Tearaway Unfolded

Tearaway Unfolded is a reworked version of the originally handheld game, in which the entire world is made of paper. The player accompanies a messenger named Iota or Atoi on a journey to deliver a message, while also being present within the world as a divine being watching events through a tear in the sky. This one idea holds the whole game together. Paper sheets can be folded, torn, and unfurled, the player blows away obstacles using the controller's touchpad, shines light into the scene with the controller's light bar, or uses the camera to insert their own face into the game, appearing as the sun.

The port to PlayStation 4 didn't stop at higher resolution. Levels were expanded, new abilities were added, and interactions were rewritten to use the speaker, touchpad, and light bar of the controller instead of the handheld console's rear touchpad. Visually, the game is unmistakable: everything is made of paper cutouts, including grass, water, and clouds, and once the player gets a pair of scissors, they can cut out their own decorations and place them into the world. The music is playful, featuring folk instruments and singing, and complements the crafted, handmade mood beautifully.

The contemporary reception was very warm, with reviewers praising its inventiveness and charm, though they often noted that part of the original version's magic was tied specifically to the handheld console and its rear touchpad. Its influence on the genre lies mainly in the courage to break the barrier between player and game in a way other than a witty one-liner. Today it's a sweet, undemanding adventure well suited even for younger players, and one that visually stands apart from the rest of the PlayStation 4 library at first glance. It isn't a difficult game, and an experienced player will breeze through it, but a challenge was never really the point. Tearaway Unfolded is above all a celebration of creation: every cut-out piece of paper the player designs themselves appears in the world and stays there, and this small feeling of co-authorship is exactly what one would expect from Media Molecule.