A Photo Adventure
TOEM is an Indie adventure puzzle game developed and published by Something We Made for Nintendo Switch and PC, released in 2021.In TOEM, the player takes the role of a character who, after being shown a photograph of the legendary TOEM phenomenon that occurs in the Kiiruberg region, decides to take a photograph-taking journey on their own. However, instead of paying for a ride, they must use their camera to perform good deeds and help the communities they pass through in order to gain Stamps and upgrade their bus pass. The game has casual elements so the player can play the game at their own pace and the game's art style is a hand-drawn monochromatic environment that fits the casual gameplay.
The game provides examples of:
- Ambiguous Gender: The main character is not specifically stated to be male or female.
- And Your Reward Is Clothes: You can collect various outfit pieces throughout the game, most of which have at least one purpose (such as a reporter hat for a quest where you take a photo for a newspaper), but some are purely decorative.
- Casual Video Game: The game can be played at a very slow and relaxing pace and incorporates a dull hand-drawn and monochromatic art style.
- Creator Cameo:
- If you stare long enough at the ceiling of the Oak Hotel's lobby, a photo of the developers with googly eyes will appear as the hotel's centerpiece, replacing any previous photos installed.
- Additionally, all the developers' pets can be found in various locales throughout the game. Getting a photo of every pet in your compendium will earn you an achievement.
- Deliberately Monochrome: The game's art style is black & white so the game can be as simple as possible. The exception is the TOEM, which emits an aurora of color.
- Excuse Plot: There's a vague, mystical thing called TOEM. In order to reach it, you need to do a bunch of tasks that all involve photography. Have fun!
- First-Person Snapshooter: Progress is made by taking photographs of things and people.
- Game-Breaking Bug: You can accidentally softlock the game by attempting to rearrange the stamps you find at the Kiiruberg mountain tops where TOEM is found—because while the mountain top has its own community card, there are no associated stamps to go with it.
- Gotta Catch Them All: The game's main collectable is Stamps, earned by completing various photography tasks, as progress to new areas is locked until enough Stamps are collected. However, you don't need all of the stamps to reach the final area.
- Monster Compendium: Although the game doesn't have any enemy encounters, your photo album has a special section that keeps track of every pet and wild animal species you photograph.
- Pictorial Letter Substitution: In the title logo, the "O" is a camera.
- Post-End Game Content: The game's credits roll when you photograph TOEM and return home, but there's some quests that can't be completed until afterwards, such as photographing all the cave paintings for a Kiiruberg historian, as one is in the final area.
- Power Glows: The game starts with the protagonist's Nana showing off pictures of the TOEM that they took in their youth; although the player can only see the back of the photo album, its pages emit a notable glow.
- Splash of Color: When the TOEM activates, it emits a bright aurora of colors that stands out against the otherwise monochrome environment.
- Title Drop: The titular TOEM is a giant colorful crystal at the top of Mt. Kiiru that the protagonist photographs at the end of their journey.
- Vacation Episode: After completing the main game, the protagonist is invited by their Nana to take a vacation over in the tropical Basto region. It proves to be a Busman's Holiday as the region has its own community card challenges, achievements, and creature compendium entries for them to complete.
