Paper Mario: The Origami King doesn’t have experience points

Paper Mario: The Origami King is not the return to the traditional roots of the series I was hoping for. Like other recent entries in the series, it de-emphasizes character-progression elements to provide a simplified role-playing-game experience. And yes, that means Mario doesn’t earn experience points for battles and doesn’t level up as a result of those fights.

Paper Mario: The Origami King is due out July 17 on Nintendo Switch for $60.