Toem
Timing is a funny old thing. In any other year, Toem would be the pre-eminent monochromatic indie adventure game about the creation of visual art. However, in 2021, those qualities make the comparison to Chicory inevitable – and it’s a little like holding up a single well-composed Polaroid next to one of those oil paintings that dominates an entire wall of a gallery.
This is not necessarily a weakness, however. Toem is small by design, a two-hour bus tour that takes you from your home to the mountaintop natural wonder that lends the game its name. Along the way, there are just four stops – woodland, sea port, big city and ski resort – each constructed from a cluster of singlescreen dioramas that can be taken in from a God’s eye view or, with a pull of the trigger, studied close-up enough that you can pick out every little line on the faces of residents.