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alobearA few weeks ago, someone recommended Toem to Dave - a very cute little video game, which we subsequently played together. It only took about eight hours of actual game time, but we spread it over several weeks and both really enjoyed it.
It's a single player game, but we had one of us controlling the character in my laptop, while the other observed and commented, watching the Chromecast on the big TV. Both roles were involving in different ways and we often found the observing player solved more of the puzzles than the one using the controls.
The basic storyline is that you play a young character (unnamed and gender indeterminate), who is going on a solo backpacking trip through several towns, to experience 'Toem' at the top of a mountain, quite far away. You start with a camera and a photo album, and your task is to document the trip, so you can show the pictures to your grandmother when you get home. At each stop along the bus route, there is a monkey manning a local attractions booth. He gives you a card, which records the various tasks you get assigned. For each task completed, you get a stamp. When you get a certain number of stamps in one place, the monkey rewards you with a bus ticket to the next town along the route.
The tasks range from finding lost socks and dogs to helping ghosts relive their glory days to photographing monsters that only come out when they can't see you. And many more weird and wonderful adventures along the way. There are also junior rangers in every town, who assign you photography projects, to take pictures of specific things you find.
The game has a cartoon-y feel to it and is rendered entirely in black and white. All the characters speak what sounds like gibberish noises, but in quite melodic tones and at varying pitches. It's very cute and very involving and very fun. I have to admit we did look up how to complete a few of the quests - though not that many, and it was still fun locating the different things we needed to do. It was good that you didn't have to finish every task in each place before being able to move on, but it was also nice to go back later and complete the ones we'd missed the first time around.
Great game - well designed, challenging in places but not overly so. A lovely gaming experience overall, and really fun to play together, taking turns to control the character.
It's a single player game, but we had one of us controlling the character in my laptop, while the other observed and commented, watching the Chromecast on the big TV. Both roles were involving in different ways and we often found the observing player solved more of the puzzles than the one using the controls.
The basic storyline is that you play a young character (unnamed and gender indeterminate), who is going on a solo backpacking trip through several towns, to experience 'Toem' at the top of a mountain, quite far away. You start with a camera and a photo album, and your task is to document the trip, so you can show the pictures to your grandmother when you get home. At each stop along the bus route, there is a monkey manning a local attractions booth. He gives you a card, which records the various tasks you get assigned. For each task completed, you get a stamp. When you get a certain number of stamps in one place, the monkey rewards you with a bus ticket to the next town along the route.
The tasks range from finding lost socks and dogs to helping ghosts relive their glory days to photographing monsters that only come out when they can't see you. And many more weird and wonderful adventures along the way. There are also junior rangers in every town, who assign you photography projects, to take pictures of specific things you find.
The game has a cartoon-y feel to it and is rendered entirely in black and white. All the characters speak what sounds like gibberish noises, but in quite melodic tones and at varying pitches. It's very cute and very involving and very fun. I have to admit we did look up how to complete a few of the quests - though not that many, and it was still fun locating the different things we needed to do. It was good that you didn't have to finish every task in each place before being able to move on, but it was also nice to go back later and complete the ones we'd missed the first time around.
Great game - well designed, challenging in places but not overly so. A lovely gaming experience overall, and really fun to play together, taking turns to control the character.
