Paperhead is already making waves on Steam as an intriguing indie horror FPS after it debuted with a ‘Very Positive’ user rating. The new Steam game officially launched on October 9 and quickly earned a 95% positive rating out of 240 reviews. For fans looking for a darkly cute shooter with visuals reminiscent of The Binding of Isaac, Paperhead might be the ideal game for this Halloween season.
Developer Paperhead Te4m has been working on this cartoonishly gory game as far back as 2023 when a demo for Paperhead hit the Steam storefront. At a glance, Paperhead looks like a strange mix of Paper Mario and Doom, but with even more carnage than its cute cardboard art style would suggest. As a game that asks why cardboard bleeds, Paperhead has clearly made an impact on Steam users among the deluge of new horror games releasing during the first half of October 2026.
Paperhead Delivers on its Binding of Isaac Meets Boomer Shooter Inspirations
Adding a new twist on the cute-but-horrifying genre that has become popular on Steam in recent years, Paperhead wears its Binding of Isaac inspirations on its sleeve. While the game plays more like classic Doom, the charming cardboard cutouts are juxtaposed with the gore and pounding industrial metal soundtrack to give Paperhead an appeal to both shooter fans and horror fans alike. Paperhead may not be a roguelike horror game, but it shares in The Binding of Isaac‘s simplistic yet grotesque aesthetic.
Paperhead Features at a Glance
- Brutal and swift combat
- Use your pencil to change the world around you
- A charming and cute cardboard world… with more meat than expected
- An industrial soundtrack that will pump high-octane cardboard through your veins
In the cute cardboard world, something went horribly wrong… Use the magical pencil, a good old shotgun, and various other weapons as well as the strength of your mighty boots, to uncover the dark truth and find out WHY WOULD CARDBOARD… BLEED?
At its core, Paperhead is a fast-paced boomer shooter, where players can use a variety of different weapons to blast their way through an abandoned research facility to uncover the dark secret behind this cardboard world. The game’s unique pencil mechanic allows players to create objects and interact with the world, unlike other Doom-likes. Players can use the pencil to draw bombs and kick them at enemies, or create a door just to kick down, giving an immersive layer of freedom to approach Paperhead‘s different levels.
The positive user reviews for Paperhead praise the game’s fast-paced but tight gameplay along with its intense soundtrack that gives the game an electric feel. Aside from comparisons to games like Doom Eternal, the pencil and kicking mechanics have players drawing comparisons to Hotline Miami‘s level design and gameplay. Paperhead also appeals to fans of cult horror games that hold deep lore for players to unravel, giving players a variety of reasons to check it out regardless of what kind of horror game fan they are.
Even within the vast sea of indie boomer shooters on Steam, Paperhead stands out for its unique art style and tight gameplay. Fans of The Binding of Isaac or Doom shouldn’t sleep on Paperhead among the many horror releases like Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival and Silver Pines coming out throughout October.
