Papetura folds into a physical release.

I can’t express enough how excited I get when dev teams are willing to go outside the box and do something totally original. Copying a trope because it makes money is a sound business strategy but it doesn’t take long before gamers start noticing. It takes a bit of bravery to steer your ship into uncharted waters but the rewards can far outweigh the risks. The game we’ll be discussing today is Papetura, and it’s definitely different enough to light the imagination. What’s really cool is that it’s getting a physical release, something that I can’t stress the importance of enough now that we’re living in a world where we don’t own anything. Collectors take note, this might well be one for the shelf.

Papetura is coming from the inventive folk over at Petums. This title has already had a digital release by publisher Feardemic. Today, however, we’ll be looking at the hard work Meridiem has been doing to get this title into the physical space and, of course, all the cool things that owning a real-life copy will bring.

To give you a bit of an insight into what you’re getting into with Papetura, you’ll be taking on the role of Pape, who along with his friend Tura must save their paper world from a mysterious fiery threat. If you’re going to succeed in this goal you’ll need the use the pair’s unique abilities to interact with the landscape and solve puzzles and various other challenges.

Fans of a good puzzler will likely love what Papetura is bringing to the table. Puzzle design and narration intertwine to create a cohesive and fluid experience. The puzzles are designed to be intuitive, integrating naturally with the paper environment. This is great because it should remove the “difficult for difficult’s sake,” issues that we find in many modern puzzle titles. The narrative, on the other hand, unfolds without dialogue, using animations and the visual environment to paint an emotive, and more importantly, immersive story.

So the big question is as to what you’ll be getting for your hard-earned money. Well, as is always the case with these things, that will depend on the edition of the game that you buy. If you want to go for something a little bit special, though, it’s likely to be the Craft edition of Papetura you’ll be looking for. This version comes with a specially designed case containing a gorgeous art book. You’ll also get a download code for the soundtrack for your out-of-game listening pleasure.

If the Craft edition or any of the physical releases of Papetura are making you really want to add this title to your shelf you’ll be able to find them at specialist stockists across Europe later this year. To be more specific these are copies for the PS5 and Nintendo Switch owning bods amongst you. If you don’t have these consoles or just want to play the digital version that’s fine too. I’ll give you the links for Steam, the Playstation Store, and the Nintendo eShop because I’m nice like that.

So there you have it. Another interesting-looking title that’s getting brought into the real world by people who want to give us the option to own a copy. I know this won’t appeal to all of you but it’s lovely to have the choice. If you do want a copy you won’t have long to wait as physical versions will be appearing on shelves later this year.