When An Interesting Journey of Mr. Paf, by Ernestine Games came across my radar, I admit: I sat up straight. Not just because of the cute trailer, or the possibility of puzzle-solving gameplay with no time crunch or enemies to defend myself against. I will say though, those things attracted me, too. We could all use at least one game that’s actually relaxing in our lives.

Still, the first grab for me was the title. The French-speaker in me perked up, as my person can attest. I might have gotten a little embarrassingly excited. Sue me. “Paf” is a French onomatopoeic expression for the noise caused by something falling or being hit. Paf is also a lot more fun to say than the English “whack.” It is presumably, a nod to one of the game’s central mechanics. Namely, our titular playable character’s ability to punch through (some) walls.

It also (apparently) means drunk, which I didn’t realize before now. Based on what I’ve seen of the game, I think it’s pretty safe to assume that the onomatopoeia is the intended takeaway here. Anyway. In An Interesting Journey of Mr. Paf, you play as a heavily muscled, seemingly silent protagonist. He is accompanying a bespectacled, elderly-professor type on an archaeological expedition. A rockfall, however, soon separates you, trapping you within the ancient temple you had come to explore. Cue the puzzling element: you are now on your own to try and find your way back to the archaeologist so you can find your way out. Pretty simple, right?

All in all, the simple premise works. The game doesn’t present itself as an RPG, and it isn’t trying to be. Personally, I might have liked a little more fleshing out of the plot, mostly around who Mr. Paf is and how we started working with (or for) the unnamed archaeologist. Having said that, it doesn’t actually get in the way of gameplay, necessarily. If you’re looking for a game you can navigate without worrying about remembering a lot of character or story details, Mr. Paf is a fun, easily navigable puzzle-solving platformer that you can easily jump in and out of at will.

My next immediate takeaway was graphical. The graphics of Mr. Paf are fluid and clearly lovingly rendered, while also being easy on the eye. They create an engaging environment without overwhelming you with detail. While I’ll admit I missed some obvious steps toward solving a puzzle simply by failing to notice a slight difference in shade between one wall and another, that’s not a fault of the game. I was moving too fast. For all my lengthy, academic-adjacent essays I’ve already written for this site, I am, perhaps, not a smart person. Guilty as charged.

My point is, in a gaming landscape that tends to push for more from its graphics, at times at the expense of story or accessible playability, Mr. Paf offers a refreshing simplicity through doing something visually pleasant with less. That’s not to say the landscapes are bland though, far from it. The puzzles are varied and require different approaches, encouraging interaction with the various visual and tangible elements of your environment until you figure yourself out. They offer a satisfying amount of verticality, to boot. At no point, though, does the game feel compelled to overload my eyes while doing it.

All in all, my major positive takeaway from Mr. Paf is its low-threshold, easy-entry approach to the game. While the puzzles take some serious thought at times, there’s nothing getting in your way from spending as much or as little time on them as you want or need to. There are no monsters. There’s no time crunch. Your playable character can’t die. There are no NPCs to pressure or berate you if you make mistakes, or take “too long” to do something. The soundtrack is relaxing, pleasant background noise without being overwhelming or distracting. You can leave the game at any time and it will keep track of your progress.

If, like me, spatial awareness isn’t your strongest suit, you’ll probably find this low-input, easy-access aspect of the game a big attraction, and a big relief. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve struggled with a puzzling game that’s trying to rush me. Mr. Paf, by contrast, lets you climb in, wander around, and jump out. It does so without making you feel guilty or less-than for having to make repeat attempts at something, or spending a lot of time in the same room. Which I did often.

This, however, brings me to one of the actual struggles I had in the game; to which I can only say, look at the controls menu before you play. Get familiar with them. I would go so far as to recommend that you even write them down, if you’re forgetful. This is, of course, a “your mileage may vary” issue. People who are already very familiar with isometric-style games probably won’t run into any difficulty here.

I am a newbie to this style of play, and it took me a slightly embarrassing amount of time to stop turning the wrong way because I’m apparently hardwired for linear games. W means forward, right? Nope. Sometimes it means left, back, or right. Oops. In short, though, I think this is somewhere the game might benefit from a brief tutorial at its opening. Perhaps something with the option to skip it, but nonetheless a brief walkthrough of movement and interaction controls, for the isometric newbies among us.

In sum: An Interesting Journey of Mr. Paf is a lot of fun. A great deal of love and care clearly went into its development. Though there might be a steep learning curve on navigating an isometric environment, the lack of time crunch or threat in the game gives you plenty of opportunities to learn your way around. It’s a keeper for days when I just want to kick back, solve puzzles, and switch the rest of my brain off for a while.

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An Interesting Journey of Mr. Paf

$17.49

8

Score

8.0/10

Pros

• Cute graphics
• Relaxing, unobtrusive soundtrack
• No violence or time pressure
• Creative puzzles

Cons

• Slightly unclear storyline
• Confusing controls at first