Toem 2

Toem 2 follows the unnamed photographer from Toem, several years after their first journey. The protagonist learns that the Whirling Birch is about to bloom during the Whirlhill Festival and leaves Homelanda to photograph the event.

The journey takes the player through several regions, including Cropten, Taletorp and Deltburg. Residents offer quests that generally involve photographing particular animals, people or objects. Completing quests earns stamps, which are used to obtain tickets allowing travel to subsequent regions.

Following the completion of Toem, Something We Made experimented with several prototypes for other games. According to studio co-founder and artist Lucas Gullbo, none developed into a project that the team wanted to pursue. The studio had continued working on updates for Toem, however, and eventually decided to return to its setting for a sequel.

Toem 2 was developed using Unity, but was built largely from scratch rather than reusing the first game's codebase. The developers used tools they had created since completing Toem, allowing them to construct larger and more detailed environments. The team retained the series' monochrome visual style. Gullbo said that adding colour had frequently been suggested for a sequel, but the developers considered the black-and-white appearance part of the game's identity.

Toem 2 received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic. OpenCritic reported that 87% of critics recommended the game.

Reviewers praised the game's presentation, photography mechanics and characters, although opinions differed on how much it improved upon its predecessor. Sam Loveridge of GamesRadar+ gave the game 4.5 out of 5 stars, praising its writing, side quests and photography puzzles. She particularly enjoyed how photographs and objects encountered earlier could become useful during later quests, but wished the approximately four-hour adventure had been longer.