Witch Beam absolutely nailed the narrative puzzler when Unpacking became a surprise hit in 2021, managing to weave an in-depth story with nary a word throughout the game. But as seen at our PC Gaming Show, the developer's next endeavour is a little wordier, opting for full musical numbers and a dangerously catchy trailer song that'll no doubt have me quietly singing "Tempopo, Tempopo…" for the next several days.
Tempopo sees protagonist Hana losing all of the musical flowers that populate her garden. The aim of each level is to rescue Hana's flora and bring them back to their rightful place using Tempopo, which are sort of cute little blobby, vaguely bulb-like beings. They're a little dim-witted, mind you, which means they'll need some pretty solid direction in where to go and what to do.
Different Tempopo will act in different ways—like moving in a particular cardinal direction—and Witch Beam describes the gameplay as being sort of Lemmings-like in how you place each one down and then let things play out. It looks like you'll have to strategically place Tempopo so that they can work together—like having one fall into a hole and become a giant cube that will allow another Tempopo to cross, or having one saunter across a block where they can plant down and transform their little head leaves into a fan to blow their pals up onto a platform above.
It's looking mighty cute, and quite a lot different from the vibes of Unpacking, which is something I'm totally down for. I always like when developers muck around with different art styles and gameplay choices, though I do at least hope Witch Beam retains its knack for stellar storytelling with Tempopo. I love the chill vibes present in the trailer too, though I'm sure the puzzles are sure to cause some real head-scratching moments.
Tempopo is set to release some time in 2024, and you can peep the game's Steam page now.
