Paper Dolls (PSVR) Review

Paper Dolls seeks to tell a story by combining traditional Chinese cultural with western style horror elements.  From the minute you start playing the game you are alone, but you never truly feel alone.  There is always the feeling that something or someone can jump out at you.  While jump scares are kept to a minimum throughout the experience, strange noises and the eerie environment does an amazing job at keeping you fully immersed.   The game does very little hand holding, you are expected to find your way around the temple – solving various puzzles and progressing the story-line.

Movement in the game is achieved either using the Dualshock 4 or the PS Move Controllers.  The developers have created what they call an “anti-motion sickness system”.  It attempts to allow full player locomotion and movement, without causing much discomfort.   Forward movements are done by pulling and releasing the triggers in a sequential fashion, almost like imitating walking using your fingers.  Left and right turning is done by double tapping the corresponding trigger for the direction you want to turn. 

 This method of movement will take some getting used, and even then it will never feel like second nature.  I had some problem adapting to it at first, but after a couple of minutes I was able get the hang of it.  I must admit however, for someone like me that is prone to motion sickness from full locomotion in VR games - this movement system gave some improvement in preventing motion sickness.  But it’s not perfect and can be very annoying to use at times.

Throughout the course of the game you will come across several ghosts, of which you are reminded to not fight them but instead run away with a chance to seal them away later on.  The story is very shallow and is lacking much depth.  

All in all, if you are interested in Horror games with a focus on Chinese culture and traditions, then this is worth a try.  However, be warned that with equal amounts of enjoyment from Paper Dolls, you also get equal amounts of frustrations. 

Paper Dolls - VR Horror Game | First Impressions