Papetura Review (Nighthawks 2: Dine Harder)
Have you played Samorost, Machinaria, or any visuals-first point-and-clicker? This is that but missing a few things, and I don't mean just the color blue..
Papetura is unremarkable in game design. Puzzles are intuitable, but there are plenty of irritating parts, like slow walking and backtracking, having puzzles in one room trigger something in other rooms without telling you, a couple puzzles require really superfluous clicks, there's a too-tight timing puzzle, and there are other niggling poor practices in click-adventure games.
It is bad in story. There are few characters and none of them receive any characterization. There is a big monster that maybe threatens to blow up Paper Earth, but it isn't confronted. I won't spoil an 80 minute game much, but I will say it resolves limply and there is never tension, drive, or any character moments.
It is remarkable in its cool paper design. It does often look awesome. The detail and texture are warm and fun. They should be why you buy the game. Using only these shades of amber and tan is an extraordinary choice and it is very cool to stick your face up against the screen and say "Whoa! That's so fuzzy and real!" The basic style is pretty thrilling and the lack of color and focus on shading make it seem very deep and architectural. It's an extremely unusual style and an incredible way to deliver a simple surreal aesthetic.
The interesting narrative premise/twist (that the bad guy has fire in a world of paper!) isn't really explored in the art, story, or puzzles, which was surprising and disappointing. Sorry for that spoiler, but you should go into this expecting barely-linked puzzle rooms that are fun to look at, and not that kind of breadth or payoff.
It wasn't exasperating to play but it wasn't engaging outside of the environmental art. For the 81 minutes it took me to beat, the most positive thing I have to say is that it looks neat. And it really does! I did buy it on big discount, and I would be furious if I bought this for $12. For $6, ehh.
I look forward to seeing more stuff from this artist, though. Hopefully something with more depth to hook in to. This would be absolutely fantastic with any kind of complexity outside of the art. I love seeing this kind of art in video games and I think it's rad that people are making games that take these kinds of artistic chances. I also feel like it took me just as long to write this review as it did to complete Papetura, and I don't know which one I'll remember longer. I hope it's Papetura.