Tempopo - Switch Review

From the developers behind Android Assault Cactus and Unpacking comes a brand-new puzzle game, Tempopo. Cute and with a vibe reminiscent of Unpacking, Tempopo encourages players to relax to musical tunes while exercising their brains with challenging puzzles. At first glance, it may seem the music has nothing to do with the puzzle itself, but the Tempopo all move to the beat. Overall, the game runs incredibly well on both Switch and Switch 2. There are a few minor issues, but these are due to the limitations of the console rather than the game.

The Good

Tempopo starts humorously, something that seems distinctly Australian but in a way that only Aussies would recognise. Hana is a conductor of a flower garden; the only problem is that she isn’t very good at it. She quips about how “it isn’t the end of the world” if she conducts badly, but lo and behold, it becomes the end of the world for her when she loses her flowers. It’s a silly moment that helps set the mood of the game, and I knew from that point on I would enjoy playing. 

When Hana successfully rescues flowers in the game, she celebrates; I adored this personable part of her character, and it motivated me to continue. When Hana fails, she is visibly disappointed and somewhat frustrated, as if displaying the player’s feelings in a way they cannot. Hana is a little cinnamon roll, and I will protect her with my life.Tempopo is divided into the four major seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. By separating the game into these seasons, it allows players to learn the unique puzzle mechanics of that season before introducing harder or more complex ones. While the commands available would be considered simple, the true genius of the game is how the commands are combined.

 For example, there are thorny vines introduced that will destroy a Tempopo. By having one turn into a block and another Tempopo push, they can eradicate the vines. Discovering these things in the game is such a joy. Especially as the puzzles became difficult, it was hard to be upset when the solution was something I would never have thought of alone. 

For those players who are younger or aren’t as experienced with puzzles, there is Adventure mode, where players are limited to placing commands only in set areas, as opposed to any available block on the map. Additionally, there is the ability to enable auto-hints with a prompt appearing on the selection of the Adventure mode. It is not exclusive to Adventure mode, though, and can be used in the other modes. 

Additionally, if the game becomes too hard in the later levels, like it did for me, or if players become stuck, there is always a hint option in the pause menu. Unlike the auto-hint, this only gives hints when they are asked for, rather than giving them unprompted.

One of Tempopo’s major strengths is that the game offers numerous options for players to customise their gameplay. This includes not just the game's difficulty but also accessibility options for those who have trouble seeing or telling the Tempopo apart. I love that it’s possible to customise the game, making it as accessible to the majority of the population.

One of the downsides of musical games is that people who struggle with rhythm or have slow reaction times can’t always enjoy them beyond the most basic difficulty. This is where Tempopo happens to shine. See, the game involves music without actually requiring those playing to need to know anything about it. When the Tempopo are moving, the current commands cannot be changed nor can any additional commands be given. This means that everything is set up when there’s no movement. There’s no need to move to the beat like Crypt of the NecroDancer, as the Tempopo do it all themselves! 

Speaking of the Tempopo, their goal in the game is to retrieve the lost flower instruments. Spring has Hana looking for singing roses, while Summer is for finding the percussion-based flowers. Each season has its own theme and at the end of that season, Hana plants these flowers back in her garden, giving the song she sings the body and depth that were missing before. As the garden fills and the song becomes what it’s meant to be, I was left feeling happy that I was able to change this little part of the world. The garden theming adds the perfect amount of whimsy to this game and it matches with the musical puzzles perfectly. 

There is a special mode called Hana’s Garden where players are able to place the flowers to create and recreate music they enjoy. This is completely optional and has nothing to do with the main game. I personally didn’t touch it, as I was having enough fun just playing the puzzles but it seems like it’s pretty in-depth!

TL;DR

• Humorously silly
• Accessible
• Seasons have different roles
• Hana's Garden mode is a fun, optional creative mode

The Bad

Tempopo’s stages are set up like a diorama on a turntable. If you’ve played Captain Toad’s Treasure Tracker, you already have an idea of how they work. There are different pathways and secrets to explore, which requires turning the stage and perhaps zooming in or out. The problem with this is that it is easy to do on PC but harder to control on the Switch. There are touch screen controls for the movement of the level, something I relied on occasionally when the button controls weren’t enough, but it was obviously designed for PC first and foremost. It’s nowhere near making the game unplayable; it just needs a bit of experimenting to find the control that works for you.

One of the downsides of having players input commands in the thinking segment before letting the Tempopo loose in the action one is that they will often have to go through the action part again and again and again. When there’s only one path, it can be quite easy to tell what path the Tempopo is going to take, but when there are three or four different paths, the action section will need to be taken multiple times just to try and keep track of each Tempopo. There is an accessibility setting where the Tempopo will wear different hats so players can easily tell them apart but it will still probably take several attempts to get the path correct. It is the nature of the game but it can be a downside for some.

TL;DR

• Difficult controls on Switch
• Repetition of action segments

Final Score: 8/10

If I were to sum up my time with Tempopo in one word, it would be joy. Discovering the ways the commands could be used, watching Hana celebrate every flower rescued, and seeing the way the Tempopo encouraged Hana when she stuffed up. Pure. Joy. Aside from that, Tempopo is polished to a standard one would expect from a high-end indie game or even a AAA game. It’s awe-inspiring how the Witch Beam team managed to fit so much into what appears to be a simple game on the surface and they managed to make every bit enjoyable as well.

Thank you for checking out our Tempopo Switch review and thank you to our Patreon Backers for their ongoing support:

• Andrew Caluzzi (Inca Studios / Camped Out)
• Bel Cubitt
• Bobby Jack
• Jack Caven
• Nintendo Maniacs
• RedHero