REVIEW | Flat Kingdom Paper’s Cut Edition

LifeisXbox’s Flat Kingdom Paper’s Cut Edition review | The world of Flat Kingdom Paper’s Cut Edition is being kept in 2D thanks to 6 magic jewels that a wise sorcerer once made. One day, a thief called Hex decides to steal one of these jewels, making this once 2D world, 3D. In this platformer developed by Fat Panda & published by Ratalaika Games S.L., you will take on the role of a flat character who has the ability to change into 3 different shapes. Which allow him to restore the word back to its original 2D form.

ℹ️ Reviewed on Xbox Series X | Review code provided by PR/publisher, this review is the personal opinion of the writer.

What we Liked!

• Rock, Paper, Scissors combat | One of the things that makes this game stand out to other platformers, is its combat. You could easily compare the combat to a game we all (hopefully) know; Rock, Paper, Scissors. However, in this case, we are using shapes; squares, circles and triangles. The triangle beats circle, circle beats square, and square beats triangle. With this in mind, there are obviously enemies that look like these shapes, and it’s up to you to change your character into the correct shape to defeat these enemies. Some enemies are also required to be hit by multiple shapes in order to be beaten. The first hit may require you to be a triangle, and the second one could be a hit as a circle. I also found it quite funny how the controls are laid out; changing into the square requires you to press “X”, the triangle “Y”, and the circle “B”, which is funnily enough the same control layout for the PlayStation. □ △ ○

• Movement Abilities | Besides the combat, the shapes also have unique movement abilities. The circle allows you to double jump, the triangle makes you run quickly, and the square is heavy and slow, but can push around big objects, like boulders. Combining these shapes with each other makes it possible for you to do a lot more when it comes to movement. If you change into a square while running fastly with the triangle, you will do a long dash that allows you to jump over long gaps and break walls. After double jumping with the circle, if you change into the square, you will do a ground-pound which can activate buttons. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to movement abilities.

Mixed Feelings

• Music & Sound design | The sound effects in this game had a cartoony feel to them, which definitely fit the game’s theme in my opinion. However, I found there to be a lack of actual paper noises in this game, since it’s themed after that… The soundtrack for the game is pretty small in size, and the quality of songs vary as well. The theme song, for example, sounds quite decent, but it does get tiring after a while since it’s being used way too often throughout the game. The boss battles do have one unique song that luckily doesn’t get as tiring compared to the game’s theme song, and it’s actually quite enjoyable to listen to.

• Visuals | The 2D sections of the game look pretty impressive. When we take a look at the 3D sections of the game, it does look a little less impressive… The shapes that are being used to make the world look 3D are too simplistic and mostly consist of cubes. The lighting could’ve improved the 3D feel a little more, but sadly, it doesn’t take full advantage of that.

What we Disliked

• Easy Achievements | Flat Kingdom Paper’s Cut Edition is sadly one of those many games that has easy to get achievements, something I genuinely hate a lot. In my opinion, achievements are supposed to make the player do stuff that they otherwise wouldn’t do. They are supposed to make you more motivated to complete your game. The achievements in this game consist of beating enemies in a certain way, beating only 2 of the many bosses, and simply progressing through just a few of the first levels…

How long to beat the story | 5 – 6 hours
How long to achieve 1000G | about 1 hour

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