Paper Cut Mansion

by Aethyna Oct 30, 2022 | 1 Votes | 91 Played | 0 Reviews

9 rate

Genres:

Adventure

Graphics:

Labels:

Adventure , Survival , Escape Game , Roguelike/roguelite , Horror

Platforms:

Publishers:

Thunderful Publishing Join Toby on his journey of discovery as he tries to figure out how he ended up “paper-ized” by delving deep into his mind. Switch between the three brain systems to solve various puzzles and complete quests so as to unlock new memories and pieces of evidences for your evidence board. Can you find out what really happened? Play Now Similar Games

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Summary Plotline Gameplay Graphics/ Sound Conclusion

Summary

For fans of both roguelite, mystery, as well as musical games like Figment, Paper Cut Mansion fits the bill perfectly. In this game, you’ll follow the adventures of Toby Caputo, as he figures out how he ended up “paper-ized” by delving deep into his mind. Switch between different brain systems, the neocortex, limbic, and the reptilian complex to solve various puzzles and complete quests so as to unlock new memories and pieces of evidences for your evidence board in hopes of finding out what really happened to Toby, that is before everything became cardboard cutouts.

Plotline

The game is very vague with its story at the beginning. You have no idea who Toby is, why he is at this mysterious mansion, and why everything’s in cardboard cutouts – a question that Toby himself has asked in the starting scene. However, as you progress, you’ll get to delve more deeply into Toby’s memories and figure out what actually happened and why he is seemingly trapped in his mind.

Gameplay

Paper Cut Mansion is a room-based roguelite. This means that exploration based on moving from room to room – it’s done in a very seamless way here – as you search them for clues or pieces of evidence, look for NPCs, solve puzzles, or even find quest items. The layout of the dungeon changes from run to run, including the kind of content in the rooms, as would a good roguelite do. There’s no map here, but there’s a compass if you know how to use one.

Each dungeon has, what I’d call an Exit Room that’s locked behind a Talking Door. By fulfilling whatever the Talking Door needs, you’ll then be able to talk to the final quest giver. Complete whatever that’s needed of you, again, and he/she will then open the trapdoor, allowing you access to a new level and hence, a new dungeon.

Although most of the game is set within a maze of rooms, a.k.a. the “dungeon” you’ll be “crawling” in, sometimes, there are doors that will bring you to a different instanced location where you’ll be given a defined path, or in the case of the garden maze, be required to find the correct path, to follow as you search for whatever you can find there, such as the exit that’ll bring you back to the dungeon.

Some of these locations are built like obstacle courses, where there are dangers such as spike traps, moving sawblades or swinging axes. However, they aren’t all too difficult to go through, especially if you don’t just rush through them blindly. Many of these obstacle courses can be very rewarding, but since they are entirely optional too, you can simply choose not to risk it.

As you explore, you’ll encounter two kinds of NPCs. The first being the standard quest NPC. It seems like the quests here, besides the one given by the talking door and the final quest giver behind it, which mostly consists of fetch quests or kill quests, are entirely optional, but you’ll do well to complete them since you’ll get a badge to pin on your uniform. Depending on which badge you choose, namely Attack, Defense, Wit, and Dexterity, you’ll then gain a stat point.

Personally, I’d recommend getting Wit as much as possible since this is required to open some reward chests in the game, but of course, you do you! Reward chests can contain either an equipment card that you can then choose to equip or add to your collection, or coins, which you can then use to purchase random equipment cards from the lawyer or to buy some overly-expensive coffee from the vending machine you’ve fixed to restore some health. Note that for equipment, you have a few fixed slots to equip specific items. So, it’s not possible to have on two kinds of helmet-style equipment, as much as you’d like to do so.

Oh, and without spoiling any of the story, I just want to say that you’ll learn what’s the deal about the badges and the uniform in subsequent levels.

The second type of NPC are what I’d call “vendors”, though not all of them are actual vendors. Some of them, like the priest provides you with a service, he can banish any ghosts that spawn if you could lead the ghost to him. Though, this is optional since as long as you can outrun the ghost for a long enough time, it’ll eventually disappear. The plague doctor, on the other hand, can give you a permanent boost to your combat stats, or if you’re lucky and that you need it, you can grab some heals too. There are also NPCs that serve to give you gameplay tips.

The highlight of the game, besides the very Figment-like songs in between levels, is the fact that the game manages to utilize the same dungeon layout for all the three brain systems that you can switch between, namely the reptilian complex, the limbic system, and the neocortex, instead of creating whole new dungeons for each system, and it works brilliantly here, especially when coupled with the fact Toby is seemingly trapped in his mind.

