Hirogami Review: Chock-Full of Character, Held Back by Combat

Hirogami boasts a vivid, gorgeous world and a strong message about creativity and imagination, though the gameplay does let it down a bit.

I was quite excited for Hirogami ever since I saw the announcement trailer, as I’m highly susceptible to games that have a stylish artstyle. Hirogami has that in spades as both its characters and environments are modelled after origami.

It has that Paper Mario charm that lets you get lost in its world design and I was very impressed with how everything in the game looks like you could replicate it with paper, and a lot of skill.

The story follows this hand-crafted world under threat by a robotic entity that seeks to destroy it entirely, and it’s up to Hiro to save the day. To do so the player must navigate through several levels separated into different worlds, and restore power to shrines that have been destroyed by a corruptive force.

Functionally Hirogami is a 3D platformer and most of your time will be spent doing some light puzzle solving to get to the next area. To help with this you’ll acquire three new abilities that’ll morph Hiro into a different origami creation. The first is an armadillo that lets you curl up into a ball and destroy heavy objects, as well as roll around the place at greater speeds Hiro can manage on his feet. You get all three abilities fairly early on so most of the game is spent mastering and upgrading them.

The platforming was enjoyable and switching between the different origami powers at the press of a button was neat, though I wasn’t really blown away by any level in particular, save the last few.

Some of the best levels saw you transform into a paper airplane for some Star Fox-style action sequences, those were good fun.

Kakehashi Games

Combat is also a big part of the Hirogami, and unfortunately it was my least favourite aspect of the game. Hiro can attack basic enemies with his fan but the majority of enemies are immune to it, meaning you need to attack with either the armadillo or one of the other abilities. This is fine but the game never really feels built around combat, so it’s confusing to me why there’s so much of it…

Melee fights felt poorly paced and some weird hitboxes had me losing health for seemingly no reason. Boss fights aren’t as egregious thankfully but like the levels themselves none of them really blew me away, and the lass boss is without a doubt one of the most painfully slow final battles I’ve ever experienced. When I realised several enemy encounters could just be ignored altogether, that’s typically what I did.

Fortunately the game picks itself back up with collectibles. Like games such as Paper Mario you can collect and craft permanent upgrades for Hiro and his abilities, though these need to be found within the levels. They often lurked behind hidden pathways, and some would require an ability you wouldn’t have by that point of the game, adding replayability to the levels.

Backtracking does become a big part of the game towards the end, as boss fights are locked if you don’t have enough Golden Cranes. These are awarded to the player for completing level-based objectives, such as eliminating a specific number of enemies, finishing under an allotted time or completing level with your health above a certain point. There’s a good chance you’ll have more than enough Golden Cranes to breeze through the game but if you don’t you’ll have to revisit previous levels carefully completing their challenges. While I’m not against this idea it did get quite painful towards the end, especially some of the health challenges because as I explained earlier, combat just isn’t the move in this game.

Kakehashi Games

Hirogami was a tricky game to review, perhaps because I went in with such high expectations. I think it tells a solid story and its presentation is fantastic. I’ve loved seeing games adopt these arts and crafts themes through their visuals and the world design is both distinct and charming.

It falls short with the combat unfortunately, which is a shame because it’s such a huge part of the game that you can’t really avoid it. Like I alluded to before, the final boss was a slog to get through and not the kind of finale I was hoping for, but it’s clear a lot of love went into the game so I’m trying not to judge it too harshly.

I’d still recommend trying it for yourself, but don’t be surprised if the delightful visuals don’t keep you invested till the end credits, it needed a little more.

Pros: Fantastic art direction and a solid storyline, mastering Hiro’s abilities can be fun

Cons: Clunky combat, disappointing bosses, backtracking can be a pain

For fans of: Death Stranding, Elden Ring, Control

6/10 - Good

Hirogami launches on 3 September on PlayStation 5 (version tested), and PC. A review code was provided by the publisher. Read a guide to our review scores here.