![]() But after a while, the deliberate steps start to feel slow. As the game begins, I can feel my breathing slow and my world narrow into this calm little measured space, the character's deliberate steps, the sounds and the gorgeous colours of the game helping to pull me in. It's trying for a calm, meditative state, a variation on a Saturday morning sort of "lying on the sofa with a cup of tea not doing anything very much" feeling. There's a specific mood that Tengami is trying to create in its players, I suspect, and it's not one I'm good at sustaining. When I realise I must solve a code that is going to involve a significant amount of backtracking, I decide to go do something else for a while. I find myself double tapping on the screen to walk through a (beautiful, but minimal) area for the third time and then having to stop myself from playing Threes on my phone while the walking animation plays. I find myself sighing with mild disappointment at the third instance of the same puzzle mechanic. ![]() It suffers from some of the same constraints as a real pop-up book: the interactions are generally obvious and limited in scope. I don't want to dislike Tengami, because it is so beautiful to look at and to listen to, because it is crafted with so much delicacy and love, and because it ought to be so restful to play. You can get it in the App Store as a universal download for $4.99.But. If you enjoy soothing point-and-click adventures, or just unique game experiences, then you need to pick up Tengami for yourself. This is one of the most phenomenal games I’ve played so far this year, and the visuals and soundtrack make it worth the $5 price tag alone. 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. We’ve all had pop-up books as kids, I’m sure.
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