There are plenty of horror games that understand the assignment when Halloween rolls around, but PAPERHEAD looks like it took a much stranger route. Imagine a cheerful cardboard world being dropped into a bloody first-person shooter, then throw in a magical pencil, exploding barrels, a shotgun, and a suspicious amount of gore. The result is a game that looks a little like Paper Mario wandered into DOOM and immediately regretted it—and its October 9, 2026 Steam launch is just around the corner.
Developed by Paperhead te4m and published by HypeTrain Digital, PAPERHEAD is a Steam fast-paced boomer shooter mixed with an adventure horror game. It is set inside an abandoned research facility where something has gone terribly wrong. The cardboard inhabitants are no longer quite as harmless as they look, either, with the game’s central mystery summed up by one wonderfully unsettling question: why would cardboard bleed?
PAPERHEAD Turns Cardboard Into a Horror Show
Check Out PAPERHEAD on Steam
The first thing that makes PAPERHEAD stand out is how aggressively it plays with its own art style. The world is made from cardboard and paper, giving everything a handmade, almost childlike appearance. Instead of using a grim, photorealistic setting to make its monsters frightening, PAPERHEAD put its violence directly against that cute aesthetic. The Steam page describes a charming cardboard world with “more meat than expected,” and that contrast is arguably where much of the game’s Halloween appeal comes from.
There is something inherently creepy about watching an environment that looks this innocent turn into a blood-soaked research facility, and the mystery also gives the shooting some purpose beyond simply clearing rooms. Players are tasked with exploring the abandoned facility and uncovering what happened, meaning the horror is tied to the world rather than simply being an excuse to throw monsters at the player.
What If Paper Mario Fell Into DOOM?
The Paper Mario comparison actually goes further than the visuals. Like Nintendo’s RPG series, PAPERHEAD builds its world around a deliberately flat, paper craft look, but it throws that cheerful aesthetic into a very different type of game. Swap turn-based battles for frantic first-person shooting, replace Goombas with grotesque paper creatures, and add a healthy dose of gore, and the result starts looking like DOOM crashed into the Mushroom Kingdom.
This Cardboard World Is Built for Fast, Brutal Combat
Despite the horror elements, PAPERHEAD does not look like the kind of game that wants players hiding in a dark corner waiting for something to crawl past. Its combat is firmly rooted in the fast movement and aggression associated with boomer shooters. The player can toss enemies into the air, kick explosive barrels toward them, launch enemies themselves, and even stomp on enemies from above. There is also a shotgun for when subtlety has completely left the building. The game’s Steam listing specifically emphasizes swift combat, with movement and physical attacks working alongside traditional shooting.
That should give encounters a distinctly chaotic rhythm. Rather than simply pointing a weapon at everything that moves, players are encouraged to use the environment and their own movement to keep fights moving. An explosive barrel can become a weapon, an airborne enemy can become a target, and an incoming group of enemies can potentially be turned into a very messy playground. It is an appropriately ridiculous approach for a game where the walls are made of paper.
The Pencil Is More Than a Weapon
The strangest tool in PAPERHEAD might also be its most interesting. The protagonist carries a pencil that can be used as both a weapon and a tool for changing the environment. Players can sketch bombs and kick them toward enemies, but the pencil also has a more unusual purpose. The Steam page teases the ability to draw doors onto walls, while also allowing players to write mysterious words across the environment.
That gives PAPERHEAD something beyond its shotgun-and-kick gameplay. The pencil essentially turns the world itself into part of the player’s toolkit. If a normal FPS asks players to look for the right weapon, PAPERHEAD seems more interested in asking what players can draw. It is also where the game’s cartoon presentation starts becoming a genuine gameplay mechanic rather than just an aesthetic choice. A pencil feels completely at home in a cardboard world, but using one to solve problems while surrounded by bleeding paper monsters is considerably less wholesome.
PAPERHEAD Could Be the Perfect Halloween FPS
That strange combination makes PAPERHEAD particularly fitting for October. It has the blood and horror expected from a Halloween game, but it is not trying to be relentlessly grim. The colorful cardboard world, absurd physical combat, and pencil-powered tricks give the game a playful personality, while the abandoned facility and unexplained gore provide something much darker underneath. Even the soundtrack is designed to push the game toward its boomer-shooter roots, with an industrial style intended to accompany its frantic combat.
PAPERHEAD is scheduled to launch on Steam on October 9, putting its full release almost perfectly in the middle of the Halloween season. There is still plenty of mystery surrounding what exactly happened inside that facility, but the gameplay already has a bizarrely compelling formula: shoot the monsters, kick everything that looks kickable, draw your way through the environment, and try not to think too hard about why the cardboard is bleeding.
