by David RodriguezTOEM 2 has a lot going for it from its short demo alone. I’m so glad I played the demo because, I’m happy to say, it charmed me way beyond my expectations and earned a well-deserved spot on my wishlist.
(Full disclosure: I have not played the first TOEM, but the cute black-and-white asethetic and photography hook latched onto me.)
TOEM 2 is, at its deepest core, perhaps a collectathon game. It wants you to explore, to be curious, and to pull out that camera often to view your surroundings in a way your normal isometric overworld perspective just can’t. You’ll find adorable critters, intriguing posters, and other objects like bicycles and sneakers hanging from a clothesline to snap pictures of. Basically, anything you see through your camera’s viewfinder with square brackets around it has a chance of being useful later on – snap a pic!
This demo takes place in a truncated version of one of the game’s regions, Deltburg. In it, you’ll get to meet a plumber, marine biologist, smellologist (this is the technical term, of course!), and many more characters who can help you. You can find actual physical objects for your little guy to grab and present to certain people later, but most of your collecting will be photo-taking. Snapping a photo of a woman’s lost ring and showing it to her allows her to instantly retrieve it, to her elation. Presenting a photo of a smelly thing to the smellologist lets him smell it and recreate it on the spot. This is not a game grounded by any sort of realism, and it’s all the more captivating for it.
Music and ambience go far to making Deltburg feel lived-in and welcoming. All the fauna around the town are happy to pose for photos. The houses and shops around the place are quaint and inviting. Aside from some stress a few characters feel when you interact with them, it’s a very easy-going time in Deltburg, and even the ones that aren’t having the best time can be coerced into one by helping them out.
Your handy journal tracks quests you’ve found and can give hints on ones still to find or complete. It took me just under an hour to photograph every critter, complete every goal, and reach the demo’s end screen. With how basic yet fun TOEM 2‘s premise is, I could have written up this article after about 20 minutes, but the fact of the matter is I wanted to keep going. I wanted to explore and see what else this game’s whimsy could provide me. There’s even some light platforming challenges which are a great change of pace. I love that you get a little minimap in the top-right corner so you know which areas you have been to so far and where you need to go next.
My critiques are very few and far in between; more preference-driven, but ones I think would allow TOEM 2 to be enjoyed more easily by more people. In the demo, you can only control the camera’s view with the left stick on the controller, with the right stick zooming in and out. Having the option to swap stick functionality for those of us that play a lot of first-person games and are used to looking being mapped to the right stick would be nice. Being able to remap any of the buttons would be good, in fact, jump being on the left face button is a bit awkward, I must admit. Finally, I’d love to see access to the journal mapped to a single button. Having to pull up your inventory and then select the journal in your backpack tab isn’t the worst, but with a couple of buttons on the controller being unused in the demo, the opportunity seems possible.
Even if TOEM 2 were to ship as-is right now, those little bothersomes are far from dealbreakers. I’m an adaptable guy as are many others, and the game’s cozy, jovial, wholesome tone isn’t betrayed by that or anything else. Playing this demo made my morning and I think it’s make yours (or your day or night) if you give it a try. It’s easy to get into and not frustrating to play no matter how you play. Developers Something We Made should feel great and accomplished with what they’ve done with TOEM 2 so far because it’s infectious. Visit Deltburg today! There’s even penguins in the aquarium. 🙂
TOEM 2 is due for release in the third quarter of 2026 on Steam for PC, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch. The demo is live now on Steam!
TOEM 2
