My Beautiful Paper Smile, by developer Two Star Games and V Publishing, is an uncut gem that gets polished more with every chapter.
After the completion of Chapter One (check out my preview!), Two Star Games gave me the opportunity to take a look at Chapter Two of My Beautiful Paper Smile. It follows the horrific adventures of a child that escapes an experimental facility where the government tries to breed perfect, happy children. In Chapter Two, the child has escaped and begins making his way to the King’s city where he believes his friend is being held captive.
When I played Chapter One, I was abashed by the amount of technical issues. Dialogue moved at a snail’s pace, and it was easy to accidentally skip them, missing several lines. It was frustrating trying to understand what was going on without getting impatient. This time around, the dialogue sequences were far better paced. Clicking served to actually push the story forward without feeling like a broken formality I was scared to use.
Sound design was vastly improved, both technically and in quality. In Chapter One, I was met with a jarring silence. I thought that the game was naturally that quiet until I cranked up my volume to its absolute maximum setting. It was only then that I started to hear the game. I can proudly say that in Chapter Two I had zero issues actually hearing what was happening. Jokes aside, the sounds served the game greatly. In any horror game, sound design is dire for creating the correct atmosphere. There were multiple times I felt chills literally go up my arms.
A small thing I was impressed by was the feedback the game gave you when swinging the sword. My Beautiful Paper Smile moves three dimensionally with WASD, but the way you interact with the world is like a point and click adventure. This format is very limited in the amount of interactions you can provide with depth. But when you swing the sword, it gives a small shake of the screen, the sound of it swiping through the air, and a fluid strike animation from the sword icon. It was small, but details like that show the amount of dedication the developers put into trying to create a good game.
Although the game improved a lot from Chapter One, there are still some persisting issues that are likely hard to mend. There is a large amount of railroading. The game sometimes gives the illusion of choice, but there is no apparent result of your decisions. At one point, the character prompts himself to decide whether or not to betray a character called the Hunter. After you decide, you realize the Hunter is gone, removing your decision altogether.
What makes the railroading worse, is that in events where the player is actually left alone to explore and look for their own answers, the game is incredibly vague in what to do. I feel that My Beautiful Paper Smile suffers from a big translation issue with the player. They are always giving too much information or far too little. And the structural railroading only serves to amplify this awkwardness.
What gives me hope, however, is that many of the qualms I had during Chapter One were quickly solved by the release of Chapter Two. The issues I presented today are a bit more abstract, but it seems the developer is improving with each release. I remain interested in what lies in wait for My Beautiful Paper Smile. (Also, let us exit the inventory or pause menu by hitting escape please)
Check Out the My Beautiful Paper Smile Steam Early Access Launch Trailer:
My Beautiful Paper Smile will retail for $14.99 USD for PC via Steam Early Access. Players who purchase the game will also receive access to Chapters 3 & 4 later during early access.
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My name is Devon Huge. I'm passionate about writing, art, games, and lists that are one item too long.
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