[Review] Papetura - Nintendo Switch

Developed By: Petums
Published By: Feardemic
Categories: Puzzle, Adventure
Release Date: 12.01.22

Papetura is one of the most beautiful games I’ve played on Nintendo Switch. In the vein of games like Kirby’s Epic Yarn, Yoshi’s Woolly and Crafted World, Snoopy’s Grand Adventure, and Ayo the Clown, Papetura uses a more craft-like art style. If the name didn’t make it obvious, Papetura is all using paper. Everything is made with paper. And when you see the environments, you’ll agree with my assessment of it being gorgeous.

So Papetura actually means another thing. Pape and Tura, our leads. Their home is in danger of being set ablaze, so they’re on somewhat of a small journey to make sure they don’t lose their home. Papetura is an adventure game, one of the minimalist variety. No dialog, not very many buttons to press or options. Instead of being a guessing game with what item when and where, you’re usually given a specific ability or Tura to figure out what to do to proceed to the next screen. If you get stuck however, you can always hold X and you’ll eat something and get a little thought bubble that leads to a minigame where you need to collect little blue guys and avoid the red ones. I’d admit, I did use this at least once. And then immediately felt dumb because it was honestly kinda obvious in hindsight what I need to do.

How do I describe the general feel and aesthetic of Papetura besides paper? It’s a little creepy, but not outright scary. It’s kind of like a spooky stop-motion film. It reminds me of stuff like 9 or the works of Henry Selick or Will Vinton. It’s a style I dig immensely. Music is very atmospheric, and to be honest, something you might not even notice at times, but if you listen real good, you’re in for some good stuff. It’s fitting in the best way.

I’m mixed on adventure games. I love the ones that are funny, but do find that a lot just take far too long to play. Papetura isn’t exactly funny, but it is rather short. I’m fine with that. With the amount of work they put in to the graphics, it can be as short as it needs to be. It’s really hard to properly explain what I enjoy about Papetura outside of “Looks good and is simple”. Because while that is why I enjoy it, it’s a bit of a simple way to explain these last few paragraphs. It’s a game you probably owe yourself to play, if you have even the slightest bit of interest in any of this.