I really wanted to love Tasomachi: Behind The Twilight more than me. I have been watching the game for about a year, after being seduced by the soothing aesthetic and the architecture of cities. Although my expectations about the game may not have been accurate, they were still not satisfied. Although I expect a little more exploration and an existing story, Tasomachi still managed to be a decent platform collection game.
The game puts you in the role of Yukumo, a girl who finds himself blocked on an island once her airsack breaks down. The island is completely uninhabited apart from a cat resembling a cat, and a mysterious fog covered different parts of the city. In order to lift the fog, Yukumo must find enough sources of land to access and restore the sacred trees. Essentially, it’s all the story, if not even a little more. As I expected the story to play a more important role in the game, it turns out that the gameplay is the presumed motive force of the game.
The main game loop of Tasomachi revolves around Yukumo Collecting Sources of Earth. These can be found in bushes, buried, on buildings, in sanctuaries (mainly dungeons / puzzles) and elsewhere in the world. At the beginning of the game, you need these sources of the Earth to progress towards the following areas and more sources from the Earth. As you finish with sanctuaries and you restore sacred trees, Yukumo starts having access to additional skills such as an air shot, a double jump and a ground hammer.
Additional skills allow Yukumo to reach sources from the land that would otherwise be inaccessible. Later, a airship is also available. Essentially, the game loop consists of collecting sources from the earth and then collect others. The collection of these objects often requires a certain platform, but the commands of the game did not seem as accurate as I would have liked it. In addition to finding them scattered in the different places, you can also talk to the inhabitants resembling city cats to gather mini quests such as removing posters to make more sources.
Tasomachi: Behind The Twilight is a game in which the gameplay is the only motor force forward, especially without a lot of narrative. Heck, the game sometimes looked more like a technical demo than a real game, but that’s what we have here. There is certainly something to say about relaxing games with a relaxed goal and a minimalist story, but it does not look like we have here with Tasomachi. The game seemed too simplistic without a clear motivation to advance the game, and I went to try to collect all the sources of the Earth simply get enough to move forward.
While Tasomachi: Behind The Twilight does not play as well we could hope, the game always looks like planned. The artistic style of the game combined with global architecture allows the title to stand out visually. This is particularly the case when the fog in each zone finishes by dissipating and that bright colors emerge all the more. Although the visuals impress, each zone essentially has the same appearance given the color palettes and architecture. Although the areas are obviously different in terms of the size and location of the benchmarks, it would have just been able to take place in the same area as far as I know.
Overall, Tasomachi: Behind The Twilight is a little disappointing. I guess part of this conclusion can be attributed to my own anticipation and my own understanding of what the game was, but the fact is that objection, Tasomachi is a simplistic collection-a-tuna without clear motivation for Advance the player. Although the game has a solid foundation, we could have done more to make it look more like a game than a demo. While the sum of its parts is desired, various aspects of Tasomachi: Behind The Twilight show what the Orbital Express developers are capable, and that’s something I look forward to.
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