If you enjoy photography-themed video games, check out TOEM. It’s an upcoming photo adventure game with quirky characters and a hand-drawn minimalist art style.
In the single-player game, you follow a small figure through Scandinavian-inspired landscapes as you use your photographic eye to reach your final goal: to uncover the mysteries of the magical, natural phenomenon known as TOEM.
As you travel around by foot and by bus (while listening to soothing music), you’ll come across various characters in a range of environments, and you’ll be tasked with solving their problems. The puzzles are all solved by pulling out your camera and snapping photos.
TOEM is a game that’s designed to encourage you to “stop and smell the flowers.”
“Do you remember the first time you visited a new city?” writes Niklas Mikkelsen, CEO of Something We Made (the studio behind TOEM). “Being in awe of the architecture, the excitement of not knowing what lies around the corner, and all the happy memories you form along the way? Those are feelings that fuel TOEM.”
Game reviewers who have experienced TOEM already have had positive things to say about it.
“The first main area that the demo has you play through is a forest surrounding a hotel,” writes Lauren Morton of Rock Paper Shotgun after trying the game. “A local troop of scout kids want you to show them photos of natural flora. A hotel manager wants you to take a snazzy new photo of the building for marketing purposes. A few kids challenge you to a bit of hide and seek via viewfinder.
“All of TOEM’s little questing tasks are tracked on your Community Card, where you’ll get to slap a stamp for every good deed you achieve. It’s one of my favorite little details, how you get to choose the placement of each stamp as you earn it. Mine are all messy and overlapping, which I enjoy.”
Here’s a 1-minute teaser showing some TOEM gameplay:
TOEM is set to be released on September 17th for Steam, the Epic Games Store, Playstation 5, and Nintendo Switch. If you’re itching to try it, you can also download a demo over on Steam ahead of the release.
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