Hirogami just landed on Steam today—and it’s unlike anything else out there.
On the surface, it’s a 3D platformer. But instead of being some generic mascot hopping around, you’re an origami warrior who literally folds into different paper creatures: frog, bird, ape, armadillo, even a paper plane. The whole point is to protect your delicate paper world from a digital “Blight” that’s corrupting everything it touches.
Visually, this game is jaw-dropping. The entire world looks like it’s been handcrafted out of folded paper, and the animations double down on that. Characters move with a deliberate stutter, almost like stop-motion, mimicking the way real paper would bend and snap.
Some players are already side-eyeing this choice, because if you’re a framerate purist, you’ll think the game is dropping frames. It isn’t—it’s intentional. Honestly, this is one of those games where v-sync is practically mandatory if you don’t want your eyeballs to fold themselves into a crane.
The sound design is equally sharp. The soundtrack leans into traditional Japanese instrumentation, airy and wistful, which fits perfectly with the fragile, transient vibe of paper. These aren’t tunes you’ll just hum and forget—they’ll quietly set up shop in your head.
Now, controls. Keyboard and mouse aren’t even on the menu here. The devs flat-out want you on a gamepad, and Steam even flags it as “Gamepad Preferred.” The good news: Xbox controllers are supported without issue. The bad news: PlayStation users are out of luck right now.
Performance is solid on PC, with modest requirements (a GTX 1050 Ti will do the job). On Linux via Proton, it runs fine, though don’t expect any miracles with the Steam Deck. Early testers report dips into the 50s, higher power draw than expected, and no 16:10 support. You’ll get 1.5 to 2.5 hours of battery on a Steam Deck if you’re lucky—so this isn’t becoming your portable origami companion anytime soon.
And here’s where things get weird. Even though Bandai Namco Studios Singapore and Malaysia developed Hirogami, Bandai Namco didn’t publish it. Instead, it’s being pushed out by Kakehashi Games—a boutique publisher that usually champions smaller Japanese indies. Why Namco outsourced publishing duties on one of their own internal projects is a mystery worth folding over a few times.
Price is C$38.99 (US$29.99). For what you’re getting, that’s a bargain. If Nintendo made this exact game, they’d slap a $79.99 sticker on it and call it “Paper Odyssey Deluxe.”
There’s a less than flattering review here:
https://metro.co.uk/2025/09/03/hirogami-review-paper-folding-platformer-24064710/
They’re generally pretty unbiased and fair but make of it what you will.
Quite interesting. I played the game and thoroughly liked it. Mind you, I didn’t finish it—maybe it gets worse later.
That said, it seems the reviewer takes issue with the camera. But this isn’t really like Mario 64. Rather, it uses an isometric angle like Sonic 3D Blast. And I think the camera is better than other isometric platformers.
Then again, I have a fondness for isometric platformers because I used to play a lot of them during the 90s.
I can understand why having a locked camera would make jumping harder but I’ll reserve judgement until I’ve played it. One to be picked up in a sale I think.
That’s fair. I should point out that a free demo is available, so that will give you a taste.
Now in my experience the bigger issue than the camera was how the stop motion effect resulted in screen tearing. But v-sync fixed that.
And I guess if I were to be an even more hardass when it comes to criticism, this would have benefitted from zoom in / zoom out. But that also would have required a mouse to be intuitive—and this game insists on a gamepad.
I might give it a go on the old deck tonight.
