I have many games in my Steam library that are simply fantastic. They play in one sitting, you have fun - enjoy the story, cry with the characters etc. Now, there is this other type of game where you forget your household chores, forget you have kids, forget to eat - forget to BREATHE. You notice people addressing you in the background but are unable to hear what they're saying. My Beautiful Paper Smile is THAT game and I haven't encountered many of those.

For the non-poetic type; it's hard, I explored, I died a lot and I had to try over and over again. However, in the end it is so worth it. The dev just knows how to tell stories. Period. Please play it - you won't regret it. At this point, you will access three chapters out of four (it's not fully out yet) but you still might need a tissue or two. Enjoy!

I did receive this game for free. And I am writing this review after beating the first 2 chapters.

My Beautiful Paper Smile brings a fresh face to the horror genre featuring art aspects like Little Nightmares and Playdeads Inside. This game brings a lot to the table in terms of its story and art style as well as the way it delivers its horror. For example, instead of using cheap jump scares, it builds up the anticipation and pays off - instead of getting an object to fall and frighten you it uses creepy sound design and something to run at you! This game surprised me a lot since it had me jumping off my seat a couple of times throughout my 4-hour experience.

As of now, I would argue the asking price (as of June 19th) is great since Chapters 1 & 2 took me 4 hours to beat and they're great fun to play! With the addition of the later 2 chapters, I would imagine that would leave up to 8 hours of game play. In terms of flaws, this isn't the best horror game by any means but it is definitely one to check out since it's certainly creative and a lot of fun - think of hand-drawn little nightmares.

The puzzles feel fresh and the story rich, with even choiced based decisions coming into play causing different outcomes. My Beautiful Paper Smile is a great new addition to the horror genre that delivers some great scares, art design and story at the cost of a lot of reading.
Rating: 8.5 / 10
Check Out Some Gameplay: https://youtu.be/USlbUEuxs-0

The opening had me intrigued and the aesthetics looks awesome for an indie horror game.

That is, alas, all the good words I've got for this game. I'm running on high-end hardware yet it struggles to run pass the one minute mark without crashing to desktop, even on the lowest settings. There is no error message for troubleshooting whatsoever, and error discussion threads in the community page ultimately lead to nowhere. Fix the game and I'd be willing to give this game a go, but for now all I can give is one big NO.

For only being 15 bucks I must say that this is one of my favorite Horror games to date. I decided to try this game out because I was excited for Choo Choo Charles and wanted to see what other games Two Star had released. After finishing the game I have no complaints, aside from wishing the game was longer. The graphics were beautiful, the gameplay felt fresh, and this game had some genuinely scary moments. The most crazy thing about this game is that most of it was created by a single person.

Overall was would rate this game 10/10 and I am excited for what will come next with Two Star.

Bought this game because it looked amazing, however I can't get beyond the one minute mark, or where the character is still laying in his bed setting up the story before the game crashes. I tried lowering all the graphic settings as well as skipping the first part to try and get into the game play, while I got a bit further, a minute in and it still crashes. Was really looking forward to this game, really hope that the problem gets fixed.

My Beautiful Paper Smile is horror puzzle walking simulator, where you playing as a child and have to do tests for some reason with your friend to survive, but you want to get out.

This game has an unique look. One of a kind and the hand-drawn textures and characters looks impressive. Especially if you play the outside areas of the game. Light and shadow effects works as intended and even the reflection looks great in this one, but there were a few graphical issues with the game, but those are not too bad. There is not many songs in this game, but there is no need to. MBPS using an ambient which generate psychological horror, which works as intended. The game doesn't use big scares, only if it's necessary, it tries to stress the player with it's environment, which works most of the times. The story of the game is interesting, but I have to give credit for the universe and the whole environment of the game, which is really well made. The game is easy to control and play with. The puzzles most of the time are straight, there were few times, when it was not clear what to do, but with more time, I understand the rules.

However, my biggest issue with this game, is the lack of gameplay. Now, I understand the genre is limiting the game itself, however what I see, is a great start at first look, but gets stuck on the same formula, only small changes are made. Truth to be told, the game has 4 episodes, which is 1 hour long each, so this shouldn't be that big of a deal, but this has to be mentioned, if you are interested in to buy the game. Also, at some point of the story, it would have been nice to know more about the character's motives or understand them a bit more.

All in all, My Beautiful Paper Smile is one of a kind game, and I could recommend those for sure, who want to experience an interesting and haunting world, not even mentioning the effects of breaking the fourth wall, but if you don't like the repetitive gameplay, that you should consider a pass on this one. For 12€, I feel it's a bit much, but this worth around 7-8€.

This game deserves to be cult classic, but it could have been a bit better with the gameplay.

Awesome overall aesthetic and world, but the gameplay 95% of the time was insanely underwhelming and boring. Walking in a straight line at an excruciatingly slow pace with an obnoxious never ending footstep sound effect that completely destroys the atmosphere. The main gameplay on offer here is to look for collectibles, but the areas are so unnecessarily large and your walking speed is so slow that it just makes exploring feel like a chore.

Maybe the game gets more interesting later, but most of the reviews suggest the game is pretty short, and 2 hours in I am not sold at all unfortunately.

Update: Just got done playing Limbo and Inside for the first time. If you want some alternatives to this game I would HIGHLY recommend either of those games over this.

