A new Steam RPG, Cartapli: Fold Quest, is entirely free-to-play and already sitting on a “Very Positive” user review rating on Valve’s storefront. Apart from cute chibi visuals, this Steam exclusive offers an unusual hook in the form of combat built around paper folding.
Cartapli: Fold Quest is published by Jungle Game Lab, a subsidiary of South Korean entertainment giant Krafton that specializes in nurturing game development talent. The RPG was created by ManduPod, a four-person team based in Yongin, South Korea. It was officially released on February 5 exclusively via Steam.
Cartapli: Fold Quest Debuts to Rave Reviews, Is Currently Fully Free to Play
Eight days after its release, Cartapli: Fold Quest is sitting at 87.68% favorable reviews on Steam, based on nearly 150 player impressions, placing it in Valve’s “Very Positive” category. Many early reviewers praised its free-to-play model and cited the complete lack of microtransactions as a major plus, though Cartapli: Fold Quest also received plenty of other plaudits centered on its roguelite elements and unique combat mechanics.
Who’s That Character?
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.
Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)
The current crop of user reviews broadly praises the game’s central hook: turn-based encounters where players fold the paper battlefield to reposition units and landmarks, thereby solving spatial puzzles. While the premise is relatively simple, ManduPod goes to great lengths to explore and experiment with it. “Combat has a surprising amount of depth,” wrote Steam user Falling like Gravity, noting that the overall experience is “very satisfying” once the player finally nails a solution.
Cartapli’s combat depth comes largely from the choices enabled by its paper-folding mechanics. Players can shorten the battlefield to reduce movement distances and create more attack opportunities, or fold paper to trap enemies. Terrain-specific obstacles add another layer of planning. Completing levels rewards resources that can be spent on upgrades, letting players become stronger over time and shape a preferred playstyle. The upgrade system functions as the game’s main roguelite feature, providing meta progression between runs. Combat, meanwhile, follows the broad conventions of a strategy RPG, though its paper-folding mechanics give it a distinctive feel.
More Cartapli: Fold Quest Content Is Coming
The current version of Cartapli: Fold Quest includes two acts, both free, with roughly one to three hours of gameplay combined. Act 1, “Grandpa’s First Tale: The Master of the Forest,” introduces the Hedgehog King boss in a forest setting. Act 2 shifts to a desert environment and culminates in a fight against the Timid Desert King. Each act also features its own non-boss enemies with distinct abilities. In a recent developer update on Steam, ManduPod said it is working on additional content but did not commit to a concrete release timeline. The game’s structure allows the developer to easily make any future acts paid, or begin alternating between free and premium content drops. Whether that actually happens is unclear as the studio has not yet said whether it plans to monetize the roguelite strategy RPG. Likewise, the developer has yet to clarify whether its latest title is planned to be ported to more platforms moving forward.
Complaints in the game’s Steam reviews are relatively limited and tend to focus less on the RPG’s premise than on its scope and polish. Multiple early adopters described Cartapli as too short for their liking. For instance, Steam user Joejoenam characterized it as “more of a well-made tech demo than a full game.” Despite the limited amount of content, multiple players have noted that the paper-folding SRPG offers decent replay value. Cartapli: Fold Quest is not the only Jungle Game Lab-published title that has been generating positive chatter on Steam as of late. The cozy cyberpunk game D1AL-ogue has also earned a “Very Positive” rating, with nearly 900 user reviews since its February 5 launch.
Source: ScreenRant
