Paper Trail Review on Xbox

Paper Trail is a top-down puzzle adventure about leaving home, set in a foldable, paper world.

The premise is you take control of Paige, a young girl who decides to go on a journey to university, in which you learn to fold the world, merging two sides to solve puzzles, explore new areas and uncover long-lost secrets.

The game boasts challenges puzzles, unique cast of characters, an intriguing story and a good variety of collectibles.

Accessibility

With regards to accessibility, there is no Controller mapping, but there is subtitle size options and different language types, plus cursor sensitivity. The developers have even added in an accessibility tab providing options such as low motion camera, reduced flashing, text animation and the ability to show a grid. In terms of options for audio, there are a number of in game sound options plus UI. 

Gameplay

This was a game I thoroughly enjoyed playing the demo of at London’s premier indie event WASD. What starts of simple, soon becomes more challenging and tricky the further you progress.

You start of with a small introduction of your character and your home, with the tutorial level being there to let you understand the basics as you make away around your little enclave. Here the basic of folding the landscape to fill in path gaps and create new alternative paths is explained.

Looking outside the box is very much encouraged, but regardless there are rules to folding the landscapes corners, and sides. Folds cannot overlap, so tweaking the landscape in one way may hinder a needed fold in another way.

The premise throughout this, is really to find away of moving Paige to the next landscape arena in order to move the story forward. During the landscape puzzles, you will often see hidden origami collectibles which will need a different set of paths to reach. This provides a even more of a brain tease a when working out pre-emptively which part of the landscape to revise to get to location.

Both the front and back of the landscape hold clues on how to progress, often from one side of the landscape to the other in a very non-linear fashion. Paths will become more complex as you progress, with you having to sometimes retrace your path in order to move forward again. In no time at all, you will be unconsciously be constructing origami-like shapes with out a second thought.

To ensure variety to your gameplay, its not all about just folding the landscape at the correct location. New other aspects are often introduced like moveable boulders, light beams, floating platforms and bridges that will involve contorting, spinning, rotating, twisting other elements around in some fashion. This adds another layer of complexity to the already unique brain tease available.

Playing this is very much a slow paced enjoyable brain work out that truly makes you think in how to move forward. A good life skill for all, might I add. That said, some puzzles can be brutal if you struggle to think outside the box, but thankfully the developers have thought about this and put in a really good hint system with the Y button. It provides hints in stages, so you don’t get the fully explanation in one go making you feel like you have cheated. You can get a hint to the point you are stuck upon and then work the rest out for yourself.

The Story is told through flashbacks and monologues with characters you meet along your journey there to give you hints and encourage you to move forward. Each are a unique blend of comforting stereotypes to out right weird, something that suits the games unique tale well.

Graphics

The visuals of this game really sets it apart with landscapes looking like lovely collection of hand-drawn watercolour collages. Variety of these lovely artworks are varied to from caves, woods, towns and ruins all highly detailed and subtle.

The control system is superb with RT/LT or either bumper buttons being able to grab areas of the landscape, with the directional thumb stick moving the cursor and allowing you to pull, fold, turn and move elements and the landscape in general to the location you desire. This in turn is thanks to the clean monochrome out lines when choosing a part of the landscape to fold, perfect for those with visual issues.

Turning to see the back of the landscape which shows a different set of landscape paths is also only a X button press away and essential for your planning. Movement is fluid and whilst the game works best with mouse and keyboard the controller is still fantastic its responsiveness.

Sound

To combat the intense brain racking, the music and sound effects are solely there to calm you as your brain frantically tries to work out a solution. Angelic choirs blended with subtle piano tones ooze from the games pores, and has a soothing effect I veery much appreciated.

In terms of voice acting, this is kept to telling the story in cutscenes with text boxes and quirky tones to for in-game narration. Sound affects are equally well done, with the forest sounds providing some of the best realistic atmosphere to engage with.

Overall my recommendation for this game is a good gaming headset to enjoy that lovely soothing music to its fullest.

Verdict

This leads me onto the rating of the game:-
Now I rate games in order of, avoid, on sale, great purchase and must own. My rating for Paper Trail is a "Great Purchase’’.

For puzzle enthusiasts or those that want something challenging, surreal and relaxing all in one go, this would be ideal. Its just the right amount of challenge that proves the developers knew what they created to get the very best out of gamers.

The game is currently priced on Xbox at £16.75 or approx. $20 and depending on skill and patience would give you over 6+ hours worth of gameplay. There are optional origami unlockables to find, which add complexity to an already complex puzzle, so you may wish to leave these and return once completed, which could add a few more hours to the mix. There currently is a demo out till May 21st, for those that wish to dip their feet into game as well.

I adore this game and by the very end, I felt proud I didn’t use any hints to complete it. But now, I do feel abit empty and miss those challenges the game provided. I do hope developers think about some dlc to keep my brain from falling into disarray.