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Jump scare! Paper Lily is a free horror RPG about anxiety, monsters, and touching grass

3K View2024-02-01

Paper Lily - Chapter 1

9.3

Pixel GraphicsDarkPsychological HorrorRPGHorrorTop-DownAdventurePuzzle

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SHOULD I PLAY PAPER LILY?

Definitely give it a try, especially if you like story-driven horror games. Paper Lily is a spooky RPG filled with puzzles and creepy creatures. While there are plenty of monsters, the game also touches on real-world horrors, like bullying and social anxiety. Paper Lily is a follow-up to another horror RPG, Project Kat, but the story stands on its own.The first chapter is completely free, so there’s no reason not to check it out!

TIME PLAYED

It took me four hours to get through Paper Lily’s first chapter. I’ve seen three of the game’s endings so far, but I have yet to view the true ending. Even though this is the first chapter of a larger story, I found the conclusion to be pretty satisfying. It’s definitely worth playing the game in its current state.

WHAT’S AWESOME ABOUT PAPER LILY?

• Creepy and compelling story. Paper Lily does have gameplay, but the narrative is what makes it shine. It revolves around Lacie, a young girl suffering from a strange affliction. Everyone reacts to her with horror and disgust, even complete strangers. She decides to do what any reasonable person would do: complete a ritual she found on the internet and take a bus to a supernatural universe.

Paper Lily can be pretty dark at times, but it approaches its themes with a sense of humor, which keeps it from feeling too heavy. If you’ve ever cracked jokes about your impending death, it should be right up your alley. While Paper Lily isn’t afraid to be funny—or terrifying—it always treats its characters like real people. I genuinely cared about Lacie, and that made me feel more invested in her journey.

• Solid puzzles. Sometimes the puzzles in narrative games feel tacked on, but all of Paper Lily’s puzzles are thoughtfully designed. There’s a ton of variety here, from scavenger hunts to spike-dodging minigames to mazes filled with monstrous fairies. None of the puzzles I encountered felt unfair, and I was able to figure out the solutions on my own.

• Eerie music and sound effects. Paper Lily has stellar pixelated visuals, but the creepiest thing about it is its sound design. The entire soundtrack is fantastic, with catchy upbeat tunes and atmospheric tracks that manage to make a cowbell sound spooky. It also has tons of horrifying sound effects, like strange squishy noises and thumping demonic heartbeats. If you can play this with headphones on, you definitely should.

• Multiple endings. According to the developer, Paper Lily has thirteen endings, which is pretty awesome. While only one of these endings is canon, I always like seeing a story go in different directions. Every ending I’ve unlocked, including the bad endings, was genuinely interesting. I’m looking forward to replaying the game and tracking down all of the endings I haven’t seen!

WHAT NEEDS IMPROVEMENT IN PAPER LILY?

• It can be pretty punishing. Paper Lily isn’t a difficult game, but there are times when its infrequent save points made things frustrating. Most of the time, walking into a trap or getting killed by a monster sent me back to a checkpoint, which wasn’t a big deal. Unfortunately, when I stumbled into a bad ending, I was taken back to the game’s start screen, which caused me to lose a ton of progress. After a few bad endings, I started to become risk averse, which kept me from seeing some of the game’s content. Adding some sort of auto-save system would make Paper Lily a lot more fun.