Origament: A Paper Adventure is a chill little platformer where you play as a letter trying to make it to its final destination. Along the way, you’ll fold and refold yourself into four different forms — ball, plane, boat, and shuriken — to glide, roll, and slice your way through seven themed levels.
It sets out to be a relaxing ride with its soft visuals and soothing soundtrack, and for the most part, it sticks the landing… though by the end, I was feeling a little dog-eared.
Paper Beats Rock, But Not Fire
Origament starts fairly lightly, allowing you to get used to your shapeshifting skills. There’s a slight delay when shifting between forms, so make sure to account for this. Sometimes the physics reminded me of Egging On, though thankfully, it’s much more forgiving than that.
Early obstacles are pretty straightforward — think fire bushes you’ll need to soar over as a paper plane, or pesky fire bugs you can shoo away as a shuriken. You’ll even “unwind” doors to open them, which is equal parts ridiculous and oddly charming. Not exactly by-the-book logic, but I’ll allow it for creativity.
READ MORE: Review | Life is Strange: Reunion (PS5)
As you progress, the obstacles don’t exactly fold into anything more complex but there’s enough variety to keep things from feeling too flat. There’s a generous amount of checkpoints (thankfully), which saved me more than once.
It’s all been designed with a controller in mind, which made it near-perfect for my Steam Deck. That said, it started crashing during a particularly long level, forcing me to to switch to PC to finish it.
You sadly don’t unlock more forms as you progress in Origament. On one hand, it gives you time to really master the core four. On the other, if you’re expecting the gameplay to keep unfolding with new mechanics… it doesn’t quite deliver — a bit of a catch-22. But as it’s not designed to be a long game, I didn’t mind too much.
Pesky Platforming
Each level in Origament has several coins to collect — some are obvious, and some are not. These coins unlock new paper colours and instructions on how to fold different origami forms like a fox or a jet plane. While this was nice, it felt a bit weird to spend coins on it since it didn’t add to my overall experience. I initially thought I was working towards unlocking new forms, so the payoff felt a little creased.
The themed levels help keep things fresh visually, even if the gameplay loop stays pretty consistent. There are also optional challenge races in each level — time trials or destruction-based runs — and these can get surprisingly tough. Quick reflexes are key, but that slight delay in switching forms can trip you up. I did get pretty frustrated, but you can breeze on by if you want a stress-free experience.
READ MORE: Review | Cleaning Up!: ‘Cosy, Cleaning Therapy’ (PC)
There were a couple of moments where I got stuck in the environment (literally caught in the fine print), but a quick respawn sorted it out. It does make things feel a bit rough around the edges, but overall, the game’s aesthetic still holds up. I particularly loved the Western level, where you had a wacky cart ride to get through. It was really unexpected and reminded me of the mobile game Temple Run.
The Long And Short Of It
The level lengths in Origament felt a bit off. The Western level, while enjoyable, dragged on with 39 coins to collect, while the next level only had seven. It feels like some of that content could’ve been better distributed instead of being stacked all in one place.
Where Origament really shines is in its presentation. The visuals are charming, the music is calming, and some levels — like the Medieval one — feel almost dreamlike. That section in particular gave me strong Clair Obscur vibes in the encounter with Sirene.
That said, the story feels like it got lost in the mail. I only really remembered I was a letter searching for its recipient right at the end, and the conclusion didn’t quite tie everything together. Origament’s themes don’t fully stick, but honestly? I still enjoyed the journey. Despite a few creases showing.
Quest Daily scores Origament: A Paper Adventure:
6.5/10
Origament: A Paper Adventure is available now on PC via Steam.
A copy of Origament: A Paper Adventure was supplied to Quest Daily for this review.
