Review: Paper Trail (Nintendo Switch)

Paper Trails is an adventurous puzzle game in which you play as a young girl who runs away from home with hope to attend school and find a life on her own…one that isn’t controlled by her parents. This young girl, Page, has a hobby for origami, as well as the ability to warp space and time. For the player, that manifests as folding the pieces of paper on which she walks to create paths for her to get from one destination to the next.

That mechanic can actually be quite tricky. Page moves around easily, but she faces many obstacles—such as broken bridges, trees, and bushes—that block her path.

It’s your job to grab either the sides or the corners of the paper on which Page is standing and fold them so they create new paths. If you happen to match a path with another, allowing Page to cross to the next area, you complete the level. However, as the game progresses, you will find you’ll have to fold the paper multiple times. If a paper is folded, and Page stands on that folded paper, you can no longer move it, which adds a level of difficulty to the game. Though, a lot of the time you can fold another part of the paper, walk on that bit, then unfold the previous part so she can head back in that direction.

Folding the papers can get pretty difficult, so it’s nice that the game not only gives you the ability to see the back of the paper with Y, but it also gives you hints with X. Seeing the back of the paper comes in handy, as you can see where the hidden paths are and which way you need to fold to connect them with the paths on the front. The hints are shown by sliding your Joy-Con L stick to the right to unveil the order in which you have to fold and/or unfold the papers. The further into the game you get, the more obstacles you run into, such as rocks you have to move out your way or domino-like paths that have to match numbers in order to cross.

Needless to say, Paper Trails does a good job at progressing in difficulty while continuing to feel fun and new throughout.

While the gameplay can get sort of challenging at parts, the controls remain easy throughout the story. The game always shows you what the buttons do, and there really isn’t much to do with them, anyway. Other than grabbing the papers and folding them, which is done with your R stick and ZR, all you have left to do is move Page.

Along with fun and challenging gameplay, Paper Trails offers colorful and stylized graphics that are enjoyable to look at. Using a very cool tone, the game’s art style mimics that of a watercolor painting. Due to Paper Trails being about folding paper, it’s only natural for the game to look and feel like you’re actually working with paper, which I thought was nice.

The audio mimics the sound of paper, as well, and the relaxing music in the background helps the game to flow by.

While playing Paper Trails, it’ll be easy to find yourself growing attached to Page’s adventure. This makes completing each level all the more exciting, as it’s one step closer to helping her reach her dream. With a charming art style and easy gameplay, Paper Trails remains fun, but challenging, allowing it to be enjoyed for hours at a time.