Paper Beast is getting a non-VR version next month

I've not paid much attention to Paper Beast, the latest god game from Eric Chahi of From Dust fame, because it's been confined to VR goggles. Something about exploring a weird world inside the Internet, discovering an ecosystem of digilife and using godlike powers to change the landscape? Sounds grand. I will now start paying attention, because developers Pixel Reef today announced they're making a non-VR version. Paper Beast: Folded Edition is its name, and launching on October 20th is its game.

That IS nice. Well then, I'm glad it's becoming available to the ungogged like myself. Paper Beast debuted on PlayStation VR debut in March, then spread to PC VR in July. The cracking Christian Donlan reviewed it on PSVR for Eurogamer, explaining how you need to understand the behaviour of the beasts, their ecosystems, and how they all interact with the world to get them to solve puzzles.

"It's transformative - a game for your inner Attenborough," Donlan said. "A typical Paper Beast level isn't complicated. There will be a hurdle to get across in the landscape, and there will be creatures nearby creaturing about. This is my favourite moment of each sequence, I think, working out where I want to get to and what's blocking me, and then just watching the wildlife, waiting for its patterns and moods and talents to make sense."

I'm well up for that. Along with the adventure mode, it does have a sandbox mode to muck around too, just playing with the terrain and animals.

Paper Beast: Folded Edition is coming to Steam on the 20th of October for $17. Curiously, it seems they're not just updating the existent Paper Beast with unVR support, they're releasing this as a separate game. Today's announcement notes that "the current Steam VR version of Paper Beast will be sold in a bundle with the Folded Edition" for $20. Hopefully that'll be available at a steep discount for cyberfolk?