TOEM is a really fun and charming game centered around photography. It's based around these really neat monochrome set pieces that you interact with in the third person as the player and the first person with the camera. This makes for a really unique world and cool gameplay elements with perspective.
The UI is pretty and fitting while also being very functional. The missions are a lot of fun to figure out and usually quite cute. I really liked how they included the sparkly portrait close-ups you get to take after helping some of the NPCs, very rewarding lol. I especially loved the 100 followers close-up. All the different locations having their own identity and central mechanics added a lot to the experience as well. Cataloging all the different animals was a fun side story that the game never pushes you to do outside of an achievement. I like that about it. I just kinda wanted to do it, and that feeling pervaded the experience. There were so many times when I took photos, selfies, or tripod shots that I thought were just cool for the sake of taking them. Sometimes they helped me out in a later quest but sometimes they were just fun photos to take. 100% was fun and not all that frustrating, but I guess that's a bit hard for me to say because I did look up hints on some of the quests and achievements I could not figure out. The character designs are cute. The main character is just a little guy out there in the world. The story is pretty much the journey itself which is great for a game like this, and the end of the journey was a satisfying moment that provides a beautiful opportunity for your final photo.
Overall, a super soulful game that allowed me to live out my dreams of being a photographer. I don't have much bad to say about it. They even got an expansion world that went hard.
The UI is pretty and fitting while also being very functional. The missions are a lot of fun to figure out and usually quite cute. I really liked how they included the sparkly portrait close-ups you get to take after helping some of the NPCs, very rewarding lol. I especially loved the 100 followers close-up. All the different locations having their own identity and central mechanics added a lot to the experience as well. Cataloging all the different animals was a fun side story that the game never pushes you to do outside of an achievement. I like that about it. I just kinda wanted to do it, and that feeling pervaded the experience. There were so many times when I took photos, selfies, or tripod shots that I thought were just cool for the sake of taking them. Sometimes they helped me out in a later quest but sometimes they were just fun photos to take. 100% was fun and not all that frustrating, but I guess that's a bit hard for me to say because I did look up hints on some of the quests and achievements I could not figure out. The character designs are cute. The main character is just a little guy out there in the world. The story is pretty much the journey itself which is great for a game like this, and the end of the journey was a satisfying moment that provides a beautiful opportunity for your final photo.
Overall, a super soulful game that allowed me to live out my dreams of being a photographer. I don't have much bad to say about it. They even got an expansion world that went hard.