Each system offers a gameplay experience that’s different enough to give the same dungeon layout new life. For instance, you can search various obstacles in the neocortex for puzzle clues and coins, but you can’t do so in the other systems. The reptilian complex is where you’ll have a rifle and will be able to shoot down barred doors, but in return, the game will constantly spawn enemies to go after you, engaging you in a twin-stick-like combat – yes, you’ll be expected to shoot at them as well as avoid getting shot at taking damage.

The limbic system in this game is depicted as being a cold and freezing place, and as such, your character will suffer consistent “cold damage” that can only be restored by standing in the light – thankfully, there will usually be a few of these lanterns scattered across the dungeon… just look for the NPCs and you’ll usually find one. There’s also a helpful indicator to know one’s nearby – just keep an eye for an orange-colored radiating splotch.

Of course, there are some challenges that will only appear if you’re in the “right” system, such as random icicles dropping on your head in the limbic system, having to deal with a boss and its many minions in the reptilian complex, or having a statue suddenly coming to life and shooting lasers across the room in the neocortex.

There’s a nice variety of puzzles here, from a xylophone-based musical puzzle to deciphering clues to know a lock’s combination, to even rotating a cylinder puzzle to get the correct letter combinations. All of the puzzles require you to find a corresponding clue, and thankfully, the little green moth in this game works as a very good indicator as to where (which room, specifically) this clue may be.

That said, I’ve found that the puzzles tend to repeat themselves, so the game could definitely use a bit more puzzle variety. They may not be exactly the same sometimes, but they feel same-y enough, especially when you’re doing re-runs since it’s a roguelite and all, to make the puzzles feel more like a minor annoyance to progression rather than something that I’d look forward to solving.

Like the other roguelites, the game makes it so that you’d want to replay the levels just so you can find more pieces of evidence to fill up Toby’s evidence board. With all the pieces discovered, maybe you can finally figure out what really happened to Toby. Not to mention, since you’ll technically be able to discover new equipment cards with every run you take, you can then customize your starting loadout with the cards you’ve discovered, giving you an advantage in your subsequent runs.

As brilliantly-designed as this game is, however, I found the controls to be a bit clunky. Note that I’ve reviewed the game on the keyboard and mouse. Combat can be a bit wonky too, especially the aiming part since my character would often lose its target when he’s running backwards as what the game’s tutorial tip has suggested to the player.

I'm also not a fan of its use of jump scares, especially when the ghost appears on screen and right in your face. Yes, it managed to get some cheap shots (startles) in but ultimately, I've found them to be distasteful.

Graphics/ Sound

The graphics and sound are where Paper Cut Mansion truly shine! The game features a very cool, unique, and incredibly-detailed 3D papercraft (cardboard cutouts) aesthetics that are both iconic and memorable. If there are any other games in the future that use this kind of graphical style, I can imagine they would be labelled as “Paper Cut Mansion-like art”.

As a huge fan of Figment, the song at the very beginning of the game got me really excited – who says “games can’t be musicals” indeed! What’s even more amazing is that the game has a similar Figment-like song for every new level you’ve discovered. Not only are these songs fun to listen to, but they also tell a story… well, at least a part of the overall story.

In addition to many helpful sound effects, such as when the moth lands on a room indicating something of import is there, the game has some voice acting here and there as well, such as the Demigod of Unconscious, the Headless Dancer, and more.

Conclusion

Paper Cut Mansion is a truly interesting roguelite and personally, a masterpiece, despite its minor flaws. The game is based on the brain’s three systems, visualizing them in ways that fit well into the gameplay, giving players unique experiences as they switch between the systems within the same dungeon. Of course, the aesthetics here are perfectly on-point with the cardboard cutouts being integrated as part of the story, and the Figment-like songs here are simply brilliant as they are fun to listen to, catchy even, and they actually tell you about part of the story.

All in all, if you enjoy playing unique roguelites and/or love playing Figment, you’ll definitely want to check out Paper Cut Mansion! You can thank me later!

Paper Cut Mansion Brings Mystery To PlayStation & Switch On December 5th

by Aethyna Nov 23, 2022

Use your investigative skills to unfold all of the secrets of this enigmatic cardboard world

Paper Cut Mansion Brings Mystery To PlayStation & Switch On December 5th

by Aethyna Oct 30, 2022

Join Toby on his journey of discovery as he tries to figure out how he ended up “paper-ized” by delving deep into his mind. Switch between the three brain systems to solve various puzzles and complete quests so as to unlock new memories and pieces of evidences for your evidence board. Can you find out what really happened?