Reviews VideoGame / Papers Please

The Most Fun You'll Ever Have Simulating Utter Futility and Mind-Numbing Hopelessness

Saying this is a game about checking paperwork is misleading. Checking paperwork is a mechanic of the game, like pushing an analog stick.

The game is about living in a totalitarian state, and what that does to your priorities. It's always easy to blame the face of the nation; easy to dismiss "Just following orders" as a paltry excuse.

But what that excuse really means is: "Just feeding my family", or "Just trying not to get executed for treason", or "Just trying to do the right thing".

Better still, while the player's home nation of Arstotzka is hardly a pleasant one, on day two, it completely opens its borders!

...only to be attacked by terrorists. And become a haven for drug runners and worse criminals. And be infiltrated by its enemies.

What's beautiful about Papers, Please is that everything your "evil" totalitarian government does comes as a direct response to something awful having happened. If no-one had suicide-bombed Arstotzka, there wouldn't BE draconian security measures.

A game that explores bureaucracy and ethics and morality, and it does it with a (dark) sense of humor and without ever trying to tell you that it knows the answers.

It's one of a kind. It's a test of your attention to detail, your memory, and your humanity, and none of these are as pass-fail as you expect.