Papers, Please

What a unique idea in today's modern indie gaming library. I wish something like this existed in my old dos days, cause it reminds a lot of one. Papers, Please is a check point simulator taking place on a communist boarder. That may sound real boring to most, but the game is very engaging having you question people and make choices on letting some decent people in regardless of their papers at the risk of your own families well being. along with its rather life like scrutiny on your attention to detail in a scare time of terrorist attacks, this game become an almost educational eye opener on the state of concern between nationalities. The only issue I have with the game though is its just to hard for some one who is not speed reader. The game operates on a timer for each level, and not checking enough people can mean your family starves, and with a timer that is simply so short for a days work your haste will likely make you miss something incredibly minute which ends up costing you even more. In the end the I enjoy the game greatly, if not being quick to rage quite and left with a greater respect for those immigration workers.

I really LIKED „Papers, please”, and that’s despite the fact that it really wasn’t the game for me in terms of gameplay – I was REALLY BAD at it, recieving over 80 citations during the game, and two „awards for presence” xD. But the thing is, I treated „Papers, please” more like an experiance than a game, really. And as an experiance it really shone to me, from the first seconds. The gameplay, as I said, wasn’t something I’d probably like on it’s own – I found it rather frantic and rather chaotic, not to mention kinda repetative. But the thing is – it really FIT the „experiance” I mentioned. It’s SUPPOSED to be frantic and repetative. But what really elevated „Papers, please” in my eyes was the story. Or rather – the „small stories within”, as I would call them. Not the overarching plot of the dictatorial government and the secret Order fighting it, but the small details. Bending rules to reunite lovers – feeling regret and shame when my sloppiness and incompetence lead to terrorist attacks and death… And the questions it caused me to ask – should I trust the listings of supposed „criminals” put up by a dictatorship? Are they really violent criminals, or am I just detaining political prisoners? If I admit a foreign journalist to the country illegally, am I then to blame if he’s killed for supposedly being a spy? How culpable am I, as a simple „cog in the machine” for what happens because of me doing – or not doing – my job properly? I constantly weighed my desire for „heroism” lending a hand in fighting the dictatorial government versus the safety of my own family. But overall, when I ended „Papers, please” (arriving at a pretty decent ending, but only by a total longshot, spending ALL OF MY MONEY and leaving the game with 0$ in my pocket), I felt I’ve experianced something great. You can see how I did playing it blind on my channel, if you want: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqoX1LnN1bc&list=PLp4TpsJ7HUWXtO9vwkTciArtFQJoMS-y-

This is definitely among the most unique games I've ever played. While some argue the game mechanics are pretty boring - and it's easy to understand why this game wouldn't be for everyone - it's surprisingly engaging, and challenges your morality and ethics far better than any other game I've played in my 30ish years of gaming. I found myself fully immersed rather quickly, and I've played it several times since to try to unlock the various endings. Some have complained about the graphics, whereas I found the simplicity of them to be exactly all this game needs, so it works for me. I'd say if the premise seems at all intriguing, I think you'll be happily surprised at its complexity and challenge. If nothing about it sounds interesting, move along.

This game feels very real, but here the realism can be a double-edged sword. Do you want to enjoy the reality of being an admission officer on a border post? You must enjoy the dull, repeating, Sisyphus reality. That's what this game wants you to experience. Your job is to inspect documents, search for discrepancies, stamp passports. It's no wonder you'll be doing this and it's no wonder it will feel gray and repetitive. Every now and then the game will change rules for your job and you'll have to deal with unlucky people who don't have the documents they need today. In addition to the usual black market forgeries, stolen papers and wanted criminals. The game has an all-knowing oracle to check on you, and I have to ask "why did they employ me then?" Admitting a "most wanted" criminal can result in a warning, if it's your first fail of the day. Soon enough I stopped caring and just stamped "denied" at the first sign of discrepancy. After all, there's family to feed and I'm the only one making money. It's easy to feel detached from the process and have food just every other day. Every now & then there will be some personal moment, a visitor that will speak to you. It's a nice distraction, but it'll not really cover up the fact there is no other content but stamping passports. If that's what you want to do, enjoy! Otherwise, be warned. There are three modes after completing the "story" line, but none of them is a "free play" type of thing. As in "pretend the campaign is longer, let me play for more days". All the non-story games are challenges of some sort, and I really miss a mode when I could clean my head by just stamping passports for as long as I want to, without a mistake ruining it. Just like the campaign doesn't end with a mis-stamp.

Papers Please has been sitting in my catalogue for a very long while and I hesitated to get into it after a while because of how addicting it could get, and how many endings the game can have. Holy smokes, the endings - there's apparently 20 endings for the game, depending on how you play (whether you pay rent, food, accept / reject bribes, do the document checks correctly, how you interact with various NPCs etc.). I luckily got to the "standard ending" and was quite happy about it! I saw a few other endings as well but I don't reckon I'd dare and try get through all of them - that would take a while. The game is simple in terms of looks and gameplay but it's definitely worth to check it out as it's fun!