Paratopic

 Switch
User Score
5.4

Mixed or average reviews- based on 18 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 18
  3. Negative: 7 out of 18

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  1. syntaxapproval
    Mar 18, 2021
    9
    Paratopic is a very strange experience. There seems to be a lot of negative reviews based on it's visual style, which I found wonderful and nostalgic, as if playing a lost PS1 game, or an early Half-Life 1 mod. Elements of the engine remind me of other early PC games as well (à la Quake 2). While you may deem this as a walking simulator, the point remains to immerse yourself in a short yetParatopic is a very strange experience. There seems to be a lot of negative reviews based on it's visual style, which I found wonderful and nostalgic, as if playing a lost PS1 game, or an early Half-Life 1 mod. Elements of the engine remind me of other early PC games as well (à la Quake 2). While you may deem this as a walking simulator, the point remains to immerse yourself in a short yet satisfying hallucinatory experience; interacting with a mysterious gas station clerk, photographing birds in a state park, or trying to not fall asleep at the wheel while dialing through your AM/FM radio. Although a short game, there are elements of replay in unlocking all of the "achievements", which in turn make for some interesting observations on second and third replays. Not to mention that the audio and soundtrack are fantastic. For fans of mystery, intrigue and a short captive experience (under an hour), I highly recommend Paratopic. I strongly believe we need more games like this that attempt to break the ever-present mold of cookie cutter games. I'd rather pay less than 5 dollars for something I finished than 50 for something I got bored of.… Expand
  2. doomsdaydonut
    Dec 3, 2021
    3
    I've had my eye on Paratopic for about two years since I first saw it on the Steam store. I was immediately drawn to the art style and its accompanying promise of a horror/psychological experience. I picked it up on the Switch while it was on sale this week, and finally sat down to play it last night. All I can say is wow. What a disappointment. The game took me about 45 minutes toI've had my eye on Paratopic for about two years since I first saw it on the Steam store. I was immediately drawn to the art style and its accompanying promise of a horror/psychological experience. I picked it up on the Switch while it was on sale this week, and finally sat down to play it last night. All I can say is wow. What a disappointment. The game took me about 45 minutes to complete, and about 30-35 minutes of that experience comprised driving a car down a completely empty highway and walking through the woods at a painfully slow pace following a bird. What little story Paratopic tries to convey went completely over my head. I really wanted to enjoy this game, so I felt quite let down by what I was seeing. I found the atmosphere, soundtrack, and bits of conversation quite compelling, but the lack of story and gameplay really brings down the experience. The game literally cuts from scene to scene without weaving in any story to tie it all together. I feel like I paid too much for this game even though I purchased it for over 50% off.… Expand
  3. nusco
    Oct 26, 2020
    6
    Paratopic is a very short hallucination with deliberately primitive 3D graphics. It puts you through a sequence of flash-backs and flash-forwards, that all together allude to an overarching plot involving VHS tapes smuggling, violent killings, and possibly some kind of alien conspiracy. In other words, not typical gaming material. Paratopic is definitely experimental work, and an explicitParatopic is a very short hallucination with deliberately primitive 3D graphics. It puts you through a sequence of flash-backs and flash-forwards, that all together allude to an overarching plot involving VHS tapes smuggling, violent killings, and possibly some kind of alien conspiracy. In other words, not typical gaming material. Paratopic is definitely experimental work, and an explicit homage to the movies of David Lynch–with a generous serving of David Cronenberg to boot.

    Pros:

    - Creates an unsettling, hypnotic sense of dread.
    - Strong, uncompromising artistic vision.
    - Great soundwork.

    Cons:

    - Extremely short–less than an hour, with very limited replayability.
    - Barely interactive and very linear.
    - The early 90s-era polygons are part of the vision, but you might find them intolerable.    … Expand
  4. robnamnam
    Nov 8, 2020
    6
    Disclaimer: this is not a game. It's an experience. A semi-interactive 1 hour-ish movie that clearly wants to be experimental and provocative. Nothing bad about it.
    Very crude on the graphics side (deliberately inspired by 90s Playstation videogames) and non-linear in the storytelling (with jumps back and forward in between characters and timelines), it falls back to linearity in the    Disclaimer: this is not a game. It's an experience. A semi-interactive 1 hour-ish movie that clearly wants to be experimental and provocative. Nothing bad about it.
    Very crude on the graphics side (deliberately inspired by 90s Playstation videogames) and non-linear in the storytelling (with jumps back and forward in between characters and timelines), it falls back to linearity in the gameplay (if we can talk about gameplay).
    Can anybody appreciate that? Probably not. Did I enjoy playing it? Not a bit. 6 for the artistic-value and the attempt at making something different.    … Expand
  5. Reeg
    Dec 18, 2020
    0
    This game will give you a headache with the visuals. It's quite boring, too much dialogue, bad poly graphics that you have trouble recognising some things, you walk too slow and the driving scenes seem endless and for what purpose?
  6. Ultra_Wolfie
    Apr 27, 2021
    1
    This game is an absolute waste of 45 minutes of your life and complete and total garbage; well, sound design is okay but that doesn't make up for whatever waste of time I just (thankfully) bought on sale for under $3. My 1 star is because the only thing I could remotely compliment (and I had to dig here just to make one) was the sound design - which primarily was in the DLC as aThis game is an absolute waste of 45 minutes of your life and complete and total garbage; well, sound design is okay but that doesn't make up for whatever waste of time I just (thankfully) bought on sale for under $3. My 1 star is because the only thing I could remotely compliment (and I had to dig here just to make one) was the sound design - which primarily was in the DLC as a soundtrack!!! Hardly heard any of it actually in the game. This game was so bad, I actually signed up to Metacritic just to review it to tell others, SAVE YOUR MONEY.

