Paper Dolls 2, the sequel to the 2019 horror game Paper Dolls: Original, sees everyman Yang Ming Yuan continue his search for his missing daughter in the silent, foreboding halls of the Yin mansion. With more grand scenes, detailed plot animations, and challenging gameplay, Paper Dolls 2 is an improvement on its predecessor while still retaining the tense, atmospheric gameplay of the original game. The game was released for the PlayStation 4 and Playation 5 on January 25th, 2022, and we’ll be covering the latter version in this review, discussing the game’s good and bad aspects and ultimately determining whether it’s worth the £15.99 asking price.
The game’s narrative is one of its biggest selling points, although it can feel a bit disjointed at times due to the delivery of plot details in haunting flashback audio cues and environmental storytelling comprised of written notes and diary entries. The gameplay, which incorporates survival-horror elements, is a familiar framework for fans of the genre. The mansion’s layout knowledge is critical, and save rooms are your best friend, with limited resources and obscure puzzles keeping you on edge. A ceremonial dagger called a Phurba can be used to precisely time-block enemy attacks, and a black-powder pistol can target weak spots, making spirits flee.
However, the game’s puzzles can be confusing due to the state of the English localization, which features grammatical errors in the written notes and diary files, and the game is entirely voiced in Cantonese. The game’s unpredictable enemy spawns can heighten the tension or become frustrating, depending on what you’re doing, and backtracking to save rooms due to an enemy that won’t shift can be more annoying than dread-inducing.
While the core gameplay loop is solid, the game lacks polish, with the PlayStation 5 version being exceedingly buggy and offering a less than stable 30fps that stutters alongside texture popping and sound cuts. The game’s QTEs are shoehorned in, and the auto-saving before unskippable cutscenes that precede a chase sequence or boss-fight makes restarting a real chore if you find a difficult section to pass. The presence of game-breaking bugs that prevent you from making further progress is also a concern.
Overall, Paper Dolls 2 is a modest attempt at survival horror steeped in eastern mythology that raises the spook factor across the board. While not the scariest game out there, it offers a tense, 10-hour experience that will be a rewarding jaunt for fans of the genre, especially if you enjoy Asian horror. While the added extras in the gold edition are there for those that enjoy that sort of thing, the price for the base game is a modest ask for what’s on offer, just wait for it to be patched.