For those of you who prefer video format, here you go.

To start off, for context I don't really know if I can either fully be considered a "classic" or "open-minded" PM fan. I played and enjoyed the original tree but skipped SS and CS for lack of interest. That being said, I was pretty worried coming into this game, because everyone was saying it was going to be another Sticker Star or Color Splash. But I avoided all reviews and spoilers for the game and picked it up on launch day to tome up with an uninfluenced opinion as much as possible. Here's what I think:

Let’s start out with an easy plus. This game is straight-up gorgeous. I saw gameplay of the previous game and thought it was impressive but something about this style is almost breathtakingly beautiful. Everything from the magnificence of Peach’s castle to the sketchy sewers of Toad Town just shines with color and charm. And that goes double for the music! There are so many memorable tracks here, like the numerous different battle themes that play throughout your adventure, and the majesty of the music that plays on the title screen, this game’s soundtrack is simply remarkable. If you ask me, the presentation in this game outclasses all the previous entries. This truly feels like a next-gen Paper Mario.

But now that we’ve gotten the elephant out of the room, let’s talk gameplay; looks aren’t everything after all. And we’ll start with the battle system. Now looking at the trailers leading up to this game’s launch, I was afraid that the game would be a gimmicky, tiresome system similar to what Color Splash had. After all, it seems that whenever Nintendo shakes up their formulas, it’s usually a roll of the dice whether it’s actually an improvement or not. However, after finishing the tutorial I found myself having a good time. The puzzles have a smooth difficulty curve, especially as you get later into the game and they were all really satisfying to figure out. As a refresher, the way the system works this time is that you need to position enemies in advantageous places in order to either jump on them or hit them with your hammer. And later on, it’ll really start to matter how you plan your enemy placement, because certain enemies can only be defeated using certain methods. Now you don’t need to solve these puzzles in order to fight, but you’ll really want to because if you succeed, you get a 50% attack bonus. It actually got to the point by the end of the game where I was often paying hundreds of coins every battle in order to extend my time limit. Luckily however, this isn’t too much of an issue because like with the previous game, your coin supply is essentially infinite. The next thing I want to talk about are the badges, or lack thereof. You see, watching the trailers, I thought items like the Shiny and Metal boots were simply badges that you equipped. But nope, these are expendable items that give you more powerful attacks or give you certain advantages. This means that when you equip boots that let you stomp on spiked enemies, they’re a separate attack from the default stomp. I learned that the hard way when jumping on a Spiny to initiate combat. Now there are accessories which kind of resemble badges from the older games, but all they really do is provide handicaps like extra time to solve the puzzles or decreased incoming damage. All the other aspects of combat however, are taken straight from Paper Mario 64 and TTYD. You can once again jump on enemies in the overworld to gain the first strike advantage, you can time your attacks for greater damage, and you can block incoming attacks to decrease the damage you take. It’s a shame the super block didn’t make a return though, it would've been nice to see it back. Overall, it’s a really fun and satisfying combat cycle that gets more challenging the further you get into the game. I know some people will prefer TTYD’s system but personally I like the puzzle-based approach here...

It’s just a shame that it’s all optional. As I feared going in, there’s no EXP in this game and leveling up is almost solely story-based. This means that technically, there’s no benefit from battling other than gaining confetti, more on that later. However, because you’ll almost always be using your basic boots and hammer which don’t break like the special items, it isn’t really a pain to spend a minute or two battling a couple enemies every now and then. Again though, it really will depend on how much you like the ring system; I just happened to enjoy it.

On the other hand, Boss battles really shake things up, in all the right ways! Instead of being in the middle of the circle and attacking outwards, here you start from the outside and plan a path to get farther in, where the boss is. Additionally, whether it be the mid-bosses or the Chapter Bosses, they each place additional gimmicks or limitations on the combat system. For example the Colored Pencils boss will target certain places on the map that you have to avoid walking on. Later on, these bosses will increasingly become more and more complex as you yourself gain more magical abilities and stronger weapons. And for as stupid as some of the boss designs are, the mechanics never feel cheap. I just wish I was fighting something cooler than office supplies half the time, really. Like no joke, the midboss designs for as simple and relatively generic as they may be are 100% better than an off-brand box of colored pencils.

Next up, let’s talk about gameplay outside of battle. To my great relief, this game is an open world. At almost any time, you can go anywhere and do whatever side missions you want. Now, there being only 5 streamers you need to eliminate, I expected this game’s play time to be around 15-20 hours but where Origami King lacks in the number of chapters it has, the length of those chapters is truly impressive. You’ll constantly be discovering new and vast areas, all while finding secrets thanks to your thousand-fold arms ability along with your confetti supply. The Thousand-fold arms is this mechanic that honestly feels kinda tacked on and useless. Like it doesn’t get in the way, especially if you turn off motion controls but if you were to take it out the game wouldn’t really be significantly changed. On the other hand, confetti is this game’s version of paint, although the only time you’ll use it is outside of battle. You’ll use it to fill in holes in the walls and floor, as well as uncover secret chests filled with collectibles. It all lends itself to the open-world nature really well. Plus, the locations and scenarios you encounter are almost on the same level as the originals, although I don’t know if I’d necessarily put them over Thousand-Year Door. I suppose if there’s anything I’d like to really complain about with the general gameplay, it’s that the game is terrified of leaving the player behind. Are you struggling with a puzzle? After about two attempts the game will make itself significantly easier, or sometimes Olivia will just straight-up tell you the answer. It got frustrating at times because it almost felt like the game was so eager to keep moving forward that I couldn’t appreciate the challenges it threw at me. At other times though, especially near the beginning the game feels so hand-holdy that it seems you never get anything done. I’m pretty sure Olivia explained the combat system to me three times at least before she finally let me do a full battle on my own and it got frustrating pretty quickly. Especially for the end though, she gets a lot more quiet and lets you make a ton more mistakes, which I appreciated.

Now as for the main plot, I won’t spoil anything but I do think it was alright. I’d still say the originals are better but what’s here is appreciated, especially since I was afraid going in that there wouldn’t be any of it at all. Even the partners are pretty distinct in their personalities, even if their designs aren’t the most original. For example, Olivia who is obviously the main partner has a nice personality, being kind of ditzy and naive which comedicly contrasts with other characters you’ll meet on your adventure. I will say though that some definitely outshine the others, (those who have played the game will definitely know what I mean.) I guess the main thing I miss is that you don’t get to see what happens in between chapters, so it’s hard to really see any depth in King Olly. At least he does have a backstory and motivation, however minimal and the action scenes do feel really cinematic at times. That goes back to the presentation aspect I was talking about earlier. Plus, the story isn’t afraid to take one or two more serious and emotional turns, while at other times producing some of the funniest writing in the entire series. Not all the jokes land but I did find myself laughing out loud more than a few times. I was pleasantly surprised with the writing, although the ending did leave me with mixed feelings.

In the end, Origami King is a lot better than I thought it would be. I came in expecting a mediocre adventure game with the face of the series I used to love. But what I got was an exciting and captivating adventure that kept me excited until the credits rolled. And with a 25 hour adventure like this, that’s quite a feat. All of the issues I have with this game do matter and should Nintendo develop a sequel in the next few years, I’d definitely want them fixed but for what it’s worth, I like the direction this series is headed and I can’t wait to see what comes next. It may not be a “Thousand-Year Door 2” but I can confidently say that it is, at least for me, a “Paper Mario 4.” This may not be game of the year but I can definitely see myself playing it again in the future. And with that in mind, I give Paper Mario: The Origami King an 8.5 out of 10.