Paper Trail is a short but sweet, top-down puzzle game developed by Newfangled Games and inspired by the art of origami. As the brilliant storytelling unfolds (pun intended), you’re met with a charming adventure, a uniquely beautiful art style, and brow creasing puzzles. You’ll need to overcome challenging obstacles to discover new pathways and navigate through vast paper environments.
Story
Paige is a young girl from the quaint fishing village of Southfield, a small-town homebody aspiring to become an astrophysicist. Those dreams become a reality when Paige receives a university acceptance letter. A wave of excitement hits, quickly followed by anxiety, as her parents protest her leaving home.
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That night, a storm hits the sleeping town, and Paige sets out to check in on her neighbour’s safety. Opportunity strikes while her parents are getting ready for bed, and Paige sneaks out to follow her true path.
Upon your journey as Paige, you will uncover more about her personality, parents, and past. You’ll also meet a quirky cast of NPCs that bring brief but sweet pops of colour to the story.
The storytelling in Paper Trail showcases exceptional creativity. You’re seamlessly transported into interactive cutscenes as you navigate your adventure, where skillful paper folding reveals dialogue and advances the scene. While the journey to university holds significance, the heart of the game lies in Paige’s captivating narration of her life story.
Gameplay
At first, I wrongfully presumed the game would be a breeze to play… How hard can folding paper really be? However, even though I love a challenge, it turned out to be quite a humbling experience. It’s not just about folding paper, it’s about creating precise folds and sequences to progress to the next scene. Obstacles like boulders, statues, and portals add to the complexity, requiring problem solving skills to navigate.
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On PC, Paper Trail uses point-and-click controls to move both Paige and the paper. You can also view your collection or restart levels via the menu.
Each landscape has two sides, the primary side with the puzzle and the opposite side, with a clue to the solution. You can view the opposite side with a simple click of a button, which helps you map out your folding sequence.
If you’re like me and can find hard puzzles mentally draining, there is a handy hint tool to help you from going mad. It can be triggered at any time and will step you through the exact folding sequence needed to complete the puzzle.
For players who like to focus primarily on story, this tool will become your best friend. However, it could be a little bit TOO helpful at times, holding your hand tightly and removing too much of the challenge.
While navigating different obstacles, you may find origami totems to collect. Although these totems looked cool, I didn’t feel the pull to go out of my way to collect them, as they require you to complete an additional folding puzzle. Solving the main story puzzles was enough of an achievement for me!
Design and Soundtrack
The artwork and design in Paper Trail is nothing short of beautiful. The hand-drawn art style is reminiscent of a picture book as if you were looking down upon the pages.
Each new environment has its own vivid colour palette. My favourite was a Halloween-inspired forest featuring vibrant autumnal colours and characters carving pumpkins.
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The design of each scene is also complemented with ambient music and sounds. You could be greeted with the pitter-patter of rain, wind blowing through trees, the croaking of frogs in a swamp, or birds singing in the distance. It gives each area its own ambience.
There is a subtle musical soundtrack throughout the game, though it’s the focus on those ambient sounds that create an immersive gaming experience.
Should I play Paper Trail?
Paper Trail has successfully taken the art of paper folding and used it to create a fresh approach to the puzzle genre. I often felt like I was sitting at a table with a piece of real origami in front of me, as I folded and unfolded my way through the game, uncovering the fantastic story.
I highly enjoyed my time with the game; the challenge of solving intricate puzzles, and the dopamine hit it gave when I did, was well worth it.
Paper Trail is available to play now on Steam, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox X|S, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android. It’s also available as part of your Netflix subscription!
Quest Daily scores Paper Trail:
8/10
A review copy of Paper Trail was supplied to Quest Daily for the purpose of this review.
