Cool little game with extremely chill vibes and an emphasis on exploration. It does a lot with very little, and its few environments all get a moment to shine. The main mechanic, taking pictures, could be a little better implemented, as it basically never asks more of you than to simply press a button, no angles or perspectives or the like. And while the aesthetics are sweet and tender, they never quite clicked with me. Not that it’s generic, far from it, it just couldn’t reach its potential, but that’s cool, it is still a fine game.

Toem is a very cute and relaxing puzzle game. The puzzles aren’t super difficult, but they aren’t supposed to be.

I only wish there was a tiny bit more color in the game, as the monochrome starts to hurt my eyes after a while.

If you need a palette cleanser type game, definitely consider Toem.

Sights & Sounds
- Hope you like grayscale, because you're going to spend the majority of your time (outside of one key moment), you're going to be looking at a lot of shades of black and white. It's a neat, if not totally original, aesthetic that lends to the game's charm
- The characters and environments are all very consistently cutesy
- The music blends right in with the visual design. Toem's soundtrack is full of calming piano and synth to hammer home the fact that this is a game meant for relaxation

Story & Vibes
- Adding to the relaxation theme is the fact that your unnamed player character spends the entirety of the game on vacation. At your Nana's request, you set off on a photographic journey of personal growth and experience to experience the mythical event known as Toem
- That's the basic thrust of the narrative. There's not much more to dip into. Just travel to new locales and take pictures of the things you see there
- If it isn't glaringly obvious at this point, Toem is one of those relaxing, cute, "cosy" titles for those times that you just need a mental escape without much stimulation or activity

Playability & Replayability
- The central gameplay loop of Toem involves traveling to location, obtaining a to-do list, completing enough of the checklist items to earn free bus fare to the next location, and repeating the process. This is basically all you do
- Fortunately, there are a couple of camera abilities and pieces of equipment you automatically obtain as you complete the story that factor into some very light puzzle solving. Ultimately, these puzzles just serve as minor speed bumps on your way to taking more photos for your to-do list
- There's also collectibles in the form of animal photos and clothing. Some of the clothing is actually functional and needed to advance
- I 100%ed the game, so I don't think I'll be back for a replay. I don't think there's anything to incentivize a return to Toem unless you played it before the free content update

Overall Impressions & Performance
- While not without its charm, I finished my time with Toem feeling a little unsatisfied. Sure, it was a relaxing experience, but additional characters, more puzzle mechanics, or at least a little challenge would have made the experience more enjoyable
- This isn't the sort of game that will require much juice to run. I played it without issues on the Steam Deck

Final Verdict
- 6.0/10. Some bonus points for the free content update (which features the best area in the game), but Toem is a title you can safely miss unless you're desperately in need of some time to chill out