Developer: Space Lizard Studio
Publisher: Thunderful Publishing
Platform: PC, Switch, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Tested on: Switch
Paper Cut Mansion – Review
The roguelite genre is not everybody’s cup of tea, since people don’t always appreciate perma-death mechanics. The idea that you need to start a game over and over again to reach the end might sound annoying, but when dressed up with the right gameplay and story, it can be pretty appealing. Space Lizard Studio released their horror-adventure roguelite Paper Cut Mansion around Halloween of last year, and it’s a game that manages to set itself apart from its peers visually – though it’s pretty unique in more ways than one.
Story
The game opens with a short gameplay segment that shows our main character Toby as he follows a blue moth in a dark forest. It leads him toward a mansion that stands out spookily in the middle of the night. We then get the opening cutscene and a song that narrates the basic plot to us. After following the moth, Toby has found himself stuck in said mansion with everything around him suddenly being made out of paper. He’ll have to be crafty (pun intended) to find out what happened and make it out alive. The game has twenty-six different endings, with each run allowing you to uncover clues for your evidence board that lays out the overall story. While it offers an additional reason to keep doing runs even after completing the game once, don’t expect the greatest narrative here. The end result is satisfyingly tied together, but a little cliché.
Graphics
What Paper Cut Mansion definitely has going for it is its unique art style. Everything is animated as if it’s made out of cardboard and papercrafts. While this is certainly not the first game to do this, it definitely manages to use the style effectively through good use of lighting and design. It’s also fun that the fact that everything is made of paper is actually part of the plot and not just a stylistic choice. The game shows great attention to detail, especially when inspecting items up close. And since you hop through three different dimensions as part of the gameplay, it’s a nice touch that each dimension has a slightly different aesthetic to set itself apart.
Sound
The soundtrack of Paper Cut Mansion is downright fantastic, really nailing the creepy atmosphere while still being upbeat enough to make the silliness of the game shine through. The cutscenes that play between levels are narrated through songs rather than speech too. The voice acting – both for these songs and for the characters in the game itself – is top-notch and really adds another layer of enjoyment, even if some voice lines repeat a little bit too often.
Gameplay
Paper Cut Mansion is a roguelite horror adventure game where each run has you try to escape from the mansion, though the results will differ and you’ll find yourself exploring new parts of the house. This can lead to over twenty different endings which all together reveal the overarching plot, though you’re technically under no obligation to go for a 100% completion rate. Every run starts out with you waking up in a room on the first floor which you will need to escape. You’re guided by the blue moth, which shows you which rooms hold vital items and clues. There’s also a snarky ghost who offers the occasional hint.
While you explore the house you find portals that lead to other dimensions. The dimension you start in is called the NeoCortex dimension, a place full of traps that plays out more like a puzzle game. This is where you find clues and explore the easiest. The Reptilian Complex dimension is overrun with enemies and arms you with a gun to use, shooting down enemies left and right. Lastly, the Limbic System Dimension is an icy wasteland that damages you when you move away from heat. Every dimension has unique items and NPCs you can interact with. Some of them will offer you fetch quests. There’s also money you can find around the mansion which you can use to buy items.
To get out of the house, you’ll need to invest in upgrades and new skills. Some of the perks you can get are one-off advantages, boosting your health or speed only for that specific run. Others become permanent advantages in the way of cards you equip before the run starts. These include items that make the later levels easier by completely negating a trap or enemy attack. Between runs, you can change your active cards. This way you can change your advantages depending on what endings you’re trying to achieve or what fits your playstyle best.
While finishing the game once isn’t too hard and probably will only take a run or two, the fact that the story is locked behind several endings and clues makes it so repeated playthroughs are encouraged. Why some people might like this and others won’t, we found it a fine enough incentive to keep playing.
Conclusion
Paper Cut Mansion does not quite revolutionalize the roguelite genre, but it definitely incorporates all the reasons why fans like it. This game draws you in with its unique style, and it then keeps you playing with simple gameplay and mysteries that beg to be solved, even if the ultimate answers are a bit more boring than expected. If you can stomach the occasional perma-death, you’ll find a worthwhile experience in this game.
Paper Cut Mansion - Review,
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