My Beautiful Paper Smile Review: Not Much Behind the Mask

When My Beautiful Paper Smile was in development, it is highly unlikely that its creators could have predicted how prescient their game would be. A totalitarian society where everyone is forced to cover their face is now our reality. Of course, the fiction of this psychological horror game is far more horrifying then even our current daily-life.

My Beautiful Paper Smile starts off in a facility where children wear masks with crude wide-toothed grins. They must always smile; they can never speak out against their adult captors. The unnamed main character begins to hear voices and see visions of a “Lost Child” who plans to help him escape from his cell and the monotonous and creepy tests he is subjected to, in this Orwellian nightmare in video game form.

My Beautiful Paper Smile‘s story is immediately reminiscent of the 2018 title, We Happy Few. In that action/adventure game, character’s wore masks to hide their true feelings as the state wanted everyone to be happy – even when their world was falling apart. But while We Happy Few’s world was bright and colorful, My Beautiful Paper Smile sheds the veneer and goes straight for the horror jugular. The hand-drawn pencil art makes this game feel like a trip through a demented Edward Gorey drawing, albeit a very short one.

As of writing, only two of the four chapters of My Beautiful Paper Smile’s story have been released, and each one takes only an hour or so to complete. These short “episodes” are more of a preview of the game and its possibilities than a full experience. At the conclusion of the second chapter, the story is far from complete, though there’s nothing so compelling in the narrative that one might feel obligated to return when the remaining chapters are released.

My Beautiful Paper Smile explores themes of individualism and freedom of thought, but its world is so muddled with dream-like creatures and esoteric musings that it struggles to get any point across. While value can’t be found in its messaging, the simple gameplay and beautiful yet haunting drawings are enough to capture the imagination for a while.

In order to escape from the facility, players will have to navigate their 2D characters around the 3D world, solving puzzles and completing stealth sections. As they progress, new opportunities arise, like hidden secrets accessible with objects discovered only by the most intrepid explorers and even basic combat sections. Most of the gameplay involves utilizing an inventory to access items; quick clicking is key.

However, My Beautiful Paper Smile folds under the pressure of its eerie ambitions. The stealth sections are monotonous and the puzzles far from challenging. Both suffer from confusing and fragmented cohesion with the story. The player is never really told what to do, and even when they are, the answer is to often do the opposite. While this could function as a statement of “going against the grain,” it doesn’t really play – not so much as BioShock’s iconic twist.

There’s a lot to admire in My Beautiful Paper Smile, but not much to love. Its haunting art never really provides the promised scares, though it unsettles and mystifies. The story is both too short and strange to make a connection with the average player. Moments of gameplay are enjoyable but collectively amount to little and can frustrate – there’s a lack of player feedback when a puzzle can’t be solved or an encounter is failed repeatedly.

My Beautiful Paper Smile’s look is very appealing, especially for those with darker sentiments. But there’s little lurking beneath the mask it wears to be worth the price tag.

My Beautiful Paper Smile is out now on Steam for $14.99. Screen Rant was provided a digital code for the purpose of this review.

About The Author

Ty Sheedlo
(96 Articles Published)

Ty Sheedlo is a games and (occasional) movie contributor to Screen Rant. He has been writing for the site for several years in the form of lists, interviews, set visits, news, and reviews. When he isn’t analyzing them, Ty can be found playing video games for fun (mostly Super Smash Bros.) and sometimes looking outside the window to enjoy the year-long LA summer. He’s a huge horror fan and comedy nerd; legends speak of a mythical horror-comedy genre that lives at the intersection of all Ty’s interests. He can be found retweeting and rarely expressing his own opinions on Twitter as (at)needs4sheeds and “hearting” movies on Letterboxd as tygonjin.

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