Tengami

This game is very unique, but it's unbelievably short, and ultimately serves no purpose. You basically just explore via point and click and solve extremely basic puzzles. It's always obvious where to go next. You will never get stuck. Despite not liking this game very much, I do have to commend the developers on their originality and the beautiful art style, but in the hour it takes to complete this game, you will not even remember it when you finish.

Tengami is a beautiful game, with a lot of thought into its design, no doubt. The pop-up book style and the more traditional Japanese aesthetic are impressive, and the soundtrack adds a lot to the game's atmosphere. In that sense, it's great! However, the overall "game" just falls short. As a game, it has nothing. Even as an "experience", it just feels empty. It's clearly an iOS game, and not in a good way. Perhaps it's good to have on your phone and play 10-15 minutes before going to bed, but nothing else. So, what are the problems? First, the sound design in general isn't very well implemented. Half of the time, the tracks simply stop playing (and I'm not sure what triggers it, they simply stop) leading to silence... In the other half, the tracks stop, and another begins. It just feels unnatural and "breaks the immersion". What could have been a really nice experience will leave a bitter taste after that. Then, there's the problem with the puzzles/story. The puzzles are meaningless. At least they seem to be, and the game never does anything to change that. There aren't really unique a well explored mechanics. 70% of them are simply trial and error -- although not the frustrating kind -- simply going up and down through the pop-up book's layers. They're ok, but are simply there to make time, I guess. The other 30% require a bit more attention from the player: for example, spotting little characters more or less hidden in the pages, or counting the symbols hidden in structures. But even these are meaningless. They have no real connection with the experience, other than being puzzles set in a pop-up book. The story is presented through a couple of cutscenes, but there really isn't much of it, at all. At the end of each chapter, you're presented with a Haiku as well (I think that's what it is, anyway: a very short poem, composed with 3 phrases, aiming to capture a single moment). The problem with that is that you don't really have access to those poems after seeing them... if you didn't write them down, it's not really conducive to interpretation or whatever else... Again, the puzzles are simple, but not elegant or meaningful. They're simply there. It's a cool visual idea, but then they've done absolutely nothing with it, game-wise. A great example of an iOS game that actually uses every aspect to deliver a very interesting experience, despite being very clearly design for mobile phones and short playtime, is Year Walk. That game is brilliant. And every single puzzle and scene is meaningful in some way. And the game makes you replay it several times, each time giving you a bit more insight into its meaning. If you're looking for that kind of experience, definitely get Year Walk. It's unfortunate that Tengami is as empty as it is... It's a very beautiful game, but it's just that. Pretty to look at. Here's hoping that they do something more with their next games!

Tengami is a short game. It took me about an hour to complete. It doesn't have much of a story, but the interesting paper look and gameplay is pretty cool. I had fun playing this and there were alot of "that's pretty cool" moments. The graphics and sound are good and the controls are straight forward (you only use the mouse). Pretty good for a budget title.

Tengami is an action game, really well made and very fun ti play. In the game you need to defeat the enemys to beat the levels, but they will become more challenging throughout the entire game, making it very cool to play. The graphics are pretty good for its artstyle and so is the gameplay. The soundtrack isn't the best, but not the worst. I recommend this to all the arcade games lover and also to the adventure kind of games lovers, because they will have a great time playing this little game!

If I had to give a note to this game would certainly be 9 ( not 10 because of the soundtrack that i didn't like ). Although the Indie game is much better than I thought, making it through different feelings and sensations to the player. The graphics are also very satisfactory and impressive, and very beautiful. The story is very interesting and can leave the player completely involved in addition to enter him into a Japanese pop-up book. If you like the Japanese culture this game surely will please you as a good description of the legends and myths of the place. I would certainly recommend this game to people who enjoy quiet games and portraying the culture of other places.