Let’s not beat around the bush: TOEM 2 is absolutely bloody lovely. It’s not a word that gets used often to describe video games, but I can’t think of a better term as it had me smiling the entire time I played it. Despite being our resident cosy gamer, I’m starting to tire of the genre but TOEM 2 was the perfect tonic for that weariness, and its cute visuals, wonderful soundtrack and sweet story captivated me from start to finish.
TOEM 2 is structured very similarly to the original, right down to you starting your journey at your nana’s house before bus-hopping from destination to destination. This time you’re off to the Whirlhill Festival to see the blooming of the whirling birch tree, a special occasion that leads to the TOEM you ventured to see in the first game. Despite the similar set up, it immediately feels distinct, with your cute little character having grown noticeably taller between games, now depicted as a gangly teenager. The world itself feels bigger too, with locations that were larger and more full of life thanks to the huge cast of characters big and small to interact with.
This extends to the mechanics too. You’ll still arrive in a location and solve a series of simple puzzles that mainly require the use of your camera and, occasionally, some lateral thinking, but the scope has been expanded a bit. Your camera acts as your primary way to interact with the world, taking photos of things to complete jobs, but new functionality is added at each location. This means you’ll be using it to slash ropes and vines, hammer in nails and screw pipes depending on where you are in the world, and these add some nice, ongoing tasks to complete while you’re in an area. For example, those aforementioned vines are triggering the allergies of a nice farmer you meet, so together you need to banish them. It’s never anything particularly taxing but it’s fun seeing how these characters and puzzles exist in the world.
Make no mistakes, this is a gentle game. Puzzles never amount to much more than looking for things, fetching photos and the occasional need to think about how your camera can afford you new perspectives on situations. I enjoyed them all, but will say there’s none that stick in my mind as much as the Fisherman’s Tune from the original game, which also wasn’t taxing but it blended the game’s gorgeous visuals with its equally incredible soundtrack in a way that I’ve never forgotten since.
You only need a certain number of puzzles in each location to get your bus ticket to the next area, but you might as well stick around and mop them all up as it doesn’t take long. It took me 3 hours to get from start to finish completing nearly every puzzle along the way, and as much as I loved my time with it, I’d have liked one more area to explore before getting to Whirlhill. There’s also critters everywhere in each level and snapping photos of them adds to your compendium. This extends the length of the game a little, and the creature designs are all so adorable (and sometimes weird) that it’s worth doing. Hunting these down took my total playtime to about 4.5 hours, although a lot of that was spent looking for one in particular that I still haven’t found. There’s also costumes and outfits to collect, which you’ll mostly find organically as you explore the world and complete puzzles. These were always cute to experiment with though, so I appreciate their inclusion.
The locations themselves are my favourite part of TOEM 2. The first game was packed full of memorable places to explore and this is no different. I won’t spoil them all, but the first area, Cropton, is a delightful farmstead with kooky characters everywhere, including a woman with a cloud for a head and a scarecrow who’s scared of crows. Each location is packed with details, whether it’s the critters mentioned above, quest items to find or just life going on around you. If there’s ever a testament to how captivating the world is, it’s that it managed to keep my two-and-a-half year old son sitting on the sofa for over 30 minutes while he munched on snacks and shouted with glee at every animal and creature he saw.
It’s all elevated by the series’ striking visual style. It’s like a cool take on Paper Mario, with characters existing in 2D but the world is rendered in 3D, leading to some cool moments with perspective as you move around, especially when the camera is involved. It’s all coloured in black and white, with chunky outlines on characters and loads of detail packed into every corner of the world. As much as I love how the game looks though, the soundtrack is the real standout. I have a small vinyl record collection consisting purely of video game soundtracks I love, and the original TOEM soundtrack is in there. This new soundtrack is easily as good as the first and it’ll be joining my collection as soon as possible. Launchable Socks and Jamal Green return to provide much of the music and their signature style of laid-back beats completes the game’s chilled out atmosphere. My personal highlight was “Straight Outta Cropton”, both for how it sounds but also for that track name too.
Like the first game, TOEM 2 is the peak of cosy gaming. It’s a lovely game and a wonderful way to while away an afternoon as the beautiful visuals, hypnotic soundtrack and fun puzzles melt you into your sofa. I’d have liked it to be slightly longer, but I absolutely loved what was there.
