Paper Cut Mansion is a procedurally generated roguelite horror set in an entirely cardboard mansion. You assume the role of police detective Toby and search for strange occurrences and clues that explain how he came to be on this papercraft property. to advance to the next level, collecting clues along the way to finally unravel this great mystery.
What makes Paper Cut Mansion different from other roguelites is the different dimensions (Neo Cortex Dimension, Puzzle Base, Reptilian Dimension, Combat Base, Limbic System Dimension, Survival Base) that you can use portals to move between during your adventure. You can jump. The entire game revolves around juggling time between these different dimensions, diving into each area to collect items, inspect furniture, kill enemies, and decipher puzzle solutions. Dimensional survival is tied to three separate sticks. Taking damage in the realm increases the bar, and if any of these reach the maximum, you die and must restart from the ground floor.
After playing a few times, I found the puzzles, rooms, and enemies to repeat very quickly. For example, the same number and shape of deciphering puzzles appeared every time I played. There isn’t enough variety to warrant that the game is procedurally generated. What also disappoints the game is its slow unlock progress. New perks, weapons and armor can be found by examining furniture or completing side quests, but their spawning rate is very low.
Paper Cut Mansion offers some interesting dimension-hopping gameplay, fun puzzles, and unique cardboard visuals that set it apart from similar titles in the genre. However, the slow pace and highly repetitive content ultimately disappoints.