Print is not dead, emphasizes the origami platformer Hirogami, in which you fight against a digital plague

Exactly what percentage of unacknowledged irony is there when a digital game wants to praise paper-based art in the context of a story about fighting a “plague” of digital creatures? If you took this moral seriously, Hirogami, you would actually be depicted on downed tree mulch. I condemn you, pretender! You're one of the very electronic critters I'm supposed to fight. On the other hand, you Do Let me transform myself into an origami armadillo that can roll around like a pinball machine. Here is the announcement trailer.

“Hirogami is a 3D action platformer inspired by the ancient Japanese art of origami (paper folding),” the Steam page explains. “Everything you encounter has been designed to convey the physical, often fragile, natural world of paper, amid a story woven with threads of wistful intrigue.”

You play as Hiro, a brave piece of paper with the ability to transform into a lanky Jumpman, a floor-stomping frog, a block-pulling monkey, and more. Their task is to “cleanse the mentally distorted inhabitants” of a world whose “delicate natural balance” has been unsettled by the aforementioned plague.

“Explore every corner and discover all the hidden secrets of the world,” the Steam blurb continues. “Unfold into a sheet of paper to ride fiery updrafts or slip beneath deadly traps. Or become a paper airplane to cross dangerous abysses. This origami world is a fragile place, and you'll need your wits to protect it.” Use Hiro's paper fans to blow away the plague, or smash, beat, or poison it with your litany of paper-like powers.”

Oh, if only we harried journalists had been granted access to such “paper powers” ​​back when broadband became ubiquitous and everyone started screaming that “print is dead.” Give it a few hundred years and people will make wistful, fascinating platformers about the ancient and forgotten art form of the video game magazine.

Imagine: As a masthead, a sodden mishmash of Adobe InDesign blueprints, you must defeat the invading forces of the Internet by getting into an official Xbox magazine (the combat option because we always have a weapon on the cover) or an official Nintendo transform Magazine (for platforming games, of course) or an Edge (to weaken enemies, because after all every other release's 10/10 is an Edge 6/10 etc. etc.). Except there won't be any Internet forces to fight, because when they said that “print is dead,” they neglected to add, “And Internet business models are built on quicksand.”

Anyway, what did we talk about? Oh yes, the clever origami game. A few final details: It features a traditional instrumental soundtrack and is produced by the Bandai Namco team in Singapore on behalf of Kakehashi Games. The idea of ​​a “paper game” is old hat at this point, but the artwork is still pretty lush. However, I think they missed a trick by not having a mini-game that simulates the order of folding for each incarnation of Hiro – if you want to keep these traditions, why put them on speed dial? It will be released in 2025.