Rusty’s Retirement repopularised the idea of having a semi-idle game running at the bottom of your desktop screen while you do other things. Santa Gamepaper takes that same idea and turns it into a 2.5D collect-and-throwathon game that tries to channel the Christmas spirit but ends up feeling somewhat clunky and difficult to play.
Santa appears at the bottom third of your screen – sometimes the bottom half – and can run around inside a small 3D environment that feels more like a 2.5D plain. Over time cookies appear for you to collect and these turn into presents. Also spawning over time are various naughty children. They stay in one place and look possessed and dazed but that’s nothing that throwing a present at their head won’t fix. Using your mouse, you aim and click on the child to aim and throw a present at them, transforming them into a nice child if you hit them close enough. Do that 150 times and you’ve completed the game.
Whilst the concept of lower-third games on your desktop works when viewed from a top-down, 2D or slightly isometric perspective, the concept struggles when it enters a 3D realm. You can barely see what’s in front of you and running towards the camera gives you zero warning of hitting a hill or slippery blue ice, which triggers the same painful falling animation over and over again. It also blocks your view from throwing presents as sometimes the game just lobs the gift into the snow or a hill that you can’t see. Not only is the gameplay loop very shallow (on purpose, as it’s a distraction game rather than a full game) but it feels frustrating and clunky to play. If the camera angle was different and some more things to do were added in, Santa Gamepaper would be a quaint and cute festive experience.
Alas, it is not. Instead, you’ll wrestle with blind camera angles, the game not knowing if you are clicking on the app or browser you have up on the screen or Santa Gamepaper itself, and the promise of reindeer is grossly overstated. I really liked the idea. The execution? Not so much. However, there isn’t anything else like this out there for the festive season. If you’ll get some kicks from Santa turning around to watch your YouTube videos along with you on the bottom of the screen – there’s still some merit in getting it.
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