Paper Trail on track for 2023 release

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Top-down paper folding puzzler coming to PC, consoles and mobile devices via the Netflix app

Most stories "unfold" in a relatively straightforward manner, but occasionally one does so in a much more literal way, like in Newfangled Games' upcoming top-down puzzler, Paper Trail.

An excellent student named Paige has just graduated from high school and now wishes to be "the first of her village to be offered a place at university." Unfortunately that means leaving home for the first time in her life, much to the dismay of her family. And so she embarks on an "epic journey to start her first semester, mastering her powers along the way." Only by learning how to correctly fold and manipulate her paper world environment can she progress, solving puzzles and interacting with a variety of characters who "tell their stories and enlighten Paige about the wider world." As she opens up new paths to explore, she'll also begin to uncover a host of "long-lost secrets" along the way.

Presented from a bird's-eye perspective, Paper Trail is a stylish hand-painted puzzle adventure that "draws heavily from flat aesthetic styles, like printmaking and watercolour." As Paige makes her way to the university, she'll traverse a number of diverse environments, from "deep dark caves that have been untouched for years to the tallest treetops buffeted by rain." The world is made of paper, so success will hinge on "folding and joining paths together to explore and progress." In doing so, you create new opportunites to "alter the fabric of the world" as you "drag objects, shine lights, and push boulders across the paths you create through folding."

A launch date has yet to be announced, but Paper Trail is on course to release sometime this year on Steam for Windows PC, along with PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series X│S, Nintendo Switch, and the Netflix mobile app. To learn more about the game, you can follow its progress on the official website.