Origami finds its way into video games more often these days, and Origament: A Paper Adventure takes full advantage of the paper craft. Players take control of an undelivered letter and change state to traverse through seven different worlds to deliver themselves. It is a beautiful, luxurious adventure that focuses on variation and feeling over complexity and challenge. Origament doesn’t want you stressed. Instead, it wants you to feel relaxed and warm.
Players change between four states using the face buttons of their controller. To move on land, you’ll change into a ball of paper. To jump and glide, there’s a paper plane state. Origament features a lot of water, so a paper boat is the third state. Lastly, a shuriken state acts as an enemy scarer, button presser, and last-minute jump extender. There is no combat in the game, but you will need to trigger the shuriken to scare away bugs that will attack you. Similarly, Origament’s biggest enemy is the red spiky fauna that covers most of the levels. Do not touch it. If you do, you’ll respawn at the last checkpoint.
Most of Origament’s gameplay takes place in small, contained areas full of corridors and courtyards. It feels very on-rails and that often makes your next platforming challenge easy to spot. Whilst the gameplay mechanics of the four states never change, how you use them changes constantly across the main story. Sailing down the Venice canals acts like a chase. A minecart ride requires jumping between carts and breaking through wooden stoppers because they hurt you. There’s a stealth section to avoid cowboys. A rat maze in the dark threatens to derail your adventure. You’ll be riding wind currents around mountains or caves. There are a couple of box pushing and colour matching puzzles, but they make up about 5% of the game. Everything else is situational platforming. It is beautiful to look at as you barrel through all the red fauna, dodging and traversing to stay the course and reach the end. The main story takes about 3 hours, with a chunk of optional challenges to tackle long after.
Origament: A Paper Adventure has a two-tier approach to difficulty. The main story is quite simple, with regular checkpoints. Each level has coins scattered around it, and they can be collected to unlock new paper types and real origami designs to try out with real paper. Along the way, you’ll come across a guy who looks a bit like a postman. He offers bonus optional challenges for more coins and collectables. This is where all of the harder parts of Origament are hidden. These challenges include point-to-point races, or battles against origami birds to see who can finish the level or race first. These require exacting precision and timing that the main game doesn’t. Timing does matter in the main game, but usually for one or two actions only. The challenges need you to perform for a good 60-90 seconds perfectly.
Whilst I enjoyed the cosy, warm, glossy vibes of Origament, there are a few minor quibbles. The game froze for me multiple times in the treasure coves level, specifically when interacting with your cat guide. You can respawn back at the previous checkpoint most times, but twice I lost my level progress. Whilst I’m sure that can be patched, trickier to solve is a general depth perception issue when gliding. Sometimes it looks like you aren’t hovering over wind fans or close enough to the ground when you land on the red fauna and die. This is camera positioning related, and it’s something you have no control over. Most of the time, the cinematic camera positions work well. You’ll flip from 3D chase cams to 2D side-on views and isometric perspectives fluidly. It’s only when you are high in the sky that it feels a bit off. I got used to it over time, but the view was visually a bit jarring.
If you are looking for a lush, vibrant, relaxing adventure, then Origament: A Paper Adventure is a strong option. There’s a lot to enjoy if you prefer the simpler approach to 3D platform adventuring. The movement is direct and fluid. The visuals and sound are crisp and expertly put together. It won’t outstay its welcome, either. Watch out for Higher Plain Games in the playtester endgame credits, too!
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