Papers, Please

[Jazzrat]

Welcome to Arstotzka, cause no trouble.



Papers, Please is an immigration officer simulator where you are in charge of stamping passports of visitors to a fictional eastern european country in 1982. Everyday people come into your booth and it's your job to check them and stamp em.

Menial task like this sounds dry and boring but the developer, Lucas Pope manage to made it into a game of spot the discrepancy amongst the traveling document presented to you. Let the wrong people in, your daily pay get docked and your salary have to cover the rent, food, heat and sometimes medicine for family members that have fallen sick. It's a grim situation and turned up the tension for what would have been just a mundane puzzle game.

Besides the misery and darkness of trying to survive and keeping your family alive and fed, there's a moral implication to the game as well. Will you let the refugee couple in or deny one of the spouse that lack of proper documents.
There's no arbitrary morality points to be had here but your own. It could meant food, heat or medicine for your family as well if you are running short on cash as well as the game keeps a tight economy and difficulty of doing your job increases as events unfold adding new rules and red tapes for entry.

There's 20 ending to be had depending on the choices you make and an endless mode with a leaderboard after you are done with the story. After two play through and seeing two polar ending, it's hard to say which one is good and which one is bad objectively. It boils down to your personal ideal and perspective at the end of the day.

Despite the game looking like something that would have came out in the late 80s, the execution and narrative is masterfully done and well worth the money and time. The mundane nature of the game is counterbalanced by player curiosity of the choices they make as you manually stamp on the passport of a possible smuggler, prostitute, murderer, terrorist or just another poor slob crossing the border to work and feed their own family.

This is a game you'll want to play if you are looking for unique experience in videogames. It's currently available on the PC.

[Wild Goose]

I've been playing it on and off. It has its charms, and captures the feel of being an immigration worker in a Soviet-like country.

[Kreceir]

A hidden gem among the best indie games out at the very moment.

[anime fan99]

that Game was on Indie Friday on .rageselect. Funny episode