TOHU reminded me of a lot of games that I played as a child, from the point and click design to the mini-game layout, I found myself feeling a bit nostalgic. This game is quite delightful if you don’t mind going at a slower pace and you have the patience to figure out some pretty difficult puzzles. I found myself enjoying the problem-solving aspect and wanting to play more.
TOHU is an adventure/ puzzle game that will stimulate your mind in the best and most enjoyable way possible. While the storyline is simple, TOHU makes up for it with the challenging puzzles in unique locations. Even as someone with limited puzzle gaming experience, I found TOHU to be a fun game.
Spectacular Visuals
The moment you open the game, you are immediately transported to a world of wonder. Each location has its own personality that allows the art style and music to synergize effortlessly. I would catch myself lost in the most minor details around the screen forgetting the task at hand. The dreamy steampunk style fills the world with mystery but allows you to remain at peace as you play. Each location was its own magical fish planet that held wonder and beauty. The color theme of purples and pinks mixed with various neutrals makes the game feel warm and mystical. The music, composed by Hollow Knight’s Christopher Larkin, is the glue that holds the game together. The music calms you as the puzzles get harder, complements the art without distracting you, and keeps you immersed in the world. I cannot compliment TOHU’s distinct style enough.
Gameplay
In terms of gameplay, TOHU is straightforward. The storyline is not really worth noting, it is basic and goes along well with the puzzles and objectives, but it doesn’t bring anything groundbreaking to the table. The main objective of the game is to gather the tools to fix the sacred engine. Playing as “the girl” and her alter-ego Cubus, a mechanical robot, you travel to different fish planets that each come with a new set of puzzles or minigames to complete. There are very few interactions between the characters and yourself. The girl never talks and the only dialogue is provided from characters at the fish planet setting up the challenges. The girl is able to transform into Cubus and lift heavy objects when needed and she could shake her head when I wasn’t clicking on the proper area. I didn’t ever feel a connection to the character or care about the main plot of fixing the sacred engine. I was having more fun completing all the challenges and looking at the striking visuals. TOHU relies heavily on the style and puzzles to bring the game to life.
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Mechanics
TOHU is a classic point and click game. The point and click style requires you to slow down, explore, and click on various objects that you may have skipped otherwise. However, it does this almost to its own detriment. There were times where I wish I could have done things quicker and felt frustrated with how slowly everything progressed. The speed might not have been such a problem if the puzzles weren’t so hard or if I were better at puzzles. While the game does give you hints they are very vague and only help so much. The other part of the mechanics that can be frustrating is that you have to do very specific movements within the game. You have designated spots to click on to walk and to complete the puzzles properly. If you misclick or drag an item into the wrong place, then it might make you restart the puzzle or it makes the game feel even slower. The difficulty of the game remains fairly constituent throughout, some of the puzzles do get more complicated the further you get through the game, however, some of the most difficult puzzles were at the beginning for me. None of the puzzles were unsolvable, but depending on how sharp your brain is some of them will take one or two tries to complete. The game is very user friendly when coming to the mechanics and mostly anyone could play.
TOHU reminded me of a lot of games that I played as a child, from the point and click design to the mini-game layout, I found myself feeling a bit nostalgic. This game is quite delightful if you don’t mind going at a slower pace and you have the patience to figure out some pretty difficult puzzles. I found myself enjoying the problem-solving aspect and wanting to play more.
