14 DAY TRIAL // 
Toby moves through the rooms, in a dimension dominated by cold, trying to find special jars that a cook really wants to get back before a competitor finds them. I have two but the final one is nowhere to be found. So, I move back to the more normal dimension, where everything is made of paper, but the temperature is normal. I move to the room with a locked door and interact with all the pieces of furniture.
Some of them give up a few coins until I finally discover the one that features a clue. It takes me a minute to understand how to apply the solution to the door. Once I open it, I find the portal to the dimension with the missing jar, run around, and find it. Bringing all three back gets me a new medal. And it moves me one step closer to a door and a new level to explore.
Paper Cut Mansion is developed by Space Lizard Studio, with publishing from Thunderful Publishing. I played on the PC using Steam. An Xbox Series X and S and Xbox One version is available, with the game arriving on the Nintendo Switch, as well as the PlayStation 5 and 4, before the end of the year. The game offers a rogue-lite action-adventure experience with horror elements.
Gamers will take on the role of a detective named Toby. He slowly walks up to a weird mansion and enters to investigate its mysteries. Once inside he needs to move from floor to floor, searching for clues, and engaging with other characters.
He has a big evidence board to fill and there are personal questions to try and answer. The mansion is an intriguing game world, with talking doors, other supernatural phenomena, and wacky characters with unusual requests. The writing is decent, with a mix of whimsy and information. I wanted to see more clarity when it comes to quest descriptions.
Gameplay in Paper Cut Mansion is centered around exploration, discovery, and combat. Players will always see Toby from an overhead perspective, with a guiding moth moving around him, pointing to the locations that feature the big puzzle clues. He is free to move through one floor at a time, meeting characters and searching for way to make progress.
The game’s first big twists is that the mansion is multi-dimensional, with portals that allow Toby to move between them at will. Gamers will spend most of their time in the NeoCortex dimension, designed like a classic adventure space, with puzzles, quest givers, and plenty of locked doors. The Limbic System is dominated by freezing temperatures and Toby needs to stay close to heat sources to avoid damage as he searches for clues.
The Reptilian Complex is angry and red, which is a clue about its nature. Here players will find enemies that are determined to take a bite out of our protagonist, although it’s relatively simple to move away from them or kill them. There are a few scary moments here and there, but the game does not earn the horror tag.
Progress in Paper Cut Mansion requires constant shifts between the three dimensions, so make sure to create a food mental map of where the portals are. Also remember to interact with every object you can. At best, you’ll get a clear clue linked to one of the quests, at worst, you can earn some money. Stay close to the fires in the Limbic System. And make sure to have a good path for backpedaling before you engage enemies in the Reptilian Complex.
The experience uses a rogue-lite structure. When Toby dies his progress in a level is erased. Players will then get to equip the powers they have recently found and look at any new clues before starting another run. The game encourages each player to use accumulated knowledge to create a version of the main character that’s suited to their play style. But more checkpoints can make it easier to accept losing progress on death.
I like that Paper Cut Mansion doesn’t feature the kind of too-smart-for-their-own-good puzzles that can lead to frustration. And I like shifting between dimensions and engaging with different mechanics, even if the combat in the Reptilian System is pretty limited.
What I don’t love is constantly shifting objects around, hunting for extra money or quest information. The moth is a good way to show which room actually hides something critical for progress. But it’s hard to abandon the classic adventure game approach of interacting with everything to make sure that you don’t miss stuff.
Paper Cut Mansion has a distinctive look, which adds a lot to the immersion and mysterious nature of the game. Despite the horror talk, there’s little in the way of jump scares, although the presentation does add to a feeling of constant uneasiness. I appreciate the effort that has gone into making everything seem made from paper but it sometimes makes it hard to navigate the spaces. The soundtrack stays mostly in the background, maintaining a tone that moves between whimsical and tense, while the sound effects are decent. The game also features musical numbers that are both charming and weird.
The Good
- Paper-driven presentation
- Multiple dimensions to explore
- Puzzle design
The Bad
- Rogue-lite structure
- Floor layout
- Combat mechanics
Conclusion
The game’s momentum is limited by its rogue elements. It needs to open up more options faster to keep players interested or to simply make it easier to progress without dying. Paper Cut Mansion has a good mix of ideas with some issues around implementation, delivering a good experience for adventure game fans who want a few twists on the familiar concepts of the genre.
A product code was provided by the publisher.
