Hot on the heels of New Pokemon Snap is Toem: A Photo Adventure, the latest photography
game to hit Nintendo Switch.
But despite the similar objective, the two games are quite different: it’s not on rails
and your photos aren’t graded across a variety of critera.
All that matters is if you snapped the subject or not.
There are no lives and no time limit, it’s just a very relaxing experience about exploring
and figuring out puzzles through the power of photography.
Right off the bat, I could tell Toem was going to be wonderful and charming with a quick
bouncy hop and spin on a chair as I set forth on my adventure to take a picture of well,
“Toem.”
To reach this end goal, you have to explore 4 different areas, connected by way of bus
stops, which you’ll unlock by collecting enough community stamps that are earned by
completing photo challenges and helping people out.
Each new area requires only about half of the total stamps to proceed, meaning if you
get stuck on a puzzle like I did, it’s easy enough to work around by taking on other challenges.
With Toem’s photography gameplay, a lot of the stamp quests are about finding a specific
object, like striped mushrooms, or at other times, being given a clue as to what to find.
For example, one of the photo challenges asked me to take a picture of a tiny army of soldiers,
which ended up being a metaphor for ants.
Others weren’t as simple, and a few I simply couldn’t figure out, and there’s no hint
system to help.
Either figure it out, or move on.
About half the time, I found the puzzles either a little too easy or too difficult, though
the other half hit the puzzling sweet spot.
. As I mentioned earlier, There’s no photo rating system to each photo.
The game only cares if you snapped the right object or not , leaving me as my only and
harshest critic.
Each area is based around unique geographical features, like mountains, or the seaside and
are well designed making it difficult to get lost--even without a map.
Of course, the areas aren’t exactly huge, but each one features its own characters,
photo opportunities and or puzzles to figure out.
You can freely rotate the game’s camera--not to be confused with the in-game camera in
each area, and even zoom in and out quite a ways to explore the full surroundings.
The developers did well in scattering clever clues, like discarded spray paint cans helping
to point you toward some graffiti you need to snap.
Not everything in Toem requires a photo for a community stamp, with some challenges asking
you to find an object while looking around with the camera, such as a game of hide-and-seek
where I was locked in place, while others are about helping a person get somewhere or
something.This variety helps keep the gameplay fresh.
And you might call these simply fetch quests but they were usually over and done with quickly
and I found them endearing and fun to solve.
Surprisingly, no one has working binoculars or the ability to zoom in this world - giving
the player an excellent excuse to be helpful.
As the game went on, I noticed some common stamp quests such as “find the spy,” but
fortunately they were all local and didn’t feel repetitive.
I especially loved some of the more unique challenges in offbeat areas such as this dance
party with a DJ moose that required showing my swag to get in, or the elevator restaurant?!
Can that be a real thing...please?
Early on, you’re given a tripod that lets you take pictures of yourself from a distance,
and is useful for cutouts that you can pose with.
And I have to give Kudos for the excellent lesson of how to use it involving shy monsters,
which is a subtle way of teaching without having to tell you outright.
Eventually you’ll also acquire a horn that can effect change in the world by startling
particular people or creatures, adding an extra bit of depth that feels like just the
right amount.
Furthermore, there are different items you can wear, like hats and foam fingers, for
more unique shots--and smartly, not all of these are purely cosmetic; sunglasses, for
instance, make ghosts visible.I thought doing this was a smart way of encouraging you to
try out different items, and you can thankfully wear multiple things at once.
The black and white art style is clean, simple, and certainly unique, though I did find myself
wishing for a little color at times--especially for the forest and seaside, although it felt
perfectly fitting for the city, and the stressful message the game has about it.,In any case,
the world feels teeming with life, given the large amount of characters and bustle in each
area and it never felt lifeless or flat.
On the Switch version, I did notice the character textures looked a tad low res while zoomed
in but I got used to it and didn’t notice it much over the course of the game.
it’s not often that I gush about the sound design being as good, if not better than the
visuals,but that’s definitely the case in Toem.
The sound was so good I immediately went to check the credits to see who was behind it
before I even finished the game.
While the game is cartoony, the ambient music and sounds really sell the experience of walking
through each environment, whether it be nature or the city.
And while taking a photo, sound effects do a great job of helping to track how many objects
are in the shot, without being too in your face.
Oh, and there’s Banjo-Kazooie style mumbling…magnificent.
By the end of the game I was starting to run up against the 128 photo limit.
After being so accustomed to Google Photos’ unlimited data in real life, it was a little
annoying having to go in and delete photos based on what seemed to be an arbitrary limit
which the microSD card should account for.
Photos can be favourited, and even titled, which I didn’t find out about until a stamp
quest deep along the way, which helps avoid accidentally deleting the keepers!
Although I quite enjoyed my time with Toem, I was hoping for a stronger, more impactful
ending.
It does a fairly good job with a mountainous ascent but it lacks a big payoff at the end--I
will say the game generally did do one neat thing which I quite liked in each of the four
areas.
Perhaps I’ve just been spoiled by a couple other games in the last year, like A Short
Hike, which delivered an impactful ending atop is mountain peak!
With that being said, I liked Toem a lot!
When it comes down to it, Toem is more about helping others and observing scenery rather
than an overarching storyline, and that message is just fine by me.
Polished and full of life, the world of Toem is fun to explore and figure out its mysteries
within a short but sweet experience, that’s full of silly and unique encounters to photograph.
I found taking photos a joy in of itself even outside of challenges, and there are a ton
of options at your disposal.
Ultimately it’s up to you to decide how creative you want to be with your photos and
judge them yourself while going through the game.
Thank you for watching.
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