Alt+Escape: Paper Moon

Welcome to Alt+Escape, our weekly pick of browser-based games to help you start your weekend a little early. Check back each Friday for a new game!

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Paper Moon

The collaborators behind Paper Moon might be the closest that browser gaming has to a development supergroup: Infinite Ammo‘s Alec Holowka worked on 2007 IGF Grand Prize winner Aquaria, while Flashbang Studios is responsible for such browser powerhouses as Off-Road Velociraptor Safari and Minotaur China Shop. The sum of their talent is a game that is every bit as polished, playable and unique as you’d expect from a team of their pedigree.

Paper Moon is a 2.5-D platformer with a mechanic that resembles LittleBigPlanet‘s three planes of depth. But instead of simply being able to hop toward and away from the camera, you control the environment itself: Pressing the space bar shifts objects in and out of your depth of field. You can use this mechanic to eliminate enemies and create paths toward higher ground, but be careful – just as you can push enemies out of the game world, it’s easy to accidentally shift yourself out of existence if you’re not careful.

As with Flashbang’s other titles, you need to download the free Unity plug-in to play Paper Moon in your browser, but it’s a small price to pay to gain access to some of the best looking browser games out there. Give it a shot and let us know what you think in the comments section!