Summary
TOEM is a pretty short indie game that revolves around taking pictures in order to complete quests in connected levels. The art and customization of both your character and the game world really stand out and this is an amazing title to play on the Steam Deck.
A Camera Game???
I cannot sing high enough praises for the use of cameras in video games when done properly. Whether its Dead Rising 1 or Pokemon Snap, cameras tend to be very engaging and this game handles it in a very unique way. This game somehow blends elements of integrating the world with your camera instead of the usual way of slapping on the feature.
Most of what you’ll be doing is just finding objects to snap a photo of and then doing so. The difference here is that the game both encourages and demands creativity. For instance, the photo filters and camera tripod are mechanics that must be engaged with to complete quests. The various hats your character can wear usually have gameplay elements.
I’m not creative, does this game love me?
I’m not a very creative person, I’m the type that wouldn’t play this game just for the fun of taking pictures. I tend to be utilitarian in completing game objectives and yet I found myself exploring with TOEM and taking photos just for fun. There is no score on the photos and no point to taking random pics and yet there I was photographing myself with the incredibly cute characters.
You’ll start this game off thinking nothing of a lot of the photos you take and by the end you’re really exploring. The levels progress in complexity which lets you take more interesting photos. You’ll spend time collecting photos of every adorable animal in each level. Or maybe you’ll be searching for hidden clues. Maybe you’ll find a wacky character and strike a pose with them. This game actually makes you want to do those things and just have dumb fun with it.
The kind of fetch quest photographers crave
To tie it all together, the quests come in to really flesh out the experience and showcase fun and inviting things to do in the world of TOEM. Each level has very unique quests that range from finding ancient cave drawings to spotting mysterious monsters. None of the quests are too hard and none take too much time or overstay their welcome. Each level of 20 or so quests can be done in less than half an hour so you always feel like you’re making progress.
Final Thoughts
If any of the above concepts sound at all interesting to you, go play this game. It’s a short experience and you’ll spend around 5 or so hours with it, all of the time having fun pushing forward through the quests. The art is amazing, the sound is just right and often relaxing, and I don’t think you’ll regret your time with this one. Tell me about your experiences with cameras in other games and what you think of it here. Also pick up the free demo on steam for the game if you’re interested!
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can confirm it’s really lovely :)
I also do not care much for a camera games, but just the fact that you’re so into it is making me interested and checking it out, thanks.
I’m curious what they could have that took you in.
I do, however, now like customizing my character and video games a lot so that sounds fun.
I spoke too soon! I don’t have a steam deck!
They must be worth getting, I’ve heard no complaints about them.
I had a switch for a few years and I loved that, but I sold it recently. I would not mind trying the deck.
A deck isn’t necessary to play it obviously, just makes it nice to have this game on the go.
What took me in was mostly the art style and the chill atmosphere of the game. The levels are sort’ve like dioramas and they’re great interaction. That plus it’s been a long time since I’ve played a game with a camera mechanic and the implementation of them seems to either be great or really bad.
And yeah I love my steam deck. It’s worth it if you play a lot of PC games and definitely really nice for playing indies on the couch next to a partner or what have you.
Very cool, thanks!
I don’t understand the obviously part, I don’t know anything about a steam deck.
So you play your games on steam on the computer but you can also play them on the deck?
And the games sync between the deck and your PC cuz they’re both using steam?
Basically a steam deck streams you’re library onto a handheld device, I don’t know if the PC needs to be on or not though. It’s like playing PlayStation games remotely on PlayStation portal or game pass games on an android through the app except the deck is a dedicated device like a portal but plays more than just games bought through steam.
Oh sorry, but yes that’s right. You buy a game once on steam and then you can play it portably and your saves will sync between devices.
No worries, I had no idea since i never having dug into the deck because I had a switch already, but that’s really cool.
So the switch can play any game you can play on your PC?
That’s pretty impressive, considering the limitations of the switch. They have like two graphically impressive cpu-intensive titles.
The Steam Deck is a handheld Linux-based PC with a built-in game controller. The special Steam version of Linux (SteamOS) comes with software (Proton) that lets you run a lot of Windows games, and Valve have put some effort into helping/encouraging developers to get their games working with it.
The Nintendo Switch is a closed system that can only play official Nintendo-licensed software. Even if you “jailbreak” a Switch, I don’t think that there’s any realistic way to get modern Windows games running on one.
It’s not every single title but it’s a lot, I’d say a solid 85-90% of my library works. You can see the compatibility of any game on the Steam page. Most games with anti-cheat will break on it since it’s Linux based though. Other than that, it’s great for a ton of games.
Awesome
Thanks for the review. I’ve had this one on my wishlist for a while!
