A Fold Apart

 Switch
Metascore
70

Mixed or average reviews - based on 6 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 6
  3. Negative: 0 out of 6
  1. Nintendo Force Magazine
    Aug 29, 2020
    75
    A Fold Apart probably isn't "fun" when it's all said and done. It is unique, though, and may give you a greater appreciation for your loved ones who live far away. [Issue #47 – July/August 2020, p. 17]
    All this publication's reviews
  2. Vandal
    May 26, 2020
    75
    A Fold Apart knows how to make the most out of its personality, and create a simple but engaging puzzle game. It has some flaws, like a very slow pacing, but, overall, we’ve enjoyed it.
  3. NintendoWorldReport
    Apr 23, 2020
    75
    A Fold Apart is a unique experience in terms of what is on offer from a puzzle-solving aspect, with the paper-folding brain-twisters allowing for an enjoyable experience from top to bottom. Pair that with beautifully-crafted environments, vibrant colors, and a compelling story and you have a game that plays and looks great. If the performance was on point, this would have been one of the premier puzzle experiences in the first half of 2020. Still, A Fold Apart is one to pick up and play if you can look past the framerate issues.
  5. PLAY! Zine
    May 4, 2020
    70
    A Fold Apart is a simple but short puzzle game with an interesting mechanic that explores relationships and difficulties of modern non-verbal communication.
  6. Video Chums
    Apr 17, 2020
    70
    Practical puzzle games don't get much cleverer than A Fold Apart. Although it's a short adventure, it's one that you surely won't forget.
  7. Gaming Age
    Jun 5, 2020
    50
    Presumably the game goes easy on players so they can focus on the unfolding story (pun not originally intended). However, if you hate the story as much as I did, that’s not a good thing. Again, I’ll freely admit that if you don’t spend too much time thinking about any of this, A Fold Apart is a mildly charming puzzle-platformer. But beneath that brightly-coloured surface, there’s a pretty noxious message.
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  1. The Verge
    Apr 26, 2020
    The writing and gameplay feel as though they are working in concert toward a specific experience. It isn’t just a series of puzzles with a story about long distance relationships, but a game about communication.

User Reviews

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User Score
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User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. onemorelevel_1
    Jan 1, 2021
    6
    THE GAY COUPLE:
    Starting the game, the first thing I had to do, was to choose the two lovers for this story. They could be straight or gay    THE GAY COUPLE:
    Starting the game, the first thing I had to do, was to choose the two lovers for this story. They could be straight or gay couple — me choosing the gay couple. Two men this time, because the gay-love is mostly represented in any entertainment as between two women, than two men.

    So, my boys started with having a good relationship, but then something happens. The other dude took his dream job from another city and he wants to go there to fulfill his dream. They decide having a long-distance relationship for the time being, until he comes back from the temporary job. Well, things doesn’t go as planned. There will be jealousy, misunderstandings, arguments, ups and downs — but it all happens via phone, using a chat app. Yes, very mature.

    I’M JUST FOLDED, FLIPPED AND UPSIDE-DOWN:
    Player uses both characters, one at time, to solve puzzles that are based on a piece of a paper. It is like a level, that player has to solve by folding and turning the paper. In every level, player has to find the way to reach the star, which is placed strategically somewhere, that takes planning to get to. By turning and folding the paper, player can create new paths, which feels like a metaphor for finding a new way of thinking, as the character is trying overcome a problem. Turning the paper upside-down the gravity can drop the character to another platform. Player have to utilize all the moves and it might get tricky to fully picture the puzzle’s solution in mind.

    The gameplay stays pretty much the same throughout, but the game introduces new moves and techniques and I think at least one of them comes a way too late. It creates unnecessary distress to solve the rest of the puzzles.

    PLEASE TALK TO ME:
    A Fold Apart isn’t voice acted, so the game is filled with captions, some of them appearing artistically to the background, using horrendous font. The story is very basic love story and what they have to do, to get their relationship work. What annoyed me personally, was the whining, crying, moaning, attention-seeking tantrums, childish arguments… ugh. It gets old and tiresome, and makes them look like teenagers, rather than an adult couple with serious marital problems.

    LOVE WILL FIND THE WAY:
    A Fold Apart isn’t bad game, but it isn’t marvelous either. The puzzle mechanics are cool, but personally for me, it was hard to solve them at times. It was difficult to see in my mind how folding a paper affects the other side of the paper, so it was lots of trial-and-errors. Dropping new moves towards the end, didn’t help at all. It became frustrating sometimes, but thankfully the game offers hints, that will show you the right steps.

    A Fold Apart is a OK puzzle game, but I wouldn’t say it’s a Must-Play title. Only if you are interested of the puzzle mechanics, which are well-thought out.    … Full Review »
  2. SuperkenGaming
    Apr 17, 2020
    7
    A Fold Aparat
    Folding Paper and tearing hearts
    A Fold Apart is a 3 hour long narrative based puzzle game about 2 people in a long distance    A Fold Aparat
    Folding Paper and tearing hearts
    A Fold Apart is a 3 hour long narrative based puzzle game about 2 people in a long distance relationship.. characters that can be any combination youd like, so you choose if blue or red is male or female, if the relationship is straight or gay ,to give you a more personal connection to these characters, This is a single player game though I did start out by playing with my girlfriend, at first wed each play as the different characters, but there isn’t really a balance of who you play as, so this quickly turned into more of a game for us t ocollaborate with problem solving, to do each puzzle together rather than separately, and the puzzles in fold apart are very up and down with their challenge and complexity, one puzzle you may instantly get while another youll be folding the paper every which way you can until something finally clicks.. and these moments are very satisfying…
    A Fold apart takes place across 6 chapters and as the game progresses, new mechanics will be added.. you start out by simply folding and flipping the page to bring blocks together, to eventually being able to fold top to bottom, left to right… folding corners towards the end, disappearing platforms being thrown in, and even rotating the pages… all of which I found to be unnecessary.. the game was fine as is, and I feel the experience is short enough to not need constant gimmicks… levels started to get overwhelming towards the end..so much so that id start using the games hint system to just get through a level because too much was going on for me to want to try and figure out.. I wanted to just right back to the story..
    Which is a gift and a curse… I didn’t notice the hint system until the final 2 chapters.. and once I realized this was a thing.. it kind of brok ethe game for me… the hints do too much for the player… I feel A fold Apart would greatly benefit from a one or 2 hint per puzzle rather than the game just straight up showing you the solution… its like having the answers in the back of the math book.. why would you bother solving the problem if you can fold the final page over and just write it down… especially with an overwhelming equation…
    Overall though, I love the narrative focus of a fold apart, its more than just a paper folding puzzle game, its charming and emotional, you fel attached to these characters as youre chosing responses to text back and forth during this long distance relationship.. you feel the pain of both of these characters fighting to make this work… A Fold Apart is a great refresher on what love means, and on top of that is a nice little brain teaser…
    I give A Fold Apart
    a 7/10    … Full Review »