Papers, Please

When I heard about the concept of Papers, Please, I was very interested. The praise I kept hearing from everywhere for this game only helped raise my expectations. When I finally bought it, I was disappointed. Not completely, but to a great extent. 1. The game gives you the impression that you're going to face dilemmas, when, in fact, there's very little moral ambiguity in the story (at least given any information you could possibly have at every given point). 2. The game is nowhere as deep as it would have you believe - or as you would hope, considering that the content is in the story (and not in dozens of 3D models and hundreds of animations). There are so many interesting paths that you could choose and get some actual future consequences, but instead the game gives you (a) nothing or (b) a quick game-over. 3. The time element of the game is disappointing. I tried to play the game on a laptop with a touchpad and the game punished me for it (while offering no control alternatives except for in-game paid "booth upgrades"). While this disadvantage is unavoidable in such games as shooters and MOBAs, I find it a very poor decision for a paperwork simulator. I can't say whether I do or do not recommend the game. I can't say whether I do or do not recommend buying it full price or on a sale. But I can say that, unfortunately, as I played I kept thinking that this is too overhyped for its own good.

Papers, Please was IMHO one of the best indie games of 2013. While some may be turned off by the retro feel, others will embrace it. Regardless of your stance concerning production values though, none can deny the genius of making a game where working as a humble immigration officer is actually exciting!

This game is pretty mindblowing. It somehow managed to take a repetitive job and turned it into an addicting gameplay loop. My favorite thing about this game is it destroys the idea that narrative heavy games can't be fun or replayable. Walking simulators and their ilk should be ashamed of using their "story" as a deflection for no fun gameplay. This is how you tell a story in a video game. No forced meaning or cutscenes to dicatate how your character acts. You get to impose your values upon this character and your decisions will ultimately decide your fate in this game.

This is one of those games with a simplistic outer layer, but that houses a plethora of love and attention to detail that keeps you coming back from more. In this game you play as an immigration officer, starting with the benign job of asking for 'Papers, please' so that you can either approve or deny the immigrant access to Arstotzka. As the days go by, more and more documentation is required, and the harder it becomes cross referencing names, IDs, and other details about the immigrant with their documentation. This gameplay loop also introduces some social dilemmas, such as a wife wanting to join her husband, but having invalid documentation. Here, you are given the choice of permitting the wife through at the cost of a hefty fee, or denying her and causing great distress. Overall this is a fantastic game at a fantastic price, and I highly recommend this to everyone.

Papers, Please asks you all the difficult questions and makes you choose between bending the rules to help refugees or sticking to your guns (literally, in some cases) to avoid penalties that may cost you and your family. There's a degree of skill involved in rapidly checking details, but there's also an easy mode if you prefer to take your time. I keep coming back to it just to try something new, and find it difficult to stop once I've started.