Toem’s delightful and whimsical world fascinates me most in 2021
Staff selection
In addition to our 2021 Major Game Awards, every member of the PC Gamer team has focused on the games they love this year. For the rest of this month, we will release the new employee draft and our main awards.
I often feel guilty about being in a virtual environment for a few hours without actually seeing it. I’m not saying that I close my eyes while playing Far Cry 6 or Forza Horizon 5, but I experience them the way I have been accustomed for the past ten years: scanning them for map markers. The question mark is very prominent on the minimap and HUD in the game that I have explored for many years. Before I have a chance, I can decide what is interesting in its world.
Rick wrote in September that it’s time for open world games to abandon the question mark, and I agree. I did not consider the upcoming curiosity, but outsourced it to the instructor of the developer, assuming that anything that is not marked with a question mark is not worth pursuing. When I moved from one mark to another, my field of vision was so narrow that I couldn’t see anything at all.
Now Toem is a photo mode game from Some We Made, not without this kind of thing-NPCs do have speech bubbles, indicating that they have tasks for you. But its structure prompted me to participate in a way I would not normally do, which is refreshing.
Toem is a photo mode: game. Hang a lively partner around your neck, walk and pan in a series of interrelated hand-painted 2.5D three-dimensional models, and provide help to people in charming coastal towns and nature reserves in exchange for stamps. After eating and drinking, you can take the bus to the next peaceful place.
I hesitate to describe it as wholesome, cute or The games I really need in 2021Because it is not only that, even though it is all these things. As you go from one person to another plant and back again, the reassuring lo-fi and acoustic guitar sounds float around you. Just chat with the chef and you can help them regain their confidence in their work. You can have fun, mainly inconsequential cosmetics, such as foam fingers and damp socks, which will calm down satisfactorily when you walk.
This is all very low stakes when you run errands and collect pictures of animals and insects for a rapidly expanding compendium. It is also accessible because you do not need to capture every new animal instance, nor do you need to acquire all, or even so many available stamps, to progress. You can choose to use the viewfinder to help you choose your subject. Usually, the photos you take during the mission will be displayed in the game in a useful way. This is just a very good time.
In other words, Toem cleverly encourages you to be cautious of its lovely environment, especially when you take the route of completionism. First, it is non-linear. Most levels are composed of interconnected spaces that branch in different directions, but no matter which path you choose, it is most likely to cause obstacles, such as a group of immovable birds or bodyguards denying you access to his leaping bear partner club. If you do not have enough cool clothes.
Even if you are not an all-out achievement hunter, you need at least a certain degree of mental mapping, which makes me feel chill again after being chased by Dimitrescu Castle in Resident Evil Village recently. This is where the comparison between these two games begins and ends. You will not be surprised to learn, and I am not sure I would recommend these two as the most harmonious double bill.
After the first few backtrackings, you will know that when you enter a new area, be aware of any strange or inconsistent things-you know these things will appear in the photo request later. I preemptively took a peculiar portrait of a horse I found in a hotel in Oklahoma City, and it came in handy when a ghost wanted me to show them their life when they were a stallion. . Soon after, I began to carefully study every detail and quirk of the Toem area, and appreciate the real, low-key beauty of its monochromatic overall.
Not only did Toem become a popular refuge in another difficult year, but it also reminded me of all the sights and sounds I missed when looking for missions, XP, and loot in other games. Although I will miss the weird residents of Homelanda and Stanhanm, Toem taught me to appreciate the virtual world more attentively. Or just stop and smell the damp socks again.