Paper Trail Review

Many times over my gaming career I’ve gravitated towards guns and violence (I promise I’m a well adjusted member of society though, don’t report me to A Current Affair), but every now and then I don’t mind putting aside my instruments of virtual murder, forgetting the body count and dabbling in a bit of puzzling. Enter Paper Trail, a quaint and meditative top-down origami puzzler on the surface which hides a sinister yet compelling difficulty just beneath. It’s beautiful, it’s tough, and for lovers of exercising the old grey matter, it’s a title you shouldn’t pass up.

Time to depart from comfort

Paper Trail follows the story of Paige (because paper), who much to the chagrin of her doting parents decides to leave the family home to attend university. Her parents aren’t thrilled given the disappearance of her little brother some years ago and their desire to keep Paige sheltered, but Paige is steadfast in her conviction, leaving the safety of the nest to pursue a life of academia. Unfortunately there’s no active bus route where she’s going, and Paige must traverse caves, bayous, sea towns and temples to get to class, all while carrying a cow on her back so she can have milk at recess. That last bit may be pushing the truth, but there’s no denying that Paige’s path to learning is a long and complex one.

Luckily, Paige has the ability to fold the paper scenes that comprise her world, and the simple flow of the game boils down to effectively moving from section to section by folding the environment to reveal hidden paths and solve puzzles. It’s a simple mechanic on paper (heh), but it’s constantly incorporated in clever ways that frustrate (in a healthy way) and delight in equal measure. No single scene ever feels like pointless busywork to move you from one scene to the next, every puzzle feeling deliberately crafted like only an artisanal puzzler can be. The simple folding mechanic blends seamlessly with moving platforms, pressure pads, stubborn statues, light-activated switches, portals and crazy doors which separately form central puzzle elements in several thematically and visually distinct biomes.

Violence against giant flowers is not ok

 I will admit that a few sequences stumped me for a few minutes, and given the complexity of some of the fold sequences, varying levels of frustration may lead to varying levels of enjoyment depending on your personality

Each biome culminates in a large and difficult final puzzle demanding dozens of folds and manoeuvring to reveal the path forward. I will admit that a few sequences stumped me for a few minutes, and given the complexity of some of the fold sequences, varying levels of frustration may lead to varying levels of enjoyment depending on your personality. You can fold directly from the bottom, side or corners of each scene, and the only real rule is that Paige and moveable objects like statues can’t be standing on a piece of the environment she intends to fold, but she and the objects can traverse a folded section as long as there is a path. You can hold a button to reveal the underside of each section which will give you a better idea of what and when to fold, but expect a little trial and error as you shuffle paper and objects about trying to figure out what each tableau demands. There’s a gentle hint system which instructs the order in which folds must be made, but it cleverly doesn’t hand you the solution on a silver platter as you still have to manoeuvre Paige herself and the other puzzle objects strewn about the joint in order to reach the goal.

The folding also works its way into the slightly cryptic metastory (folding the fabric of reality can be a dangerous pastime if you’re not careful), but while it’s got that cool whimsical storybook feel, I can’t say I felt overly satisfied with the resolution. In its defence I don’t think the point of the story was really to resolve itself, it feels content to just be a quirky take on the departure from comfort archetype, but I was left wanting a little more payoff after so many hours spent crumpling up the scenery to get to the gates of the university.

The theft of this old lady’s undies is an important story arc 

Final Thoughts

Paper Trail is a perfect example of a simple but engaging mechanic done well. Its difficulty is spicy enough to make you feel like a moderate origami genius, but not so difficult that you want to throw your crudely crafted swan into the fiery pits of hell. Folding reality itself may perhaps have lent itself to a bit more metastory meat, but a chill colourful aesthetic and a nice feeling of momentum should be more than enough to sate the average puzzle fan.

Reviewed on Xbox Series X // Review code supplied by publisher

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