PAPERHEAD Preview

The demo for PAPERHEAD is an absolutely fantastic showing of potentially one of my favourite boomer shooters of the modern era. Combining (mostly) solid gameplay, an incredibly interesting premise, and one of the most charming visual styles I’ve ever seen makes for a wonderful experience,

PAPERHEAD is gorgeous; having every part of the map geometry, weapons, and enemies all being papercraft is unique and utterly charming, yet it somehow still manages to convey a genuinely deep atmosphere when it wants to. This is admittedly contrasted by the silly moments dotted around, but they never feel out of place. The gameplay works incredibly well with this style also; having a pencil which can draw bombs and new doorways and erase certain elements leads to some light puzzle-solving in between the combat sections. There is definitely much less combat in the early stages than in other boomer shooters, yet instead, the minor elements of puzzle solving, along with genuinely fantastic platforming, kept me perfectly engaged. The combat itself is nothing to scoff at, too; the movement feels incredible: somewhat floaty, yet incredibly responsive, allowing for a lot of micro-adjustments, which helps keep the pace of combat fast and fluid. The player is armed with a dash-kick initially, which, as its name would suggest, works as a dash and a kick. It can not only launch enemies around but also objects, including the bombs the player can draw using the pencil, explosive barrels, and other miscellaneous objects. During the demo, I also found the shotgun, which felt incredibly strong, yet its limited ammo forced me to remain resourceful and pushed me towards more unique and creative solutions. There were a couple of issues in some moments, such as the dash-kick not working when moving in certain directions, which felt a little disjointed but absolutely nothing game-breaking.

Much of the story hasn’t been revealed yet, and what was shown was purely through notes dotted around the stage and some other smaller uses of environmental storytelling. This works wonderfully, though, allowing the pace to not be disrupted by overly lengthy cutscenes or set-pieces. The occasional moments where the “antagonist” (I think) appeared were also… interesting. It felt very reminiscent of Alma’s earlier appearances in F.E.A.R., yet much stranger but somehow just as off-putting. The music and sound design also helped ensure a strong atmosphere, as it was all incredibly crisp and well-designed.

I would highly recommend giving the PAPERHEAD demo a look if you're a fan of boomer shooters. It’s a passion project drowning in charm and style and made me chuckle on more than a few occasions.

You can find the demo here.