Well, it was a pleasant surprise. Ahead of its reveal today at 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 house of Tekken, Ace Combat and Tales? I wasn't sure what to expect, and in fact, Hirogami isn't like any of those series.
Instead, Hirogami is an origami-inspired platforming curiosity that's closer in scope to an indie game: Paper Mario or Tearaway via Tunic. Hirogami was born as a side project by staff within Bandai Namco's studio in Singapore, I'm told, and was pushed from concept demo stage to public release thanks to internal enthusiasm for the idea and a desire to find a suitable audience. Fortunately, the version of Hirogami announced today already looks and feels quite polished, even though its release is still a few months away.
You play as Hiro, an origami kitsune warrior who can transform into other animals and use their powers. These skills seem to come in quickly, immediately focusing on your ability to platform and defeat enemies while you deploy and rearrange to achieve different playstyles.
Hiro's main form provides him with a paper fan as a weapon, which you will first use to defeat an armadillo, cleansing it of the malevolent spirit that has taken over the paper lands of Hirogami, filling it with mysterious enemies and blocking paths with thorns. Hiro can then take the form of the armadillo himself, turning into a ball that can roll, a bit like Sonic, and launch himself at enemies, or pass through crumpled paper obstacles.
If you haven't fallen in love yet, let me next introduce you to Hirogami's frog, whose jumps allow you to jump to areas that were previously out of reach. Each of Hiro's forms is also useful in combat, and the frog can perform a powerful ground slam that deals nice AOE damage, of course.
Then there's the gorilla: slower on his feet but packing a strong punch in combat and capable of dragging heavy objects that you can then climb. Each of these shapes can be swapped with a few quick taps of your controller and also quickly unfold onto a flat horizontal sheet of paper to slide under obstacles.
I played with one final form: a paper crane that transforms into a paper airplane to accelerate, in aerial sequences that look like they can only be completed by this animal variant of Hiro. Here, you control your bird's form as if you were playing Starfox: dodging obstacles and collecting collectibles (and yes, you can roll).
My time with Hirogami ended too quickly; In reality, I only had enough to play half a dozen levels and get a brief introduction to each animal variant. Still, I've seen enough to know that Hirogami is one to keep an eye on as his release (at least for now, only on PC via Steam) moves like an armadillo sometime in 2025.