Know When To Fold ‘Em
HIGH The ending of the second act.
LOW The final boss.
WTF Getting decimated by a Roomba was not on my 2024 bingo card.
The puzzle-platformer genre is a crowded one. Long the haven of indie developers and home to many luminaries, it takes a lot to stand out here, but A Tale of Paper: Refolded brings a solid core mechanic and strong storytelling to the table. However, uneven execution and a general sense of fragmentation prevent it from living up to its potential.
Divided into three roughly equal parts, each with its own end credits sequence, A Tale of Paper: Refolded could almost be approached as three separate titles. Each portion has the player controlling a small papercraft character exploring a roughly human-sized world. As they progress, they will find origami instructions allowing the character to fold into new forms, thereby granting additional abilities. Most of these are centered around traversal — a frog to jump higher, a paper plane to glide across gaps, an anvil to smash into the ground, and so on. They feel good to control, and there’s a joy in fluidly stringing these abilities together during elaborate platforming segments.
The core conceit is a clever one, and harbors enormous potential. Unfortunately, none of the abilities feel unique or novel — each maps cleanly onto familiar moves from other titles in the genre, and I was rarely surprised or excited. Furthermore, beyond the traversal, A Tale of Paper: Refolded centers heavily around puzzle solving, most of which involves flipping switches to manipulate the environment and don’t incorporate the paper folding mechanic at all. While navigating the environment relies heavily on the
origami form abilities, it feels like a misstep to not incorporate them more holistically and creatively.
Narratively, A Tale of Paper: Refolded finds stronger footing. As mentioned, the campaign’s three sections provide three distinct experiences.
The opening act, with its musty attics, Limbo-inspired spider chase, and shadowy sewers make strong use of horror imagery. The second, taking place in and around a planetarium, has the player bounding across the surface of Mars using sci-fi and fantasy tropes to deliver a much lighter tone. The final act, with its playful floating mechanics and dark, ornate interiors serves as a blending of the first two but brings a new spin through musical theming.
Despite the aesthetic and tonal differences, all three center around themes of loss and yearning. While the narrative is wordless and opaque, the developers are deft visual storytellers and make thoughtful use of the environments and mechanics to reinforce the melancholy emotion. There is a universality to the material that is immediately relatable, and I found many of the moments surprisingly poignant and affecting. By the time I’d reached its third act and the thematic elements started to coalesce, I began to see the larger picture and my initially-chilly disposition started to wane. However, several questionable design decisions ultimately soured the experience.
Up to this point, A Tale of Paper: Refolded had been a relatively frictionless experience — the developers clearly placed emphasis on conveying feeling rather than challenging their players. So imagine my surprise when, at the end of the third act, I encountered a multi-phase, one-hit-kill, hyper-aggressive boss encounter! I fought it no less than 30 times before claiming victory, and its very existence felt completely at odds with the rest of the material.
The other major issue comes in the form of a puzzle about memorizing and matching trumpet sounds. Being required to memorize and repeat nearly identical musical tones caused me to spend a significant portion of playtime on this section. Furthermore, this section would be impossible to complete for Deaf or hard-of-hearing players, as there are no visual components to it.
It should be noted that the third part of A Tale of Paper: Refolded that contains the boss fight and music puzzle is unlocked after completing the main campaign and activated as a separate menu item from the title screen. I’m unsure if this section was intentionally difficult, possibly created as a challenge for players looking for more? But regardless, the difficulty spikes come out of left field and seem counter to the rest of the content.
A Tale of Paper: Refolded is a fractured product, but one that’s not without redeeming qualities — it’s hard for me to call anything that evokes a genuine emotional reaction a failure. The developers are clearly passionate and proud of their work, but the dissolution at its core proves too much of a hurdle for it to fully overcome. In the end, it remains a journey worth taking, but it was a journey that I enjoyed in spite of its mechanical side, rather than because of it.
Rating: 5.5 out of 10
— Ryan Nalley
Disclosures: This game is developed by Open House Games and published by Digerati
Distribution. It is currently available on XBO, XBX/S, PS5, Switch, and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PS5. Approximately 4 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.
Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E and contains Mild Fantasy
Violence. Generally, this game should be appropriate for all ages. There is some spooky imagery,
but it is of a mild and cartoony nature.
Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game contains no dialogue, and as such there are no subtitles.
As mentioned in the body of the review, there is a puzzle in the later stages of the game
that requires sound to complete. As of the time of this review, there are no visual cues to
assist, and when playing this section without sound I was unable to solve the puzzle. Therefore, this game is not fully accessible.
Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable.
Following this introduction, Ryan dove headlong into the 16 and 64-bit eras, culminating in the year 2000 with a fateful visit to the local game shop.On the recommendation of a saintly store clerk, Ryan picked up a copy of Deus Ex and, shortly thereafter, embarked on the vain quest to find a game that tops it.
This journey has led Ryan to GameCritics where he attempts to articulate why he still finds this medium so compelling.When not playing or writing about games, Ryan can be found watching competition reality television with his wife, their dog, and three cats.
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