Diving into Tamashika, I was really unsure what to expect. It clearly has a unique visual identity, and it’s seemingly confident in what it wants to say. Yet I’m still not sure what I’ve played.
The story is minimal, barely there, and there’s a steep entry barrier where one mistake sends you backward to start the corridor run all over again. The checkpoint system is sporadic and doesn’t really indicate when you’re in the clear, either.
Tamashika is bizarre
Tamashika begins with the barest of tutorials. You have a knife and a gun, mapped to the shoulder buttons you use together. The knife can deflect attacks and parry bullets, while your gun is used to eliminate enemies. The premise is to survive through to the end of the level before it restarts the next day.
You’ll need to brush up on parrying because it’s a critical skill needed to survive to the end. You can shoot most enemies, but in a case where you’re surprised by a hiding combatant, you must quickly parry. The thing is, though, it has a learning curve. You have to press twice and watch where your enemy is before you can push them back.
I appreciate that Tamashika tries to overload your senses from the outset, and it doesn’t let up. The hand-drawn visuals hit hard, and your senses are thrown through the wringer with eclectic colours and animation.
Try, Try Again
The gameplay can feel overwhelming at first, even uncomfortable, and there were moments where that intensity pushed me away. Still, that initial friction feels deliberate, as if the game is testing your ability to adapt before revealing its true rhythm. However, if you persist, the itch to “I can get through this scenario” is satisfied, and it makes you want to go on.
Tamashika‘s world unfolds as you engage with it. The meticulous soundscape, paired with its lively, beat-focused music, starts to guide you, cutting through the visual noise. What first appears as a jumble of images slowly resolves into clarity, and the seeming randomness transforms into a pattern you can anticipate and react to.
This is where the game truly resonates, drawing you into a focused, almost trance-like state that values both concentration and swift decisions.
The game offers a very focused experience, built around a single level that reshuffles itself daily. A full run can take roughly ten minutes, depending on how well things go, which makes the overall package feel limited compared to more traditional releases. While Ascend Mode introduces checkpoints to make things more palatable, it doesn’t do enough to make the core feel or play differently.
Even as someone who enjoyed the game, I can understand that this is a unique experience, but it doesn’t offer much bang for the buck. Tamashika plays like something you’d play for half an hour a day, then move on. Players who prioritize progression, collectibles, or a strong narrative payoff may find the experience lacking. However, if you can look past Tamashika being something unique and unlike anything you’ve played before, then you can really find the beauty behind the premise.
I’m curious to learn what Tamashika is trying to tell me. However, Tamashika is meant to be played for short periods, and it has an important epilepsy warning at the start. This is a chaotic, flashy, and unwieldy experience.
At the end of the day, if you like the original DOOM style, this is a game inspired by it. It shows, too, as you move through corridors and defeat enemies. It’s something straight out of the 90s with the whole boomer shooter craze seemingly finding a second wind. However, it shows in its narrative, too, which again is nonexistent.
Verdict
Tamashika is not for everyone, and it is bizarre. I don’t expect it to blow up, since it’s excessively lean at times and lacks direction or guidance. Yet, I think it’s aggressively trying to make a name for itself, but it struggles to really say anything. Loud and chaotic, Tamashika plays nice enough, but it’s hard to discern what it’s trying to prove or to whom. Ultimately, I’m looking forward to returning to see if I can pick up anything that I might’ve missed, but as it is, it’s something you need to invest time into each week.
[The publisher provided a copy of the game for review purposes.]
Reviewed on: PC