    The game has no plot! Or whatever is supposed to be a plot is so poorly told and only through "emotion." None of the game makes any sense and is purely a hodgepodge of set pieces and absolutely PAINFUL gameplay. The gameplay you ask? Well, let's see, of this "45 minute game" you spend roughly 10 minutes of it in a car. Just sitting. You can turn the radio on to hear what sounds like someone gargling listerine or just some generic music. And that's it. You have to sit there and actually wait only to just start walking again after a jump cut.Then not to mention waiting for an elevator to appear at one point. A game is meant to be played, if I can sit and your game just continues then it's a movie or a video; NOT A GAME. I wouldn't be shocked if the devs next titles are Walking, Waiting, and Sitting Simulators.

    Whatever critics have praised this title are pretentious, pseudo-intellectuals whos only understanding of "intrigue" comes from the wall of a smelly bathroom truckstop stall in a crudely formed poem. Surely the high marks are people actually trolling.

    I actually feel like I did a little over a decade ago when a friend and I at a theater got an applause for both shouting; "I WANT MY MONEY BACK" and "THIS MOVIE SUCKED" at a screening of Paranormal Activity; and after this experience - that was a better waste of money.

    This game has no discipline in design, no discipline in direction, and is a jumbled mess of set pieces and confusion. Maybe you need to be on some drugs to play or something? Because it is clearly not coherent for the sober minded. All in all, I'm glad I paid like $3 for it because I would have felt UNGODLY ripped off at the $7 full price on Switch. I wouldn't have paid $0.05 if I knew how big of a waste of time it was. My $3 would have been better off on a fast food burger and a cherry coke. At least I can say I would have enjoyed that a whole lot more and I'd have 45 minutes of my life back.

    Addendum: ARK SURVIVAL on Switch; broken, nearly unplayable and practically abandoned on release is a better value than this.    … Expand
  7. HiddenGemsHunt
    May 26, 2021
    10
    Art can be videogames. Paratopic shows that wells, blending great movie-like atmosphere with PSone graphics and simple, yet interesting gameplay. Paratopic is not for everyone - yet it is fresh, interesting, different, and I would love to have more games like that.
  8. DickBurns
    Nov 30, 2022
    2
    This game is the definition of all style and no substance. It starts off promising with its delivery. I love the PS1 style graphics and the creepy atmosphere. The dialogue in the opening scene has this vague mysteriousness to it that makes me want to keep playing and figure out what’s going on. However as the game goes on and cuts between random set pieces I realize none of my questionsThis game is the definition of all style and no substance. It starts off promising with its delivery. I love the PS1 style graphics and the creepy atmosphere. The dialogue in the opening scene has this vague mysteriousness to it that makes me want to keep playing and figure out what’s going on. However as the game goes on and cuts between random set pieces I realize none of my questions are being answered. It gets more confusing in a way that is more frustrating than satisfying. And that would all be fine if the actual gameplay, exploration, and dialogue were enjoyable. What started off as somewhat interesting interactions between characters in the first 2 set pieces all came to a screeching halt when you talk to the cashier at the convenience store. This is where I begin to grow annoyed with the game. It’s literally 5+ minutes of small talk with the cashier about restaurants and hotels. Some of the dialogue options are also trying to be funny which really clashes with the overall tone. It’s simply bad writing. And when you try to choose the dialogue option that seems to end the conversation, it just leads to another pointless topic of conversation. This is the games greatest fault. It forces you into these unremarkable, boring situations. This interaction is followed by multiple on rails car driving sequences that overstay their welcome. Nothing interesting happens during these segments and it’s like the developers think the “vibes” of the setting are cool enough on their own that they are forcing you to sit in for another 5+ minutes. It comes across as borderline pretentious. The game is full of these moments that by the end of it I felt like my time and money were wasted. And worst of all you can’t save. So if you exit out of the game you gotta sit through all this nonsense again if you ever wanna finish it!… Expand
  9. SuperClaudio64
    Mar 20, 2022
    4
    Gioco dal concetto interessante ma con una scarsa esecuzione. Paratopic è un walking simulator da 30-40 minuti che non lascia molto al giocatore anche dopo un secondo gameplay. Corto, quasi privo di variabili e poco coinvolgente.
  10. IamSquid
    Jan 2, 2022
    10
    Walking simulators are bad right? Right.
    ...but Paratopic is the exception.
    I give it a 10/10.
    Yes, I actually do mean that!
  11. GenesisLZH
    Sep 25, 2021
    8
    This game is worth the $2 you pay for it and the 45 minutes you spend playing it. You should not go into it with high hopes though as you'll probably be let down. The game is more of a playable short film in every way imaginable, the story isn't super deep, the gameplay is oftentimes nonexistent, and you'll probably never play it again after you beat it. That being said the story isThis game is worth the $2 you pay for it and the 45 minutes you spend playing it. You should not go into it with high hopes though as you'll probably be let down. The game is more of a playable short film in every way imaginable, the story isn't super deep, the gameplay is oftentimes nonexistent, and you'll probably never play it again after you beat it. That being said the story is decent and makes you think more about the events that you played through after you first beat it. If you don't like the visual style of the game then I would not recommend it to you as it's one of the main things that I would say this game does an amazing job on. The sound design and soundtrack are just as good as everybody says and I was left wondering why a lot of games don't do it as well. if you come into this game with low expectations and know what you are getting into you will not be disappointed.… Expand
  12. Dangusse
    Apr 21, 2023
    6
    the vast majority of my points removed have to do with the price, since i enjoyed the game for what it is. however, it feels more like a demo than a full title, so i think it should probably be free with suggested donation.

