Paper Trail Review (PS5) | Push Square

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Paper Trail is a puzzle game which takes a simple premise, folding and unfolding paper, to create a unique experience. You play from the perspective of Paige, a young woman who leaves home to pursue her academic dreams whilst meeting some weird and wonderful characters along the way.

One of the first things you’ll notice about Paper Trails is its beautiful art style. The distinctive environments and vibrant character designs look fantastic, and the soundtrack also does a great job of setting the mood of this curious world. Each level is a piece of paper which has a front and back to it. You’ll be able to fold parts of the paper over to create new paths and allow Paige to pass through.

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This unique mechanic is simple to begin with, only requiring a few steps to progress, but the puzzles quickly increase in complexity. It won’t be long before you’ll also have to consider how to move obstacles around the map or use lights and switches to raise bridges and open doors. Each new mechanic provides an interesting hurdle to overcome, and they’re introduced at a rate which keeps the puzzles feeling fresh.

If you ever get completely stumped then there’s a handy hint system which shows you, fold-by-fold, how to solve each level. But it only shows you the order you should be making the folds, so you’ll still need to work out how to move the various obstacles around.

A really nice touch is that the game makes great use of the DualSense adaptive triggers. The L2 & R2 triggers provide more resistance if you try to move a bit of paper that Paige or an obstacle is on. It’s a clever way of letting you know when you can’t do something and it’s always great when developers make use of these kinds of features.

Paper Trail is a charming game with an interesting and unique puzzle mechanic. The story doesn’t quite reach the emotional highs that we were expecting but it’s still a sweet coming-of-age tale set in a gorgeous world