Toem 2 PS5 Review. Hiding in the chromatic grasses of the indie sphere, 2021’s photo adventure Toem was a relaxing and sweet exploratory jaunt with a modest yet meaningful presentation that allowed it to stand out. Now in 2026 Toe m 2 is here to take us on another black and white photographic holiday, but does it expand meaningfully on the original game’s uniqueness, or is it nothing but a photo bomb?
Toem 2 Review (PS5)-A Photogenic Sequel
Toem 2 takes you a few years ahead into the future, where you play as the protagonist from the first game, only this time more mature, and picked up a few useful skills during this time. You start off in a little cozy cottage-like place in a coastal region called Deltburg, and after practicing some DIY on an antenna that introduces you to the new climbing mechanics, you and your gran watch the TV and learn that a sparkly new festival is coming to a nearby township. Determined to participate, our photographic explorer sets off another photographic journey, where you capture moments by helping solve problems by using the camera, and take snaps of the wildlife and phenomena happening around you.
As welcoming and cheery as the first game, Toem 2 invites you in with a comforting simplicity, allowing anybody to feel snugly when interacting with its monochromatic world. Returning players will also be pleased that it maintains the rhythm and flow of the first game, featuring enhancements that are straightforward but effective at making Toem 2 feel like an organic evolution of the first game, rather than a drastic overhaul that could’ve sullied its vision.
While Toem 2 follows the gentle and easily resonant principles that governed the first game, the experience in Toem 2 is vastly improved this time around. Now your spritely photographer can climb structures and jump, naturally giving more versatility to mission types, and allowing you to move around the environment with more freedom and less stubbornness than before. Such examples where jumping and climbing take effect is during a mission that tasks you to remove a disruption at a bakery, and another where you need to climb on the roof of a house to stop a dog from causing distress to a home owner by giving it a bone to gnaw on. Thus, not all missions involve a camera to resolve, so the new mechanics introduced in Toem 2 allow task assortment to widen in a whole new way. The protagonist can’t swim though, which isn’t a big deal and if there was swimming it’d deviate too heavily from the photo-taking, though it could be added in a hypothetical sequel down the line.
Tools of the Photo-Taking Trade
The bread and butter photography is still the centerpiece of Toem, encouraging you to grab the perfect photo whenever the opportunity arises. Taking photos is all about whipping out your camera, framing to your liking and then tapping a button to snap and process your fresh new piccy. Each photo you snap tells a different story, and the same goes for the type of progress you’re making. You could be fetching photos of chirpy birds and dogs to fill up a compendium and earn star stamps, or surveying areas for new versions of the same photo, like when a character tasks you with documenting all the formations you see in the clouds. While photography is leisurely and abides by the game’s well-meaning presentation and pace, you won’t be without challenge. Sometimes you’ll need to backtrack between areas to find the solution to the problem, and other times you’ll need to locate characters, puzzle-solve and pruning…..Yes you read that correctly!
Toem 2 provides you with tools you can use in conjunction with the camera to fix or trim down objects, and has become more of a device now rather than a one-dimensional image capturer. On the subject of cutting things down, there’s a brand new snip tool you can use to cut down objects in the environment using your camera like . In addition, a screwdriver allows you to mend signs and fix pipes, so it can be a very useful handyman gadget too.
The new drone-like functionality further bolsters Toem 2’s toolset, allowing you to leave the camera free-floating in the air so you can take selfie portraits. The little propeller on it is cute, turning the camera into some of a free-floating helicopter. You may not think this is such a big feature, but this time Toem 2 lends you the ability to grant the protagonist a star in the picture show, rather than a mere operator.
Whereas the original Toem was solely about taking photos with a simple camera, Toem 2 has opened up the creative envelope in new experimental ways, making it an object with the capability of expanding Toem’s potential in delightful new ways. You’re granted more freedom to experiment and find secrets while rejoicing in the gameplay enhancements that transcend the original in all the right ways. It’s true that solutions are singular, so multiple solutions can’t be sought for each challenge, but Toem 2 keeps things basic because it is beautiful when it is basic.
A Photographic Evolution
Much of this review so far has focused on evolution, and nowhere is that more apparent than the shift in visual style from the first game. The original Toem was a hand-drawn 2D adventure, and now in Toem 2 the art style has been given a facelift into the realms of the third dimension, and it looks fanatic. You’ll no doubt notice the glorious subtleties, such as pronounced character facial features, vibrant shading that adds a splendid depth which felt a bit thin and lacking in the first game. You could say Toem 2 looks more noirish due to how nourished it now looks, still sporting the first game’s black and white aesthetic, but only this time it has been inked and sketched like a comic book.
The music matches the tone of Toem 2 pleasingly as well, with upbeat tunes and notes that give off the easygoing adventure vibes. The general sound design also mimics this simplicity with snappiness from the opening and closing of the quest journal, to the snapshot sound effects and character murmurings. All of it is well thought out and assimilates well with other elements of the game.
Altogether, Toem 2 is the definition of what a good sequel should be, by evolving the core tenets of the first game and doing a fitting job across the board to transform what came before without losing the effervescent qualities of the original game. The new jumping and climbing mechanics, the wonderful new ways you can operate the viewfinder camera, and the lavishly upgraded graphics coalesce into a much-improved sequel. Fans of the first game should definitely play this one and newcomers should feel obliged to check out also.
Toem 2 doesn’t go crazy with new ideas and you solving the game’s challenges offer up singular solutions, but this second go around has livened things up in ways you can’t help but admire and respect. So go ahead, take another soothing photo adventure and embrace the new things Toem 2 has to show you.
Toem 2 will be released on September 29, 2026 for PS5, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC.
The review copy was generously provided by the publisher.