Draw a bomb in PAPERHEAD,then kick it into a fight

You can draw a bomb in PAPERHEAD, then kick it at an enemy. The same pencil can sketch a door into a wall. It is a wonderfully literal tool for a first-person shooter set in a cardboard research facility, where the paper creatures bleed and a shotgun remains close to hand. Paperhead te4m is mixing fast combat with an unsettling place to investigate, rather than relying on the visual joke alone.

The full game is scheduled for 9 October on PC via Steam. The developer moved it from 18 September, saying the extra three weeks would go towards polish and fixes. It is still listed as unreleased, with no purchase price on the store page. This is a preview of the confirmed systems and published demos, not a verdict on the full run.

A pencil with two jobs

Paperhead te4m describes the pencil as both a weapon and a way to change the surroundings. You can draw bombs to kick towards enemies and doors to break through. The rest of the advertised combat is physical too: launch an opponent into the air, boot an explosive barrel across the room, land on an enemy's head or bring out the shotgun. Those actions are more specific than the usual promise of frantic shooting. They give the lab's loose objects and walls a place in the fight.

The official screenshot of a sketched door shows why the pencil is an appealing hook. It points to moments when progression comes from altering a cardboard surface, rather than finding a conventional key. The store description also promises an abandoned facility and a mystery about its bleeding inhabitants. It does not explain the full story or how often drawing interrupts combat, so the attraction for now is the combination of a usable pencil and a place strange enough to justify one.

What the demos show

GameGrin's Jacob Sanderson played an earlier demo in 2023. He found that drawing bombs and doorways, and erasing certain elements, made room for light puzzles between fights. His account also praises the platforming and responsive movement, while noting that the dash-kick sometimes failed to work in certain directions. That is a useful account of how the game's unusual tools felt in that build. It cannot establish that the same fault, or the same balance of shooting and exploration, remains in October's release.

A newer demo launched in February 2026 with a level from the planned full game, atmospheric horror passages, combat and controller support. The developer has also described two kinds of collectible clips for the release: regular ones to buy supplies such as health and ammunition, and golden ones hidden in secrets for upgrades. Those are announced plans rather than a measured account of the finished progression. They do, however, show that the pencil-and-shotgun routine is meant to sit inside a broader journey through the facility.

PAPERHEAD looks most inviting if you like a quick shooter that pauses to let you inspect a peculiar space. Sanderson's older demo suggests the puzzles and movement can carry those quieter stretches; the current listing and developer updates show what the full game is aiming to add. For now, drawing a bomb and booting it across a room is the clearest reason to keep an eye on this cardboard nightmare.