![]() Still, Tengami is definitely worth it for the presentation and experience alone. There is also Game Center integration, but only for four achievements that are tied to progression in the story, so that isn’t going to add much to replay value. Once you beat the game, there won’t be much reason to go back to it, unless you want to experience the serene journey again. This is a point-and-click adventure that has quite engrossing puzzles, though most can be solved fairly quickly if you are just observant to your surroundings. ![]() I haven’t finished the game myself just yet, but I am hearing that the game is only a few hours, if you don’t get stuck on a puzzle for too long, of course. To progress through the game, you will need to solve whatever puzzle is in front of you to reach the portal to take your character to the next page in the pop-up book. Players can swipe or tap on indicated elements to interact with them, such as activating switches, making wind-chimes move to create soothing music, and revealing stairs to get on another level of the book. You will encounter interactive elements in the settings that will react to your movement, and it’s your job to solve the puzzles with them before you can advance. As you watch your character come to life, you tell him where to go by double-tapping on a spot in the book, and watch as he makes his way over. This is done by retrieving a cherry blossom fragment from each location, which is hidden, so you’ll have to solve the puzzles to make sure you get them. There are four different areas in Tengami, and you will find out that your goal is to restore life to a dying cherry tree. Seriously, this game is one of the most beautiful I’ve seen on iOS. Some of the environments that you’ll experience on the journey include dark forests, abandoned shrines, and tranquil mountain waterfalls, all of which look amazing. Tengami takes place in a Japanese pop-up book, and as you go through the various environments found within, you will learn about Japanese fairy tales that are told through the spectacular displays, complete with haunting music to fit the situation. It’s a point-and-click adventure that brings a sense of zen to your hectic life. I also found the soundtrack to be quite a delight too, and this is definitely something you want to relax with after a long day. Tengami has gone great lengths to bring the pop-up book to life, featuring textured paper backgrounds and interactive environments, as well as mixing in flat, 2-D characters in a 3-D world. Then I launched the game, enjoyed the soothing title screen, and then dived in to the calm and serene pop-up world. Seriously, I actually already fell in love with Tengami just from the icon sitting on my home screen - I had noticed that even the icon has a bit of depth to it, giving it a 3-D look, almost as if the shrine is “popping” out from the icon. But Tengami literally brings the pop-up book to life, with stunning visuals that look great on Retina screens. ![]() I’m not sure if this would make the puzzles harder or easier for someone who has never seen kanji numbers (in one puzzle you simply need to recognize the symbols in another you’re asked to add up a count), but I appreciated that the developers went with kanji and not random symbols or Roman numerals.We’ve all had pop-up books as kids, I’m sure. One thing I found interesting was the use of Japanese numerals in the puzzles. ![]() Tengami uses kanji numerals in some puzzles. Tengami is admittedly more of an interactive story than a game-the puzzles are all easy to medium-level difficulty-and so the atmosphere, soundtrack, and sound effects are an important part of making you feel lost in this world. The game has a robust original soundtrack (available to stream onīandcamp) that features Japanese instruments like the koto. For example, swiping your finger across a temple might fold the temple into itself to reveal the temple’s interior, or swiping your finger across a building might switch the perspective from the east side to the south side.Ītmosphere is on point: Tengami is based on traditional Japanese culture and aesthetic, and the game does a very good job of cultivating an authentic atmosphere (while still feeling like a game, and not history lesson). The way pop-ups work in this game are similar to the perspective shifts in It’s not just the artwork that impresses. The way the pop-up pages have been drawn and animated are breathtaking-there were several times during my play-though that I stopped mid-pop-up just to marvel at how detailed the animation was. Gameplay is simple, and mostly involves sliding your finger across the screen to open and close pop-ups and double-tapping to move your character. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |