TOEM 2 - Switch Review

Almost exactly five years since the original entry in the series, TOEM 2 is finally here! TOEM: A Photo Adventure, from a Swedish studio Something We Made was a classic indie success story; released to positive reviews (we gave it an 8!), the cosy photographic adventure game established itself as a benchmark in the rather niche genre. The sequel TOEM 2 has promised more of the same with some more expansive features and quality-of-life improvements. Let’s shake it like a Polaroid picture and get stuck in.

The Good

The overall structure of TOEM 2 is pretty identical to the first; you explore the cutesy game world as an unnamed protagonist (the same protagonist from the original) who makes their way from area to area, solving puzzles and completing tasks by using nothing but their trusty camera. The transition between the isometric game world and the first-person camera view is seamless and satisfying, and you’ll soon get used to this way of life. You travel between each area by bus, and they unlock sequentially by completing enough tasks – and therefore getting enough stamps in your book – before you can unlock the next. Each area is full of various NPCs who need help in various weird and wonderful ways. You also collect items and try and work out how to use them; it all makes for a kind of Pokémon Snap meets The Legend of Zelda vibe and I absolutely loved it.

One of the criticisms from the original was a lack of a map, but I’m pleased to say one is introduced in TOEM 2. It certainly isn’t a complicated one, but it does the trick. Fortunately each area is relatively straightforward to explore, and your photo journal acts as a fun way to track your tasks and progress. Each time you get to a new area, your to-do list will quickly spiral out of control, but I never felt overwhelmed. The balance is struck well between always having something you need to complete without things becoming a boring ticking-off exercise. Each area also introduces a new ‘ability’ for your camera and that ability becomes the focus for many of the puzzles in said area, meaning the puzzle solutions are never too opaque or repetitive from area to area.

TL;DR

• Fun, task-based photo quests work well with the control system
• A constant stream of busyness that doesn’t feel tedious

The Bad

The aforementioned journal in TOEM 2 does work just fine, but I found it quite frustrating that for some of the side quests you lose some important context. For example, you’ll talk to an NPC who will set you your task, and it will appear in your journal under some kind of heading, but the important dialogue the NPC delivered when you first spoke to them is lost, and sometimes it had me wondering exactly what I was meant to do to complete the task.

Also, the vast majority of tasks in TOEM 2 are confined to the area that you find them in. By that I mean if you have some kind of task that involves finding x number of x animals, for example (and photographing them), they can all be found within that area of the game. I would have loved some kind of game-wide collection task (such as gold skulltullas in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time), and including more inter-area tasks would have made things more in-depth and challenging and b, shown a bit more ambition with the game design.

TL;DR

• Some tasks become ambiguous and hard to understand when revisited
• Utilising tasks that spread across the areas would have added depth

Final Score: 8/10

TOEM 2 is the kind of game you fire up and all of your problems go away, at least temporarily. Your mind will get lost in its whimsical world and, suddenly, mooching about and taking photos is all you need to worry about. Call it therapy, call it fun, call it what you like, but TOEM 2 is delightful and good for the soul.

Thank you for checking out our TOEM 2 Switch review, thank you to Something We Made (via Popagenda) for providing the review code 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