With a newfound combat system that steals the show and offers a novel take on turn-based combat, its winking, nodding, and adventuring shine all the brighter. Its world and characters might not be the series' best, but it's still able to consistently throw left turns, good gags, and smart surprises at you. Each piece of The Origami King elegantly fits into its whole, taking its irreverent flair to new heights. The Paper Mario series has recently shown that being clever and being smart are two different things, but thankfully, it's once again managed to be both.

There's plenty I'd recommend about The Origami King, a journey generous with its humour, its spread of locations, its continual sense of adventure in Mario's bid to defeat the evil Origami King (a clever conceit which lets Mario befriend regular paper Goombas and Koopas while also letting him battle evil origami Goombas and Koopas). Its final section especially, while brief, is thrilling to watch unfold. But each time the game changed settings, every time it swapped in a new party member, whenever I cleared another boss, I expected it to grow the shoots it had begun to set out and dig in a little deeper. For all of the game's sense of personality and place, it never grows into anything weightier.

Paper Mario : The Origami King n’est peut-être pas le meilleur jeu de la série, mais il reste une aventure d’assez bonne facture grâce à des scènes drôles, une réalisation propre et des situations diverses et variées. Il parvient à nous occuper pendant toute l’expérience, même si on regrettera un système de combat très plat et quelques moments lassants dans les phases d’exploration. S’il est plus un jeu d’aventure qu’un RPG, il n’en reste pas moins efficace pour nous voler quelques sourires, et c’est déjà ça.

There's room in my heart for both styles of Paper Mario. The old games still exist and this newer, sometimes thinner formula is fine too. That said, it's possible Nintendo and Intelligent Systems have folded this subseries every which way they can at this point. I hope the next one is a little more fresh.

Si l'héritage de Paper Mario plane encore sur The Origami King, point ici de syndrome de la page blanche, pliée sens dessus dessous grâce à la faramineuse imagination de la mise en scène et du récit, résolument audacieux. L'inventivité d'Intelligent Systems se déploie également à travers l'architecture ingénieuse de cet univers et la dimension stratégique des combats, qui deviennent ainsi de véritables casse-tête. Un tel surcroît de profondeur aussi bien martelé ne donne toutefois jamais la migraine, la quête principale résidant dans la découverte de l'ensemble des richesses du royaume champignon, de sorte que ce RPG moustachu s'affirme comme le souverain incontestable en son propre domaine.

Paper Mario: The Origami King tries to do something different with its combat system and, to be honest, we aren't feeling it. That doesn't mean the rest of the game isn't thoroughly entertaining, however, and while the puzzle-based battles aren't quite what a new Paper Mario game needed, they aren't so awful that everything else shouldn't be experienced as a result. It still isn't the new Thousand-Year Door fans will have been hoping for, but it's still one of the funniest games in the series and it's got a truly likeable companion character, and while the combat is far from ideal the fact that we still thoroughly recommend the game regardless speaks volumes about every other aspect of it.

Mario is a brand, not a genre. The strongest connective tissue between them is made up of the characters and basic story beats, while being designed in ways that make them fun for players of any age. These games can often be as hard, or as easy, as you’d like to make them.
 
For so much of Paper Mario: The Origami King, that’s true. I want to share it with my nieces and nephews, as well as my grown friends. But I hesitate due to the frustration of the combat and those imposing boss battles — those moments where I wish I had someone else to take over on the controller.

I liked playing Paper Mario: The Origami King. It has such high points with the music, the visuals, the comedy, and the willingness to try new ideas. I love how experimental the adventure is with the large variety of situational humor and mini-games. This world was such a treat to journey through, and it was nice to have more then one meaningful emotional moment again in a Paper Mario game. It’s so clear that The Origami King is trying to have its cake and eat it too when it comes to its combat system. It’s so strange to me how optional the game is to play. I did go for completing every challenge presented to me, but I can definitely foresee players skipping ahead because of the lack of incentives. I applaud Paper Mario: The Origami King for trying something new, but am worried that the friction between its ongoing genre identity is going to keep the series running around in circles.

As a series, Paper Mario constantly explores new concepts and mechanics, which is exciting, but that comes with plenty of risks. Origami King’s biggest chances don't pay off in a satisfying way. I enjoyed Mario’s hijinks and all the misfits he encounters, but the new ring-based action needs refinement. I hope Paper Mario’s next twist on combat can rise to the same level as its humor.

Paper Mario : The Origami King tient dans l’ensemble ses promesses en proposant une aventure riche et palpitante qui saura vous donner le sourire dès que vous allumerez votre console. Si les combats classiques vite lassants et sans intérêt viennent ternir ce tableau, les combats de Boss flamboyants et les 1001 bonnes idées du jeu sauront largement faire pardonner ce petit défaut à un titre par ailleurs particulièrement réussi techniquement et artistiquement, tellement craquant et à la durée de vie vraiment conséquente. Ne cherchez pas plus loin, c’est réglé, votre été sur Switch est plié !

The Origami King is a truly likeable game despite the shallowness of its new spin on gameplay. Its characters are winsome, its visual design is gorgeous, its world is fun to explore, and its storytelling is outside the box and playful. At the same time, however, it could be so much more. Combat is largely unfulfilling, and your journey as a whole lacks meaningful choices. For a series with RPG roots, that’s a real shame.