Paper Boats for Mac

Send your messages via the ripples

Paper Boats is a free simulation video game that lets you take a break and just send kind words to random strangers. Developed by Harry Alisavakis, this contemplative indie game is a short experimental simulator that offers a scenic environment and the option to send anonymous messages online to other players. While it’s short and limits your movement in the game, you can always come back anytime to bask in its atmosphere.

Try a little tenderness

Paper Boats is a highly-immersive game, with ambient noises and atmospheric sceneries to keep you occupied but relaxed. Similar to games like Watercolors, The Things We Lost In The Flood, and Kind Words (lo fi chill beats to write to), it lets you contemplate in peace and go at your own pace. Rather than battles to fight or puzzles to solve, you just need to admire the view and play around. 

In the game, you start off just standing on the dock of a lake. You can’t move and can only look around and interact with the objects near you, such as a lamp and some pebbles. In the distance, you can see mountains, buildings, the expansive water of the lake. Time passes in a few minutes so you can enjoy both day and night in this atmospheric environment. After a while, you’ll be getting paper boats.

These contain random messages from random players. You can’t reply but you can write your own for others to read by clicking on the boat on the dock. There’s no tutorial on how to play but it’s easy enough to figure out. Played in the first-person perspective, you just look around with the mouse, left-click to interact, right-click to zoom, and press P to take a screenshot. You can check those out in the main menu.

Solitude in a game

Overall, Paper Boats is a nice game to play if you’re looking for a change of pace. It features a beautiful background environment that you can take pictures of and the option to send words of encouragement to other players—letting you contribute to this peaceful game’s agenda. It’s only too bad that you can’t explore at all or even reply to the messages you get. Plus, it can sometimes be hard to run due to the game crashing.