrors of our reality.

Fantastic little game, cute, great music, fun gameplay, good puzzles, great sound design and world layout, frankly nothing about it was bad. I felt the love, and I almost cried at the end of Basto for basically no reason other than that I felt like people who cared made this game and that I cared about them making it. That feeling of "I want someone, anyone, to experience and enjoy what I made" hit me so hard that I couldn't help tear up. If on the small chance a dev ever reads this review, thank you for making this.

🎮 Platform: PS5
⌚ Time to finish - 6h (100% complete - no reason not to do this. All trophies are very much core gameplay oriented. ).
🤬Difficulty - easy. I did use a guide on few of the hidden items i couldn't find. but mostly done without a guide. Just be keen and observant on what you are seeing.
🌄Graphics – Fitting, loved the ending. I can't say i expected it!
🌦 Atmosphere – Family friendly, no drama. Its like going people watching/tourist in a new city. Its the vibes I got.
📚 Main Story / Characters – Simple and nothing to write home about. A kiddo going on their first adventure!
🤺 Combat – None.
🧭 Side Activities / Exploration – Totally worth doing unless you hate the game. I gave it avg rating and I still found it fine to do them all.
🚗 Movement/Physics – no issues.
📣 Voice acting – none.
🥇 Best thing about the game - it was fine. I can't say what was great.
👎 Worst thing about the game - none.
💡Final Thoughts:

Its a fine game. It essentially comes down to go to each town take pics to complete quests. That can only sta interesting so long, kind of like in unpacking arranging cupboards can stay interesting only so long. I tend to go for more meaty games so the simple game was just that too simple. However, Its a nice stress free game between 2 large titles. I played this after death stranding which was 115 hours so it was nice. If you miss this you are probably completely ok. I know this rating goes very much against the avg 4.1 here but... not every game is for everyone i guess. :)

The notion of Black and white photography communicates a way bigger interest in artsy shit than the game actually wants (you) to explore. Taking selfies gets the same priority as the zoom function out here. You get a tripod, not for any further calibrations like a hight adjustment or angling the camera a bit, but to insert the player character and by extension yourself into any scene (and for a puzzle solution that kept being reused). After getting the ability to use filters I took a really depressing photo of a crying kid and then showed it to the npc who gave me the filters, their reaction was: "hahaha ha filters make everything so funny".
Now don't misunderstand me, this isn't me criticising the npc reaction from the standpoint of "I showed him sad thing not funny thing, game wrong" and more like this is just how the game views photography.. as just funny toy to f around with (or as a checklist of challenges with the photo club npcs). If there was at least one npc with a more interesting perspective on photography in this game this wouldn't even be a problem to me, but there isn't. The dialog in this game is so 'going through the motions' filler, sometimes reduced to just the gesture towards a common trope, that they didn't even credit anyone for the writing.

The main reason I picked this up was because I thought it would give me the same comfiness and freedom of artistic expression, a wholesome little world like "Chicory" gave me, but it sadly didn't.
In Chicory nobody ever tells you how or what to draw. In Toem you almost exclusively have to take photos for checklists with descriptions that first seem like they are open for interpretation, but are actually just light puzzles with one specific solution. Photograph the tiniest army means photograph the ants, not a group of boy scouts in uniform, or the other 'can be mistaken as the tiniest army, thing they purposely put in the level which I forgot rn. Like, imagine if it wasn't: take a very specific photo for me with this loose description. And instead all of the purposely placed Red Herings are possible solutions, making it more about the relationship of interpretation and description than about a dumb fetch quest. But that would mean writing thoughtful dialog which..this game..doesn't

Chicory gets more colourful with each player input, a move that seems like a no-brainer in a black-and-white game about an entire artistic medium. Tbh, I believe they only left toem in b/w because color coding is really hard and It's easier to make a pictures look good that way.
The game is still a relaxing affair and losing yourself while taking photos works for me no matter how basic it and disappointing all of the rest is.

Pretty fun little photography-based puzzle adventure game! I went into it not really knowing what to expect and ended up greatly enjoying my time with this.

It has a fun black + white 2d aesthetic, simple controls and a nice variety of puzzles and things to busy yourself with. I really like the feel of the menu UI, there's something very nice about finishing a task and getting to stamp your notebook. Gating level progress via number of stamps works really well too!

Overall I had fun with it, it's really nice!

whats good and charming and wonderful ab it is v obvious and i cant think of a way to explain it thats not banal other then maybe i like how effective it is to encouraging u to Look At Things. so i'll just offer one small critique: i think the feeling of Totality and Leaving Home For Adventure in the journey is kinda undercut by the fact that u can so easily retrace yr steps, and are actually forced to if u wanna do every quest. i think my ideal version would just have every area be completely self contained, and to have the decision to move to the next one be final and irrevocable. mayb a bit Intense design-wise for this type of game, but i think it needs a wee bit more grit to get that feeling of the increasingly far from home personal pilgrimage. great game i loved the dogs

Suprisingly the game's not that focused on the photography with it being more of a vehicle to show you these little busy worlds. Reminds me of Where's Wally books in the way that it's these big complicated places with tons of things going on but looking into it you can see all these small, individual scenarios with individual people and being able to explore an environment like that is really cool. The game's also genuinely sweet and endearing, it's funny and has a subtle relatability that keeps the cuteness from feeling insincere.

Really enjoyed it, gg

Não esperava que um jogo sobre tirar foto ia me prender, afinal eu sou a pior pessoa para ser seguida em Instagram, mal tiro foto de qualquer coisa.

MAS, como é inteligente usar as perspectiva para resolver problemas, não só trabalhar com isso, mas para deduzir o que as pessoas precisam.

Toem é calmo, relaxante e quer que você tenha uma experiência agradável, e ele consegue.