TOEM - Two Minute Review!
TOEM - Two Minute Review! (Free from Epic games September 19th to 26th 2024)
Removed from gamepass July 2024
Title: TOEM
Summary: Set off on a delightful expedition and use your photographic eye to uncover the mysteries of the magical TOEM in this hand-drawn adventure game. Chat with quirky characters, solve their problems by snapping neat photos, and make your way through a relaxing landscape!
Release Date: Sep 17, 2021
Rating: Rated E for Everyone
Developer: Something We Made
Publisher: Something We Made
Platforms: PC, Switch, PS5, Series S/X, Xbox One
Genres: Adventure
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TOEM is a cozy and wholesome puzzle adventure game, where you play as a young photographer on a journey to witness the mysterious phenomenon of Toem. To get there, the player must use the games barter-based travel system, where you help local residents with a variety of tasks, in return for stamps that can be used to travel to the next area.
The game world has a charming hand-drawn monochrome style, that's still well animated and filled with details. The characters you meet along the way are witty, diverse, and memorable, each with their own personalities and humorous dialogue.
Quests are generally centered around photographing specific things, but are given in the form of obscure hints, demanding a mix of exploration and logic skills. Most puzzles however are easy or completely obvious to solve, with a handful needing to be done in a specific order or requiring you to use your camera in different creative ways to find hidden objects and secrets.
Despite its strengths, Toem is relatively short, with only about half the quests needing to be completed in each town to move onto the next, and the lack of challenge makes grinding the remaining puzzles feel unrewarding. As a result, the main story line can be completed in about 2 and a half hours, but I found my play-through to keep a busy but enjoyable pace, with multiple objectives on-the-go at a time.
Overall, If you're OK with the brevity and minimal challenge, its a really well crafted and polished indie game that is both enjoyable and relaxing. However, due to its brevity and lack of replay value, its definitely one to try to pick up as cheap as possible.