I didn’t know what to expect when I sat down with Toem 2 at Summer Games Fest. However, this game captured me immediately and felt like a calming respite during a completely hectic day of running around and seeing high intensity games. Toem 2 isn’t like that. It is a slow and silly game where you don’t have to do every quest. However, doing them, made the game enjoyable and nothing overstays its welcome.
Toem 2 is a little game about completing little quests where mostly you are taking pictures for people. For example, one character we met wanted to see giant crystals deep within a cave, but was too scared to enter it. Thus, we ventured in and had to snap a picture of the crystals for him. There was a Bridge Troll that wanted to see a picture of three goats (which is funny if you get the reference) before he would let you pass and cross his bridge. Pictures aren’t the only thing you can do for the people of the world either. One character wanted us to get him a potion to turn himself into a frog to get back at his frog neighbor. Quests popped up everywhere , and as you’re working on one you will definitely find another that you might start doing at the same time.
Then there’s the style of the game. The game is fully in black and white, but still has a cartoony but wholesome art direction. It is also completely silly. There a character who is best friends with an apple that sits on his head, and he freaks out when something happened to the apple. There’s one quest where a character was singing to a princess who lives in a tall tower. You can tell him you’ll go check on her or hilariously tell him to just sing louder which he will do until you go up and return to him after making it to the top of the tower, and he’ll think you are the princess if you put on her hat.
I honestly felt like I could play the game on and on doing these little quests for the characters, but unfortunately I didn’t have all the time in the world. Toem 2 is set to release at some point in time next year in 2026.