I can't wait to see where this journey goes! Loved the atmosphere and art style!

Just finished 3 of the 4 chapters; the fourth chapter hasn't been released yet. I also bought this while it was on sale.

For the game, I think the price tag may be high due to all the work that had to go into making it. With all the 2D-3D mix of dimensions you can see all the care that went into creating this game. The three things that stick out the most to me is atmosphere, art, and the story. The movement mechanics are also smooth. What surprised me the most was the brief combat action you do experience. I really enjoyed the weapon mechanics: light & fun. Stealth is the most important part of this game next to solving the many puzzles you run into. I found it really hard to find the tickets though...I always ended up short. I'm hoping after a second play-through I find them all. I also appreciate the game letting me know if I leave an area I can't go back and to make sure I'm ready (thanks).

I would consider this game more of a creepy-story walk-through than a horror even though it has horror aspects. The game environment is mostly empty, many doors that can't be opened or explored (while in the facility), but amazing backgrounds. Regardless, if you're into that, you'll like this game. However, if you're looking for a deeper psychological horror experience, this one probably isn't for you. It's pricey at it's full price, and short. I didn't mind paying the price while it was on sale, and I had an interesting time. This was an emotional and intense journey for me, but a short one. I'm hoping after chapter four comes out it ties the game together, as of right now I'm dying to see what happens next.

Length <4hr 30min

Ever looked through steam, seen a game which just grabs your attention, there is something unique about it that makes you want to play it. For me that is My Beautiful Paper Smile, the standout out 2D pencil drawn art of the game in a 3D world, with creepy visuals that made the game iconic. Sadly that really is all the game has going for beyond a nice heaping slap of mystery boxes everywhere.

Let's start off on a high note, the visuals of My Beautiful Paper Smile, has an absolutely incredible art design, while it is no masterpiece in visuals the way the 3D art is created using 2D drawings looks amazing. The use of lighting is great and there are a lot of imaginative moments. The use of the hand drawn designs has created a lot of creepy moments, and works really well at making so many of the characters unsettling.

The gameplay is a mix, we have some stealth, a little bit of puzzles and some combat. All of this is set around a bunch of linear exploration. Literally I would say this game is the Jack of All Trades in gameplay, a lot of things to do but nothing amazing. Problem is the game is designed around no specific gameplay loop beyond exploring location. Combat can be simple to infuriating, a fixed camera in a 2D world means things can attack you off screen. No better moment can be shown of this than the final battle, when the boss can shoot lasers and teleport, the camera angle can stop you seeing the laser coming and you will have no way to respond.

Most of the game is Exploration, this can be mixed through the game, sometimes you are just searching through too large a space that it drags the game out. While it allows for a lot of visual moments, at times I just wished the game was tighter and not a lot of long stretches of walking and searching through locations. Maybe if there were more things to find, like puzzles to complete it would feel less vacant. It did not help that the 2D monochromatic style at times makes it hard to work out where you need to go. I completely missed how to leave the village, and looped the village multiple times before I noticed the cave tucked away.

When I say puzzles it is mostly item collection, literally you will find better puzzles in the developers game ‘My Friend is a Raven’ and sadly the only one of the three I recommend playing. There are not many items you will need to find, and most stand out. There were a few interesting puzzles, but over the bulk of the game I can only remember two.

Now the narrative at first is really interesting and mysterious to what is going on in the game, so many creative ideas. Playing as a child forced to wear a smiling mask as they go through testing in a facility, while you are called a joyous. We have the mystery of the factories testing on the children. A spirit like creature called ‘The Lost Child’ as well as monsters in the world become glitches to reality, with a desire to strip you of your mask. Rituals needed so that you can become named. So many imaginative questions in the world, yet most are forgotten by the end of the game.

I got to the end of the game baffled, the ending was just that: a roller coaster hitting a brick wall. We have carnage, the riders screaming as the flames take us all, the mystery and wonders of the game world built even further up, as we are told of pleading to gods for a boon. We don't get answers to what is going on, or a deeper narrative opening up, we have a boss battle, and then a short cutscene that basically says the fight is over.

One more thing to add, ‘Night in Riverager’ I gave a bad review to it, because it was not interesting and said I will come back in comparison to the companion game. Nope it sort of tells you who the hunter is, how he became a glitch but there is nothing else there. I still don’t really know what a glitch is. Why does it want the mask of the Joyous? Are there more of them? Did something happen for them to become a Glitch? So much but even the arc with the hunter in the game felt like it could be removed to have little loss to the story.
Now I am not calling My Beautiful Paper Smile bad, just disappointing and the only reason the game has a bad mark is how much the story annoys me, and how boring and annoying the gameplay can be. The bland moments of just walking through environments,

Like all my reviews usually a bad review is given when a game makes itself worse, when the game drags and is monotonous, or when the gameplay loops are just unenjoyable. This is one of those times where the game looks interesting but feels boring to frustrating, or the developer just likes lobbying mystery boxes at your head and has really irritating gameplay moments.

This is a game, where it will be down to you if it is worth playing/experiencing. I will leave my gameplay below, you can at least look through some of the beautiful hand drawn world and see if you want to look further into the game.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7yKpYqYg_I

Looking for horror games to sink your teeth into, check out my curator page, for an ever growing catalogue of horror games:

https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41770172/