The Subtle Magic of Folding Paper in Tengami

I guess this preview should start with an apology. See, I played Tengami months ago at the first annual BitSummit -- an independent developer conference in Japan -- but forgot to write about it for IGN. And, at the time, I walked away impressed. I thought it was wonderful and different: a serene and thought provoking experiment that used interesting visual trickery and puzzles.

The first time I played Tengami, I did so on an iPad. Today, I played an early build running on Wii U at PAX. And, more importantly, I still felt the positive about it.

But I will admit that it's hard to fully grasp Tengami at first glance. In fact, during my Wii U demo two attendees started talking about it, and I couldn’t help but overhear their discussion. "I just don't understand what the game is here?" a disinterested male voice said.

"It's a game where you tap and explore an environment, " Someone quickly responded. The conversation between the two ended there.

Easily described as a puzzle game meets pop-up book, I played Tengami and walked through a serene and mysterious forest. I used a one-touch interface to interact with different tabs. One puzzle required me to fold bush-shaped papers closed so I could open a path. Another involved a trolling wolf that would howl in order to close a stairway I unfolded.

As I silently wondered how to get rid of this pest, the answer presented itself as I journeyed to the right-most part of the screen. I found a tree with wind chimes that I had to manipulate in a specific order. Once I accomplished this task, the trolling wolf went to sleep. "Time to go back and unfold that paper staircase, " I thought.

The mystery unfolds in Tengami.

Given the puzzles and interactions I've described, I hope you can see what makes Tengami so special. It's subtle, inventive and, at times, clever. Each new page unravels another beautiful setting with moving streams and colorful fields. The pop-up aesthetic gave it a unique character and look. It's Eastern influences fit the quiet atmosphere well.

Tenagami is an interactive picture book, but one that presented little story. At BitSummit, I remembered it involved a character with no name. So I asked a representative on hand, and she clarified that Tengami does travel in a specific arc, but she hoped that people wouldn't hang too much on a story and observe a bigger, metaphorical tale bound inside.

I also wondered if, given this started as an iOS game, if multi-touch would be a problem. The rep on hand clarified that even though all iOS devices supported multi-touch, the team wanted to focus on single points of interaction. It helped the developers emphasize only specific points for the player to focus on.

Even after I played this early, unfinished build of Tengami I felt my interest pique just a little more. Once it was over, I wondered what mystery sat at the heart of this soft and interesting game. Tengami will first come to iOS in 2013, and a Wii U version will happen in 2014.

Jose Otero is an Associate Editor at IGN and host of Nintendo Voice Chat. You can read more about the games he likes by following him on twitter.

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