[Review] Papertris - Nintendo Switch

Developed By: Paper_Games
Published By: Flynn's Arcade
Categories: Puzzle
Release Date: 03.30.23

I feel like I don’t play enough puzzle games on Switch. I definitely do play them, but I’ll stick in my comfort zone, which is usually Tetris. When I was made aware of Papertris, I was intrigued. A puzzle game in the style of a notebook or paper? I’m down. I’ve been a fan of Flynn’s Arcade’s titles before, they’re usually on the dot for publishing, so this can’t be bad.

First impressions had me thinking of Columns. Three different colors, the need to connect them, and it’s a falling block game. That’s not quite the correct comparison though. There’s no diagonals, but instead levels will have multiple layers. So say you have your blocks up front and the blocks in the back. Placing a color on top of the same color as well as in front of it can clear them out. This also means some blocks you might need to clear can be obscured, but that just means clear out the ones in front. The further and further you get, the more colors and types of blocks are added. Some have an X and you’ll need to target specifically those. Some have a white center and you might need to avoid those. Levels have a timer too, but I never actually seemed to know if it meant anything, as the timer would go to 0 and nothing would happen. Maybe an update is due to fix that? If none of that is your speed, then there’s also endless mode, as all a good puzzler should have.

And don’t fret, you can still play this with a friend. Puzzle games and party games are how you ruin friendships.

I love how the game looks with how the colors all looked sketched in. And turns out they were! By the lead developer’s kids. It’s cute and knowing that the developer makes games with their kids makes this all the more wholesome to play.

It’s simple. And for puzzlers, that’s all you really need. It just has to hook you in. Trying to get specific blocks can be very much a pain in certain instances, but it never kept me from playing. I kept and kept playing. And did try (and fail) to actually get under the “time limit”. If your puzzle game can’t keep people playing, you’re not doing a good job and I am drawn in and wanting to play so…