Papers, Please

The year is 1982, the world is in a state of political turmoil. Political unrest, Nationalism and discrimination are the norm. After a time of isolation, the [Great Nation of Arstotzka.] Once again opens its borders to for returning citizens and foreigners alike.

This is not without its price, barbed wires, concrete walls and armed guards protect this narrow passage into the [Great Nation of Arstotzka] not afraid to use lethal force to enforce the party's directives.

You play as the (un)fortunate citizen, who has been bestowed the great honour of manning the checkpoint. This is Papers, Please.

You are the inspector of a checkpoint to the soviet-bloc inspired country of Arstotzka. A job based on repetition, boredom, and soul crushing displays of bureaucracised inhumanity.

Papers, Please, is a game focused on observing minute details, quick thinking and memory. You start out with basic tasks of cross checking passport numbers, gender, and photos. This quickly escalates into questioning travellers, searching them for contraband and in some cases detaining them. It all flows in a very repetetive tone, which becomes the biggest enemy of the player. Having to shift through dozens of papers and lives, it is easy to overlook the minute details, that can hide a terrorist, a wanted criminal or mother that wishes to visit her son.

This might not seem as very fun, and indeed it shouldn't be.

Somehow it is. Its routine and monotonous nature takes years of video game conventions of being a compassionate and heroic... well hero and throws it out of the window. It makes you emotionally numb and robotic, but does not make you a monster for doing so. Papers, Please is a glimpse into a politically volatile enviromen,t as seen from the lowest of the lowest ranks of beaucracy. An intensely interesting game, well worth the price of admission. For anyone who is interested in games about mundane people living in extrodinary times, this is the game for you.