Papertura is by one-man indie studio Petums (aka Tomasz Ostafin) in Bytom, Poland. He handcrafted this game with paper over many, many, many hours.

It launched in May 2021. The result? A unique and engaging point-and-click adventure that’s really one of a kind. We can’t think of any other paper-based video games out there. Onward!

Papertura: Point-And-Click Your Way Around Paper Cuts

Yes, so here we have a point-and-click jaunt along the lines of The Curse of Monkey Island (1997) and anything by Amanita Design (think Happy Game in 2021).

The game’s plot concerns a piece of paper called Pape.

He’s trapped in a flowery prison for unknown reasons, until he’s able to escape.

What follows is a short but sweet adventure, where he finds a magical being called Tura to assist him.

As they try to escape the prison, the intrepid duo fends off evil monsters who threaten to burn their world to the ground.

How do you help them escape? By solving plenty of little puzzles as Pape ambles on his way, which you’ll need to use your noggin to solve.

Straight up, we love the game. Yes, it’s very short and you can have the thing completed in under an hour.

Regardless, it’s a charming mini-adventure with a lot of depth.

The puzzles are fun and the story engaging—it’s really about unfolding each new chapter of Papetura, if you please, to discover the next imaginative leap. And there are a lot of fun little surprises along the way.

Visually, the game is stunning. An incredible achievement on that alone.

But the soundtrack by Floex (aka Tomáš Dvořák) is also fantastic. He’s a composer who’s worked with Amanita Design on games such as Samorost 3.

So, yes, we’re really impressed by Papetura and can highly recommend it. It’s available right now on Steam and Mac.

Papetura’s Paper-Based Soundtrack

Okay, so composer Floex didn’t use paper to make Papetura’s soundtrack. Although we’re sure he used some for his sheets of music!

The wood (kind of like paper) instruments also contributed to what is a great piece of work, very stirring and thoughtful.

A favourite of ours if Pape and Tura, which was also released as a single.

There are certainly inspirations from Gareth Coker’s outstanding soundtrack to Ori and the Will of the Wisps—a surging sense of exhilarating melancholia.

Very orchestral in its structure with organs swelling and the like, but with an edge of electronica. It’s often adapted, influenced by the environment you’re in.

Apparently, Floex went into the project wanting to create something “fragile”, with lashings of ambience and other fabulous noises.

You can buy the soundtrack online if it appeals to you (as it should do). It’s also available on YouTube.

The Making of Papertura

Now, if you’re wondering how Petums went about creating Papetura, you can watch the above short documentary.

If you refuse to follow our orders, for some reason, then we’ll provide a brief overview here!

Well, yes, everything you see in the game was crafted out of paper to create a genuine world. It was a meticulous process, but it’s fascinating to see key points in the game in their early creative stages.

It took Petums six years to sculpt the areas, cutting and gluing every single thing together for the final product.

The results are outstanding, so congratulations to the developer and his hard work.

It’s further testament to why we think indie games are so essential to modern gaming, taking experimental creative leaps most AAA titles steer clear from.