![tengami gameplay tengami gameplay](https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/PG-7ETafZj2SdDuyNGSHANrPiLo=/0x42:1024x725/2420x1613/filters:focal(0x42:1024x725)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/1953899/screenshot1.0.jpg)
This goodwill is only reinforced by your first sight of the game's luminous, delicate visuals, and the obvious tactile pleasure of manipulating its papercraft world on the touchscreen: sliding tabs to move things, or flipping the pages of the book over to create a new scene or viewpoint. Creative refugees from the corporate game factory, theirs is the sort of story that generates automatic goodwill. It was made over three years by Nyamyam, a tiny team formed in late 2010 by a couple of ex-Rare staffers, Jennifer Schneidereit and Phil Tossell. But those looking for the next artistic game of utter genius like Sword & Sworcery will need to keep waiting.This brief yet languid puzzle adventure, which brings a pop-up book of traditional Japanese illustration to life, is an obvious labour of love. Tengami’s production values are through the roof, and those looking for an audio-visual feast won’t be disappointed. This lack of satisfaction leads into the ending, which doesn’t really have much payoff for the player. One puzzle involving ringing bells had a solution that mostly involved “ring a bunch of bells in some semblance of order until the game says the puzzle’s solved.” As well, other solutions can just feel frustratingly obscure, like the game’s actually much more clever than it thinks it is once the puzzle’s ultimately solved. The puzzles traverse a line between being clever, with some hidden secrets to try and figure out, and just being obscure. Puzzles also start to involve backtracking, which becomes a slow, un-fun slog. So much of the length of the game – which may be only a couple hours for smart and focused players – has to do with the protagonist’s lethargic speed, which seems like a nice stylistic touch early on but after a short while caused my internal monologue to scream “run like hell already!” Sadly, he did not listen.
![tengami gameplay tengami gameplay](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LVn5flmRTR8/maxresdefault.jpg)
It all creates a world that’s just amazing to play with.įor the first 5 minutes, this is a 5-star game, and no matter what, it needs to be seen in motion.īut the problems with Tengami start with the realization of just how slow it is. The soundtrack is exquisite: at one point while distracting myself from a frustrating puzzle that had thrown me off, I wound up just listening to the game soundtrack inadvertently until the screen auto-locked. The controls are simple enough: tap twice to move to a place, and then just tap on any glowing object to interact with it. Scenery folds up and expands from the world, forming new places and situations for the player to explore and interact with. The pop-up book look of Tengami is distinctive and fantastic: it forms the aesthetic of the world, along with the Japanese-inspired universe that the events take place in. But that’s where the comparisons end: Tengami lacks substance.
![tengami gameplay tengami gameplay](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/6b/5c/80/6b5c80f34804d4e08c43f7105f1728d4.jpg)
Like that classic adventure game, this is a game with style for days. There’s one comparison I made when I immediately started up Tengami, and that was Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP.