Papers, Please

Did I miss a meeting where saying you don't get something now makes you SMARTER than other people? A lot of the negative reviews of this game clearly miss the point and are blaming the developers for their need to have their hand held with a narrative the ties up in a neat bow at the end. Sadly, that's not always how things are in totalitarian regimes like the one featured in Papers, Please. This game isn't supposed to play by the rules of normal games. It's not supposed to be fair, it's debatable whether it's even supposed to be "fun" in the traditional sense. It's a heartbreaking and nerve wracking and brilliantly done simulation. I wasn't even going to write a review of this game until I saw some of the chowderheads who I assume accidentally found this game thinking it was Fortnite or something.

How do you make a fun paperwork simulator? Put a lot of story elements into the mix to throw you off everytime you find your feet. This game makes me appreciate all those people I've passed at airports and trains station so much more. I like the simple presentation and increase in difficulty in time (which makes sense in the real world) however the instant penalties are infuriating ! No food for your faceless lazy uncle today because you let through 2 people with expired scraps of paper and you are on commission to protect our border. Why don't THEY do my job if they are so perfect and can spot every SINGLE MISTAKE that I've made? I've never successfully passed a few weeks in their calender because I either become so paranoid I almost don't let anyone pass and get no commission or a slip up a few times then rage quit at the mystery penalty check.

This game makes me so, so uncomfortable playing it and therefore does its jobs perfectly. Very simple gameplay, yet addictive. The constant time pressure to handle enough (non-citizens), not making errors, keeping a balance between various interests, minding the details etc. Just pretty nice.

Pros: Feels like a real soviet union border controll/poor soviet worker simulator Save game system: the game saves your state automatically each day, and when you go back and choose a different path, it creates a different path in the save tree, so you don't have to start over the whole game to get every single possibilities. All the small stories during the game. So-so: Main story arch: it's pretty predictable from the beginning. Stylish graphics, although it might not the best choice when you have to compare pixels The "table" is a bit clunky, you barely have enough space, but this might be intentional Endless mode could be nice for some who want, I don't know, to get the fanciest apartment, etc., but for me, the gameplay itself without all the stories is just a chore Con: Personally, I don't like this kind of gameplay where you can finish the game in 4-6 hours, and you're supposed to start over again for different choices/events/etc. When I'm done, I'm done, and I don't really care about different choices, like choosing the regime as a loyal servant of the state instead of be one of the rebels. All in all, it's a nice and addictive game, but if you don't really like repetitive gamplay, it's only fun for a short time.

You're literally playing a border guard, looking for outdated or fake documents, and then stamping approved or denied. But this game is SO much more than that. During your first day, the game seems lighthearted and silly, but that's only the first day. People start to beg you to let them in to see a family member, to approve their expired entry permit or ticket, to let the next person in line (a relative) through. You're forced to make life-changing decisions within seconds, and when you only have 3 penalties per day before you are fined, you have to balance between saving those penalties for when you make a mistake, or letting someone in. One time a lady with incorrect documents said, "If I can't leave my country, they will kill me." Absolutely rocks me to my core. But then there's the fact that you have to keep your family alive. Rent can be as much as half your salary, and when there's no heat or food, your wife and kids get sick. You're a cog in this Soviet-like machine that chooses the fate of others in the same awful living situation as you. You don't have to know anything about the USSR or East Germany to appreciate the depth present here. Excellent title, well-worth the measly $10 for the experience you will get.