Sunday, February 23, 2014

Papers, Please


Developed by one guy, Papers, Please is an interesting new approach for a video game towards spotting the differences between two objects or more when summarizing it in simple terms. Your role as an inspection officer is to either approve, deny or put people into detention for entering your country.

It might sound boring at first, but believe, me, each day or level of the game brings a new challenge towards you as an inspector. Combine that with diplomatical tensions between these fictional countries, terrorism, counterfeiting and more criminal activities and you've got an original game that gets more complex and intricate as you get further.

As an inspection officer, you have several responsibilities with your job, but next to that, you must provide for your family inside Arstotzka as well, otherwise they might pass away from diseases, cold or hunger.


Aside from allowing or disallowing foreigners, citizens and special people like diplomats and an underground movement, you will have to spot the discrepancies and interrogate people as to why there is no correlation between two sources that must be verified and similar.

The people entering your booth are randomly generated most of all by their appearance, what kind of papers they carry and so on, but certain key characters always return during certain days. The game has a total of 20 different endings, and I think that most of them end on a bad side.

Papers, Please's interface is also interesting to view because not only do you see the people with their papers coming to you from the front, and your desk from upside down, you can also see the massive lineup of the people waiting in front of your booth as well as guards protecting the border.

Warnings and penalties will be given to you from the responsible ministry if you make terrible mistakes as a regulation officer. And many people will fool, lie and play dumbfounded to you as you check their papers.


It's a very different kind of game which is fun to play through, but it can also be a challenge to not only keep up with the limited time each day provides, but also with failing to either spot an irregular feature, or giving illegals entry towards Arstotzka.

But perhaps the best thing about Papers, Please is that sometimes, you must make a moral decision as a human being while doing your job at the border. This means that you might have to break the rules in order for good things to happen.

It's based on a fictional communism setting with dystopian elements alongside other kinds of danger. Papers, Please is recommended for thrill seekers, brainy puzzlers and those who seek for something completely different.

Glory to Arstotzka.

Rating: 7.7

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