I'll have more to share on this when the game is actually out on the 14th, but I just wanted to give a shout-out to Tasomachi: Behind the Twilight, a lovely exploration-centric, combat-free platformer that I became aware of during the last Steam Game Festival.
I've been playing a review copy recently and I'm thoroughly enamoured with it. There are a couple of things about it that PC snobs will probably whinge about in terms of options, but in terms of artistry and game design, this is a very lovely game.
In Tasomachi, you play Yukumo, a young girl whose airship breaks down in a mysterious misty valley. Having to ditch in a tree by a small riverside settlement, she discovers that the area has been overrun by a strange "twilight fog", and only the influence of the nearby Sacred Trees can dispel it. Moreover, all the human inhabitants of the area seem to have vanished completely, leaving behind only the cat-like Nezu tribe.
Tasomachi is a collectathon platformer in which your primary goal is to acquire items called "Source of the Earth". These are scattered all over the place in the various "open world" town areas, of which there are three in total (plus a sort of "base" area). Some need special abilities to acquire, others are simply hidden in plain sight, requiring you to do some deft platforming to reach them.
In order to acquire Yukumo's three special abilities, you'll have to complete the Sacred Tree Shrines, which are self-contained areas in which you need to complete platforming puzzles. Later in the game, you can optionally return to these in order to take on some tougher challenges, or you can simply focus on exploring the town areas.
It's a beautifully presented game and plays really nicely, with responsive controls and plenty to explore. It also appears to be pleasantly brief; you can probably blast through the whole thing in an afternoon or two, and that feels like a good length. Open-world, exploration-centric games don't have to take you the rest of your life to beat; "player retention" be damned.
Anyway, there'll be more on this over on Rice Digital next week when the game actually releases. In the meantime, if it sounds interesting, be sure to give it a look and add it to your wishlist — and keep your fingers crossed for a console port; I'd love to see a physical Switch version.
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