Puzzles are a defining feature of many games, challenging players to solve problems, manipulate their environment, and overcome obstacles through logic and exploration. Not only do they provide gameplay challenges, puzzles can also become powerful storytelling tools. This week, I played Tengami, a puzzle-adventure game designed by Nyamyam, targeted at experienced puzzle-game players and careful explorers. The game is set inside a Japanese-inspired pop-up book, where players fold, slide, and rotate the paper world to uncover new pathways. Tengami weaves its narrative into gameplay by using mechanics that symbolize restoration and puzzles that guide the pace of revealing the world through exploration. Together, these systems create curiosity and satisfaction while also creating some frustration and accessibility challenges.
Tengami tells its story through embedded narrative, where players uncover the narrative by interacting with the paper world instead of being told directly through dialogue or cutscenes. Throughout the game, players collect scattered sakura blossoms to restore a dying cherry tree, but the restoration is presented through gameplay rather than scripted events. The page-folding mechanic is a great example of this design. By folding, rotating, and sliding the paper world to uncover hidden paths, players are not only solving puzzles but also actively discovering and rebuilding the world themselves.
During my playthrough, I discovered objects such as pieces of a broken family crest and a gear hidden in the buildings. Because the game never explains what these objects mean, I interpreted the withered tree and scattered blossoms as symbols of a broken family that players gradually help restore. This open-ended storytelling encourages players to construct their own understanding of the narrative instead of following a fixed explanation
Compared with Monument Valley, where environmental manipulation mainly supports spatial puzzle-solving, Tengami uses the same environmental manipulation mechanic to connect gameplay with storytelling, making every interaction feel like part of the story’s restoration rather than simply game progression.
Not only does the page-folding mechanic weave the narrative into gameplay, the puzzles in Tengami also guide players through the narrative in the gameplay by gradually revealing new locations, environmental clues, and opportunities for interpretation. Rather than presenting the story directly, the game guides players to uncover it through exploration in puzzles instead of dialogue or cutscenes. For example, geographical-transformation puzzles guide players toward previously inaccessible areas by asking them to reshape the path and space, allowing them to discover new environments and clues. Audio-sequence puzzles guide players to slow down and pay attention to the sounds around them, reminding players to observe the environment more carefully instead of rushing through. Information puzzles further guide players to connect clues across different locations, such as remembering the numbers on the broken ship to unlock a later puzzle. By gradually guiding players from one clue to the next, these puzzles do more than simply blocking progress, they guide players through the world in a way that lets them uncover and interpret the game’s embedded narrative for themselves.
However, the game sometimes introduces locked locations before players have enough clues to understand their purpose. While this design encourages exploration, it also creates unnecessary backtracking that interrupts the flow of discovery. For example, in Chapter 3, I was guided to explore a tower before finding any clues that were useful for later puzzles or understanding the story. Since there was no immediate reward or explanation, revisiting the area later felt more repetitive than satisfying. Introducing these locked locations after players have some clues could be more effective and better support the flow of discovery
On the other hand, these frustrating moments also highlight how Tengami balances rewarding discovery with occasional frustration, shaping the overall player experience. These design choices also reveal the designers’ assumptions about their players. Mechanics such as page-folding, observation, and audio-sequence puzzles encourage the dynamics of exploration and experimentation, leading to aesthetics of curiosity, challenge, and accomplishment. Simultaneously, the game’s slow walking speed and frequent backtracking create moments of frustration that require players to remain patient throughout the experience. These design choices suggest that Tengami assumes players are willing to carefully explore every corner of the environment, remember small details, recognize patterns, and solve problems with minimal guidance, which indicates they rely on “player empathy” by expecting players to notice and connect environmental clues without explicit instruction. As a result, the game is more accessible to experienced puzzle players and careful explorers than to players who prefer clearer directions or need additional accessibility support.
To improve inclusiveness, rather than reducing the difficulty of its puzzles, Tengami could offer optional accessibility features such as adjustable walking speed, progressive hints, or a journal that records discovered clues. These features would preserve the game’s intended challenge while allowing more players to experience its embedded narrative.
Overall, Tengami shows that puzzles can serve as both gameplay challenges and storytelling tools. By weaving narrative into mechanics such as page-folding and exploration through puzzles, the game encourages and guides players to uncover and interpret its world through their own actions. Although some design choices can interrupt the flow of discovery, Tengami successfully demonstrates how puzzle mechanics can create a meaningful and immersive narrative experience.
