Paperback Adventures

About

Paperback Adventures is a word-based adventure game where players spell words to overcome challenges and uncover a storybook world. With a deck-building system, players can acquire and upgrade cards to improve their word-crafting abilities. The game offers various scenarios and enemies, requiring strategic thinking and vocabulary skills. Each decision impacts the narrative, making for a unique and engaging experience.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

97%

Audience ScoreBased on 58 reviews

gameplay8 positive mentions

replayability3 negative mentions

The game features a unique blend of deck-building and word creation mechanics, providing a fresh and engaging gameplay experience.
The art style and presentation are top-notch, enhancing the overall enjoyment of the game.
There is a good balance of challenge and fun, with a variety of enemies and strategies that keep gameplay interesting and replayable.

The gameplay can feel repetitive, as many turns involve using all available letters, limiting the strategic depth of word formation.
Some players find the difficulty scaling unbalanced, with certain characters or enemies feeling disproportionately challenging.
The lack of an undo button can lead to frustrating mistakes, detracting from the overall experience.

gameplay
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
47%
35%
18%
The gameplay is a unique blend of deck-building and word formation, reminiscent of Scrabble and Hearthstone, offering depth through strategic deck management and character abilities. While some players find it occasionally buggy and repetitive, the core mechanics provide satisfying and engaging challenges, with a variety of builds and combinations that enhance replayability. Overall, the gameplay experience is solid, benefiting from digital adaptations that streamline mechanics from the physical version.
- “If you like scrambled word games, that is the essence of the gameplay from hand-to-hand, but don't be fooled: the game has incredible depth in terms of the challenge each of its enemy types presents to the player; your ability to choose and build your deck of letters will have to be balanced with each of the player character's unique abilities with consideration to the types of challenges you will face.”
- “Extremely satisfying gameplay for me, and yeah, you'll end up using the same words quite often, but again it's more like using a safer, lower-string combo in a fighting game. When you get better, you'll figure out how to turn those lower-letter words into longer ones, but given the situation, you may want to even stick with a two-letter word, and you're almost always given two 'wild card' letters allowing you all sorts of dynamics depending on what you draw.”
- “The game has a unique combination of game mechanics that makes play interesting.”
- “Buggy, one-note gameplay.”
- “I keep hoping the new updates will fix the mechanics so it's winnable.”
- “I really like the vowel mechanic people have mentioned from the physical game, and wish we had it here instead of the level 5 'random consonant' difficulty level.”
graphics
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
45%
27%
27%
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their charming, hand-drawn art style and overall polished design, contributing to an engaging visual experience. While the artwork and interface are considered top-notch, some users feel that the visual effects and special moves could benefit from more intensity and flair. Overall, the graphics enhance the game's appeal, making it visually captivating.
- “Love the pulpy art style.”
- “Paperback Adventures has a great, hand-drawn art style.”
- “That said, the artwork and interface of the game are top notch, and the underlying game is still solid gold.”
- “The visual effects could be more intense, and the special moves could be supported with flashier visuals.”
- “Graphics are cute.”
- “I really like the art style.”
replayability
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
60%
The game offers high replayability due to its variety of characters, items, and enemy types, along with random elements and upgrade paths reminiscent of "Slay the Spire." Players appreciate the short game times, which enhance the overall engagement and encourage multiple playthroughs.
- “There is a good amount of variety and replayability with multiple characters and a slew of items and enemy types.”
- “I appreciate that this version may well end up with more variety and have more replay value than the physical game.”
- “Random enemies and upgrade paths (a la Slay the Spire) lend a ton of replay value.”
- “Very engaging and the progression has lots of replay value.”
music
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
20%
20%
The music in the game receives mixed reviews; while some find it slightly repetitive and annoying, others appreciate its epic quality and how well it complements the game's character. Overall, the soundtrack contributes positively to the game's engaging atmosphere, with many players enjoying the fun and immersive experience it provides.
- “I like everything about Paperback Adventures, especially the soundtrack, artwork, letter rack, and overall design of the game.”
- “The music in the game is epic and perfectly suits the character of the game.”
- “This game is immediately engaging because of the fun music, graphics, and the very smooth tutorial.”
- “The soundtrack is slightly annoying and too repetitive, but you can easily mute it.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
150%
The game has been criticized for its buggy performance and repetitive gameplay. However, it runs smoothly on the Steam Deck, particularly when using the trackpad as a mouse.
- “Finally, I want to mention that this runs great on Steam Deck, especially if you are comfortable using the trackpad as a mouse.”
- “The game is plagued by bugs that disrupt the experience.”
- “I encountered frequent crashes that made it unplayable.”
- “The overall stability is disappointing, with constant frame drops.”