Tearaway (video game)

Tearaway
The game includes reversible box art featuring the male character on one side (shown above) and the female character on the other.
Developer(s)	Tarsier Studios Media Molecule
Publisher(s)	Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Designer(s)	Rex Crowle David Smith Swann Martin-Raget Christophe Villedieu John Beech Victor Agren Daniel Leaver
Composer(s)	Kenneth C M Young Brian D'Oliveira
Platform(s)	PlayStation Vita
Release	AU: 20 November 2013 TW: 20 November 2013 EU: 22 November 2013 NA: 22 November 2013 IND: 22 November 2013 JP: 5 December 2013
Genre(s)	Platformer, adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player

Tearaway is a platform–adventure video game developed by developer Media Molecule for the PlayStation Vita. It was announced at Gamescom on 15 August 2012 and released on 20 November 2013 in Australia, on 22 November in Europe, North America and India, and 5 December 2013 in Japan. The game is inspired by papercraft and Rex Crowle's drawings and doodles left around Media Molecule's office.

An expanded remake of the game, titled Tearaway Unfolded, was released for the PlayStation 4 on 8 September 2015.

Tearaway is a third-person platform game which utilises almost all of the PlayStation Vita's features in some way. In one example demonstrated in the game's announce trailer, the player encounters an elk who needs a new skin. The player is able to take a picture using the PS Vita's camera and have it applied to the papercraft animal. In a gameplay demo at Gamescom, Media Molecule demonstrated how the player is also able to use the PS Vita's rear touch panel to effectively push their fingers up through the ground to interact with enemies and the environment. The player is also capable of customizing Iota or Atoi by drawing designs on virtual paper, cutting them out, and applying them to their character. In another part of the demo, the player draws on the touchscreen with their finger to cut-out a paper crown for a character in the game. The player can use an in-game camera to collect various papercraft designs, and can assist non-player characters in exchange for confetti, the game's currency.

Tearaway is about a messenger on a mission to deliver a unique message to the player, referred to by characters in-game as "the You". At the beginning of the game players can choose whether to play as the male character, Iota, or the female, Atoi, and navigate through a world constructed from paper to deliver the message. The player uses many of the Vita's features to guide Iota or Atoi, and must battle with scraps, small enemies that try to prevent the delivery.

During the early stages of development, Tearaway was originally called Sandpit, and was an open world, free-roaming-focussed game. As such, most of the game's code still refers to itself as Sandpit. Additionally, the male protagonist Iota was originally named OOLA and looked dramatically different to the female protagonist Atoi.