    if you can get it for free or heavily discounted, it's worth a play, and probably best played alone with headphones as suggested. if you choose to pay for the game    the vast majority of my points removed have to do with the price, since i enjoyed the game for what it is. however, it feels more like a demo than a full title, so i think it should probably be free with suggested donation.

    if you can get it for free or heavily discounted, it's worth a play, and probably best played alone with headphones as suggested. if you choose to pay for the game at full price, i would consider it the same as a kickstarter.

    i think more could be done with the same environments if there were a few more people to talk to, a radio show in the car, something a little more interactive and meaningful like the cashier at the gas station. i want to go into the hole in the bunker. it just feels like the whole game is a sketch for what could be a much better entry with even a little bit of added length and scripting.

    the game is ominous, includes a(n) jumpscare, and has decent writing, interesting pacing and creative animation. i don't actually mind that so much of it is empty and monotonous, it's often a cool way of making the game more immersive and to hammer in some foreboding themes. overall, it's really good, but it's so short that you don't get much more out of playing it than you would from watching someone else do it on youtube.    … Expand
  13. JJtheTexan
    May 1, 2023
    8
    Paratopic is a short, weird, low-poly "walking simulator" that can be finished in under an hour. I point out all of these facts as positive attributes, not criticisms. I won't say anything else, because it's the kind of game that must be played going in completely blind in order to get the most out of it.

    The game is $6 U.S. at full price, but it often goes on sale. Regardless, it's    Paratopic is a short, weird, low-poly "walking simulator" that can be finished in under an hour. I point out all of these facts as positive attributes, not criticisms. I won't say anything else, because it's the kind of game that must be played going in completely blind in order to get the most out of it.

    The game is $6 U.S. at full price, but it often goes on sale. Regardless, it's worth your money. Try it!    … Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
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No score yet - based on 3 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 3
  3. Negative: 0 out of 3
  1. Cubed3
    Feb 7, 2025
    60
    There are no answers in this short spooky story. None. You might think there are, but there aren't. Paratopic is all atmosphere, and zero plot. Things are happening, but it's hard and maybe even impossible to make sense of it all. The good news is that when the atmosphere isn't just good, but fantastic, and as a result the adventure is very immersive despite its lack of a coherent narrative. A solid recommendation whenever the price is low enough, and in the mood for something enjoyably unsettling and mysterious, yet without much meat on its bones.
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  2. Nintendo Life
    Sep 14, 2020
    70
    Paratopic is a fever dream; a near-constantly engaging sequence of strange and at times frightening imagery. It's intriguing stuff, to say the least, but we felt that it rather fizzled out just when our interest in the various eldritch goings-on was piquing. We found that beyond experiencing it all over again there was nothing much in the way of meaningful replay value, but as a once-through bad trip, it'll keep you glued to your Switch from start to annoyingly-abrupt finish.
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  3. Vandal
    Sep 13, 2020
    70
    Paratopic is something different, a game with a tiny budget and the sole purpose of challenge your expectations. It’s very weird, but we love having these experiences that help us break our gaming routine.
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