Some sport builders would possibly really feel strain to provide you with one thing new or reinvent the wheel for each new undertaking, however generally, when you could have a good suggestion that resonates with an viewers, there isn’t any hurt in simply giving folks extra of what they need, however higher. That is primarily what occurred with Swedish indie developer One thing We Made, creators of 2021’s cosy images journey Toem.In accordance with co-founder and artist Lucas Gullbo, the crew had labored on a lot of prototypes following their debut sport’s launch, however nothing had caught. However as additionally they frolicked returning to Toem for content material updates and quality-of-life fixes, it quickly grew to become obvious {that a} sequel was the best way to go.”I feel there was nonetheless an itch to maintain making Toem stuff,” he tells me. “We loved the making of the sport rather a lot, and we simply settled on doing a sequel and seeing what would occur.”
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(Picture credit score: One thing We Made)A sequel that goals to retains its charmAs a sequel, Toem 2 additionally does not intention to shake up the method an excessive amount of, from a call to stay with the unique protagonist who will naturally be a extra assured and passionate photographer trying to find Toem phenomena slightly than beginning over with a brand new protagonist altogether. It additionally retains its charming monochromatic artwork fashion, although one might need assumed this might be one thing to vary in a sequel, in an identical solution to Nirvana Noir.”Including color is the very first thing everybody steered,” Gullbo laughs. “However [monochrome] is part of the world, so with attempting to proceed the story the place we’re attempting to clarify what these types of Toem phenomena are, including color simply because would not make a complete lot of sense.”Making a sequel that followers could be accustomed to additionally does not simply imply merely rehashing the identical instruments as earlier than, although Toem 2 can be being developed in Unity.”We began from scratch principally,” he clarifies. “It is simpler to begin recent after which implement all of the issues that you’ve got thought of slightly than attempt to repair the whole lot a bit odd. Now we have discovered rather a lot because the first one, and we’ve a bunch of our customized instruments and stuff, so growth is rather a lot sooner this time.”Day by day design information, opinions, how-tos and extra, as picked by the editors.(Picture credit score: One thing We Made)Taking part in with perspectiveThere’s additionally a notable distinction from the earlier sport’s visuals, which had the distinctive hook of presenting an isometric world, however which might come all the way down to viewing the world in a first-person perspective whenever you get out your digital camera. Regardless of this play between views, the artwork in Toem was all primarily 2D sprites made 3D by way of billboarding.”The primary sport seemed the best way it did as a result of I used to be the one artist on it, and I am not assured in my skill to make correct 3D stuff,” Gullbo admits. “So I leaned into constructing issues out of sq. shapes and descriptions. However we’ve a much bigger crew now, so we’ve the manpower to do 3D issues.”Certainly, it had been within the earlier sport’s Basto replace, which included a 3D-rendered dinosaur skeleton, that served as a take a look at for the way the world would look mixing 2D and 3D collectively for a pleasant distinction, and so you’ll be able to see these ideas utilized in a extra bold type in Toem 2.In presenting its isometric and first-person digital camera views, lots of the identical ideas apply in Toem 2, with the neat trick that whenever you’re indoors, the first-person digital camera will show partitions, whereas these are invisible when it’s considered from top-down.”Within the first sport, we simply took this digital camera and moved it down,” says Gullbo. “However in the second, we’ve two cameras, so you’ll be able to see the background world whenever you open up your regular digital camera too, which appears form of cool, and it is all in real-time.”(Picture credit score: One thing We Made)Toem 2 has some new featuresThe biggest enchancment in Toem 2, nevertheless, is in simply the gameplay really feel, which has additionally simply been a results of the crew’s developed expertise, particularly studying easy methods to make the participant character transfer round extra freely, virtually like a platformer, together with the power to leap.”Within the first sport, the participant character is kind of at all times grounded, to allow them to solely stroll the place there’s a path, which we’re baking, however that meant that we could not do issues like have a personality leap from one platform to a different as a result of there must be a connection between them,” Gullbo explains. “This additionally began to point out itself in bizarre locations the place round staircases, if the participant tried to maneuver diagonally up, they’d kind of bounce again, and it was a whole lot of these small annoyances from our aspect.”Whereas there’s nonetheless extra work to be performed on the sport, the general really feel is that each side of the sequel simply appears like an enchancment over its predecessor. “Quite a lot of issues are a lot sooner, so we’ve made a few of the mechanics really feel snappier in a way. It feels good to eliminate the static motion from the primary sport, which ended up being tough to work with. I feel that is proven that we’ve grown as builders.”(Picture credit score: One thing We Made)Toem 2 will likely be coming in 2026, and could be wishlisted on Steam.
