TOHU
Little Game, Big Heart
Developed by FireArt Games
To be released on Nintendo Switch, Xbox, Playstation 4, Steam, and Stadia
Release date: January 28, 2021
Materials & Methods
DISCLAIMER: Review code provided by FireArt Games
Reviewed on: Xbox Series X
Introduction
Point and Click adventures feel like that genre that has been lost to the annals of time. That could be in great part to the rise of consoles and 3D games. Every now and then there is a developer who tries to step up to the plate and bring them to the modern age. We saw this previously with the return of Kings Quest and newer games that feel like a point and click adventure in all but name. Exploring environments, trying everything around you in every possible combination until you progress, and speaking to everyone and trying items on them until special dialogue boxes pop up. But nothing really captured the charm that a lot of people experienced when playing games like Putt-Putt, Pajama Sam, and Freddie Fish. You know, the games that had big messages to teach kids while also being fun and entertaining. That is… until TOHU.
The Stranger has broken The Sacred Machine.
TOHU is an adorable game about a girl who is only called, “The Girl” who lives on a fish planet. Hers and many other surrounding fish planets depend on “The Sacred Machine”, a giant mechanism that helps this mecha-universe thrive. That is, until “The Stranger” comes along. The Girl and her alter ego Cubus, who is a giant cuboid machine and is the muscles of the duo, travel from fish planet to fish planet to get tools that could be used to fix The Sacred Machine before lives get destroyed by its absence. Thus begins a four to five-hour journey of helping other denizens to repair the machine and to find out why exactly this stranger wanted to destroy what gives life to their universe. And thus, you travel between fish planets via a whirligig powered by flying mecha-mosquitos to help pirates, your caretaker who lost his memory, and many more colorful characters.
Results & Findings
TOHU’s story is a basic one that also carries a deep message that believes in both the value of the journey and the destination. Throughout the four-to-five hour story, you see how much life depends on a single THING, “The Sacred Machine” and how, with it not running properly, it wreaks havoc on each fish planet. Parts of the game even show just how dangerous unchecked machines can be upon innocent citizens; which is odd to think about for a game that is very appealing for children. There are some parts that can even be perceived as scary just based on how bleak some environments get and how you find certain residents in peculiar predicaments. Don’t let this description deter you though- no matter how bleak the game gets, the leading character creates a certain charm for the game.
From the start, TOHU shows you just how adorable this game can get. The whole picture on-screen is very eye-catching with it’s hand-drawn elements. No matter where you look, something is happening. From the unique characterization of the wildlife to even the “humans” you interact with, something is moving on the screen. It’s this attention to detail that can only be appreciated because it shows how much TLC the developers had for their creation. They thought of exactly how everything behaved, and how the human’s animation cycles portray their emotions. For instance, there is a particular trader that you need to get a specific tool from. He is like any top hat greedy trader that you’ve seen
Cubus tries to catch Lightning Bugs.
The Girl is such a charming character. There is little dialogue, but it comes down to her animation style. Granted, it’s the symbiotic relationship with Cubus that is fun to see flourish as they try to save their friends. Thanks to a special cube that is a part of The Girl’s headpiece, she is able to transform into a burly robot. Cubus is basically the older brother to The Girl who is able to do all the heavy lifting. The Girl is the more nimble person of the duo. She is able to climb things and jump on trampolines to quickly avoid guards (during one particular instance). It’s a nice mix of knowing the exact limitations of each character and the developers working in specific puzzles for each one for most levels is a nice way to “complicate” puzzles. If you cannot find a solution, the best way to proceed is to just switch characters.
As mentioned above, this is very much a puzzle game. Each area has a big puzzle to figure out with smaller pieces to complete so you can progress. You’ll be walking along and find a small task to do to get the next piece of the puzzle for a larger puzzle you’ve seen before or find a way to a new room you couldn’t access before. For the most part, the solutions are easy to come by. You find a closet with a specific pattern of drawers open? You can almost guarantee that there’s another one that’s just like that closet somewhere nearby. However, there are times that I got lost and discovered a handy little feature that I think should be included in even more indie puzzle games.
There is a built-in hint system that changes depending on where you’re at in the game. It doesn’t reveal what exactly your next steps are. When clicking on the little Hints tab in the journal, a mini-game pops up where you have to have an autoscrolling cursor hit specific keys. Once you get it right, images show up. This is what I like most about the hint system: it’s not telling you “go to this exact point and do this thing to get your next clue”. It’ll give you a picture of where to go next and you need to find it. If there’s a puzzle there, it doesn’t give you the solution, only an idea of what you need to do. It’s a nice little touch that’ll help anyone get that inspiration to realize what exactly they need to do to keep helping The Girl out.
The hint system where the red buttons need to be pressed.
Not only are there environmental puzzles where, for instance, you need to complete mini-challenges in the surrounding area, there are also portions of the game where the only focus is to find a solution to one specific puzzle without any outside help. What’s next is my first negative for TOHU. To give an example of why this is a negative, there’s a puzzle that appears about halfway through the game. You need to manipulate a water source so you can remove mud off of a mask. This puzzle took me about thirty minutes to solve. It could’ve been because of many reasons, from trying numerous solutions to just being tired and needing to step away but refusing to out of persistence. Why? Well, you had to click on leaves to let the water flow, and clicking on some leaves move others. There’s over ten of them, and maybe taking out one or two leaves could have simplified the puzzle enough. It’s these erratic steep complexity curves in the puzzles that can lead to frustration from time to time and lead to you feeling like you’re beating your head against a wall to just try and progress. To be honest, there was only one real puzzle that felt like a roadblock, and other instances that happened just involved me not interacting with an object correctly.
A connecting puzzle where no plant juice can spill.
Unlike many other games that are stylized like a point-and-click adventure of yore where you can move around with the left stick, Tohu uses a pointer. Thankfully, you can manipulate the pointer’s sensitivity to move it around the screen more efficiently. However, this feels like a very awkward way to interact with the world when using a controller. For the most part, it works in conjunction with the art style and how the maps you explore are laid out. It’s much easier to move the cursor to the side of the screen to tell The Girl to move on instead of trying to find where the stairs can be interactable so you can walk down them. However when trying to interact with everything on your screen to find what items you can interact with and watch The Girl or Cubus walk along to where you tell them to go to shake their head time and again adds up. Especially when certain objects tend to be finicky to manipulate. For example, there is a puzzle earlier on in the game you need to have Cubus stand in specific spots to catch lightning bugs and put them in a jar. I found that you had to have Cubus in a fairly specific spot of the map to be able to catch these buggers. Just a little outside of where they need to be? Sorry, Cubus whiffs and you need to move them an inch with the cursor before moving the cursor back to the bug to interact with it. This sounds like a minor gripe because, for the most part, it is. That’s solely because it does get tedious during times of frustration or confusion.
Discussion
TOHU is a fun and endearing game that oozes charm at every corner. From the art style to every character interaction, you can tell that FireArts put TLC into everything they added to the game. For the most part… This game feels like it’s made for families to enjoy together. It is adorable and carries a message that should be taught to all kids. However, some puzzles ramp up the difficulty to eleven despite not being a game-ending puzzle. Granted, the difficulty could’ve felt high because of lack of coffee, but I think a game like this could’ve benefited by just evening out the large variation of difficulty to make it even more welcoming to players of all ages. If you want to burn some time with a fun little puzzler that I can guarantee will make you smile or if you want to play a game with your young ones, then look no further than TOHU.
