Well, this was a nice surprise. Ahead of its reveal today in the Convergence Games Showcase during Tokyo Game Show week, I was invited to play a mysterious new project from Bandai Namco. A new creation from the home of Tekken, Ace Combat, and Tales? I wasn’t sure what to expect – and indeed, Hirogami is like none of those series.
Instead, Hirogami is an origami-inspired platforming curio that feels more indie game-like in scope – Paper Mario or Tearaway by way of Tunic. Hirogami was born as a staff side-project within Bandai Namco’s Singapore studio, I’m told, and propelled on from concept demo stage towards a public release thanks to internal enthusiam for the idea and a desire for it to find a proper audience. Happily, the version of Hirogami announced today already looks and feels pretty polished, despite still being some months from launch.
You play as Hiro, an origami kitsune warrior who can transform into other animals and use their powers. These abilities appear to be introduced quickly, with the focus immediately on your skill of platforming and defeating enemies while unfolding and rearranging yourself to pull off different play styles.
Hiro’s main form affords him a paper fan as a weapon, which you’ll first use to defeat an armadillo – cleansing it of the malevolent spirit that has overtaken Hirogami’s papercraft lands, filling it with mysterious enemies and blocking paths with thorns. Hiro can then take on the armadillo’s form himself, rolling up into a ball that can roll around – a little like Sonic – and barrel into enemies, or break through scrunched up paper obstacles.
If you’re yet to be enamoured, let me next introduce you to Hirogami’s frog, whose leaps allow you to jump to previously out-of-reach areas. Each of Hiro’s forms is also useful in combat too, and the frog can pull off a powerful ground pound that deals pleasing AOE damage – because of course.
Then there’s the gorilla – slower on his feet but packing a strong punch in combat, and able to drag heavy objects you can then climb. Each of these forms can be swapped between with a few quick taps of your controller, and also quickly unfold itself into a flat horizontal sheet of paper to slip through underneath obstacles.
I played with one final form – a paper crane that shifts into a paper plane to accelerate – in aerial sequences that look like they can only be completed by this animal variant of Hiro. Here, you control your bird shape as if you’re playing Starfox – dodging obstacles and picking up collectables (and yes, you can barrel roll).
My time with Hirogami was over too quickly – really only with enough to play a half dozen levels and get a brief introduction to each animal variant. Still, though, I’ve seen enough to know Hirogami is one to keep an eye on as its launch – for now at least, just on PC via Steam – rolls around like an armadillo at some point in 2025.
