TOEM is a cute photo-taking journey game and it has returned with a sequel! It is one of my favorite games so I’m excited to try the new one. In the game, you get to travel and take photos along the journey to go to experience the ‘TOEM’ magical phenomenon, while solving puzzles and tasks through interactions with other characters with your ‘handy vintage camera with a dynamic zoom’!
If you’re the type who likes taking lots of pictures while traveling, this is the game you can vibe with! I personally enjoy taking random silly pictures of things I see along the way, pictures of me with other characters, completing all the critter photos, and ‘just in case’ photos in case they’re needed for future quests!
The graphics has a unique monochrome style with whimsical looking cute characters, and we got a new look of it in TOEM 2. You don’t have to finish the first one to understand the second game, but I still recommend playing them both. The first one will feel simpler with the game mechanics since you have more limited tools and movements, but it’ll still be as lovely and fun so it’s a good intro to set you up for the other game as there will be some easter egg references back to the first!
Looking at how things have changed from TOEM to TOEM 2 side by side!
Each new area follows a similar format, some are mostly the same like the original TOEM, while some are new elements introduced here. The general idea is easy to follow: complete tasks by helping the community to get ‘stamps’. There is a minimum amount of stamps to get free bus ride to the next area, but there are more to complete if you want to go on.
There are quests where you have to find something then take a picture, or deliver items and solve puzzles. You will need to use your camera to take pictures of specific items or interact with objects to trigger interactions to solve the quests.
For the completionist, there is also the album compendium to keep track of all critters species in the game, so you can take pictures of new critters you find and it’ll be recorded with its name in your journal. There are a bunch of new cute critters and ones coming back from the first one, like the lovely Tato and its new variants!
Overall TOEM 2 keeps the charm and spirit from the first game, and it’s still a fun, cute game to play. This time with new additions of interaction with the controls like jumping opening new possibilities to interact with the world and some new story quests format, while still keeping the same sense of style that is easy to pick up.
NOTE: some mild spoilers of talking about both TOEM games ahead.
Story format – In TOEM 2, each area we’ll have a ‘new friend’ that will introduce a new tool and continuing quest. I find it cute that in the end we get to see the experience with friends as a ‘festival’ gathering, while in the first game the end was an experience you get yourself then come back to retell the story to others – it’s a refreshing take on different kind of joy to experience a magical phenomenon.
The Basto map add-on from the first game gives a similar warm feeling of seeing characters we helped reappearing again. Just like the first TOEM, I do ended up wishing we can get more interactions with the characters as I end up feeling it’s not enough and I want to play and interact more!
Tools – In TOEM 2, we have access to new tools each region like scissors and hammer. To use the tool, just aim the camera to where you want to use it then press the interact button. If you played TOEM Basto expansion, they introduced the idea with the balloon splash. The pipe puzzle can get a bit hard to see from different angles to figure out so that one is kind of a struggle to me, but the rest are easy to pick up.
There are some minigames related to the tools where you have to aim at moving targets, but they are forgiving and does not include time limits pressure so you can just keep trying. I think if you count from first TOEM, the minigame that made me struggle the most is the music one from the Basto expansion.
Quest items – There’ll be some quests that require items you pick up from the environment to create other items, like apples to create jams. It adds more interactions to your environment and things to look for. Thankfully, the game will tell you when you’ve gathered all of them so you know when to stop.
Controls – In TOEM 2, now you can jump! In addition of the Photo challenge like the first TOEM, each area now has a Climbing challenge – the name intimidated me since I am bad at platformers and not a big fan of it, but thankfully it’s pretty straight forward and even if I do fall, it’s not that much of a redo. There’s also an unstuck option in the menu in case the game bugs out in odd places.
Honestly I kinda miss the point-and-click movement with the mouse from the first game since I’m not really a controller user, but I understand the change with more jumping control introduced here. I tried to get use using a controller for this playthrough since it’s supposedly easier for the jumping around part. Sometimes I accidentally kept falling to the water or the edge of the map since I thought I can just pass through without clicking the button, so it does get a bit to get used to.
Minimap is helpful since I get lost easily lol and it’s nice to make quick reference of where to go in the map and to see which area is not yet covered. The indoor areas like aquarium or cave is not covered by the map though, so I was pleasantly surprised when I see there are more things to explore than I expected.
More costumes! The shoes now determine the outfit here and comes as a set. Some quests require you dress up specific way. I kinda miss some of the goofier items like the big pointy hand or ones with effects like the umbrella or glasses to see the ghosts, but I also enjoy the new additions like the princess and business suit!
Saving the images – Just like the first TOEM, the pictures you take with your camera is also saved and synchronized in your computer’s folder. It used to be saved in the LocalRow folder in Appdata, but in TOEM 2 now it is saved directly in the game folder.
Where to find saved photo images in TOEM 2? For Steam, go to the game page then click the gear icon, Manage > Browse local files, then find it in Save > Data > Photos folder. I find this to be a cute feature to make it easy to share the photos instead of having to screenshot it! Do note that it will store your latest photos according to your latest album – resetting your data will clean up the folder.
Overall, I enjoyed my playthrough of TOEM 2 and looking forward for more things that the team will create. I do miss some of the features from the first game like filters and photo effects – I heard that the developers plan to be adding more in the future, so I’m excited about it! It’s a chill game with a charming sense of journey and wonder that is fun to play.
