Hexage’s recent decision to re-release its entire Android catalogue in HD form has allowed high-end users to enjoy fully optimised versions of some of the finest games on the platform.
As a happy side-effect, it’s also granted us the opportunity we’ve been looking for to cover Totemo.
The developer’s beguiling puzzler is a simple, understated game that has an oddly calming effect on you. Those with stress-related illnesses should read on.
Totem goalAs you’d expect from a Hexage game, Totemo presents a distinctive spin on familiar concepts. You could accurately call it a match-three puzzler, but that would only be telling half the story.
Presented with various formations of 'spirits' - glowing coloured balls - you must match them in threes (by touching them) in order to light up all three sections of a totem pole. At this point, the spirits disappear, with the goal being to rid the screen of every last one of them.
The only stipulation is that all three spirits must sit in the same row or column. This means that you must think carefully about which ones you match, as you don’t want to be left with odd ones or twos that don’t match up.
Complicating things further are star-shaped spirits, which fill up two of the totem pole’s sections. This means that you only have to match them with a single regular spirit.
Spirit levelsThat’s it in terms of gameplay, other than a time-based Survival mode. While the Story mode level count is generous (there are 100 to work through) they all consist of the same basic brand of spirit-matching, and a little more variety would have been welcome.
Where Totemo succeeds, though, is in its use of atmosphere to suck you in. The game has a gorgeous zen-like feel to it, thanks to some lovely ethereal graphics and hypnotically low-key music.
Combined with a mystical mumbo-jumbo storyline, it runs the risk of becoming a bit too new-agey for its own good. Fortunately, Hexage applies the brakes with some well-judged humour to keep things bright and breezy.
Totemo isn’t the most ambitious, varied, or fun game in Hexage’s portfolio. However, it effortlessly maintains the company’s high standards with a typically distinctive take on the match-three puzzler.Totemo
An understated yet beautiful puzzler, what Totemo lacks in variety and instant thrills it makes up for with its oddly calming gameplay
Jon Mundy
Jon is a consummate expert in adventure, action, and sports games. Which is just as well, as in real life he's timid, lazy, and unfit. It's amazing how these things even themselves out.