Is Arstotzka really as bad as it's made out to be? Sure, it violated the rights of Kolechian, Imporian, Altan, and United Federation Citizens. But in the case of Kolechia, Impor, and the United Federation, the bans were temporary, immediately replaced with more reasonable policies the very next day. And the game makes fairly clear that the fears of the Arstotzkan Government are well founded. The border checkpoint is repeatedly attacked by Kolechian radicals and a terrorist organization that has been actively trying to overthrow the government since the nation was founded.
The Obristan border agent the inspector encounters in the ending where he flees to Obristan. It's quite obvious that the forged Obristan passports the inspector and his family are carrying are of extremely poor quality and likely won't even pass a cursory check, but they are let into the country anyways. Was the Obristan border agent simply too incomptent or apathetic to do his job properly? Or, potentially like you could have been throughout the game, was he aware of people in need trying to escape their awful countries of origin, and secretly looking the other way when presented with poor quality documents?
Awesome Music: The ending theme. It's a cheerful piano piece that lets you know that, depending on your ending, you have escaped Arstotzkan totalitarianism with your family, you've toppled the Arstotzkan government, or you've proven your loyalty to Arstotzka and can continue your duties as a border inspector without worrying about EZIC anymore.
Day 19. The morning bulletin tells the player to deny all entry from Impor, which means it's possible to sort through about a third of the entrants' papers without looking at anything more than the passport.
On Day 25, a polio outbreak occurs in the United Federation, and thus you are ordered to deny all entry from there. Once more, you can deny multiple people just by looking at their passport.
If you're genuinely playing as a moral justice inspector, letting the Vengeful Father lash out against Simon Wens for murdering his daughter in day 30 is very satisfying to do, especially if you keep up on the newspaper and discover him to be found dead in a gruesome mess.
"That little bitch. I break her in two." Cue Detain button. Followed by arrest sequence. Followed by news the next day that your actions helped shut down a human trafficking ring.
Similarly with MOA Supervisor Dimitri, you can humiliate him if you deny Shae's entry (not detaining her) without violating any orders prior (hanging unauthorized items before Dimitri arrives) at day 25, as he claims to be so powerless for it on day 30.
You can actually gave that pesky journalists a comeuppance for giving your country and work a bad name. On day 20, you can use the poison that EZIC has given to you onto the Journalist's passport instead of Khaled's. Doing so prompts the same day-ending script, but it doesn't count as helping EZIC, allowing you to get the Ending 20 if you haven't completed any other EZIC task prior. Best of all, killing the journalist carries nearly no negative consequences if you are not trying to side with EZIC; while the day does get cut short thus depriving you of potential earnings, you are never suspected of killing them.
In general, if you're dealing with an annoying or spiteful entrant and you find a discrepancy that allows you to deny them entry (or just denying them regardless, if you don't mind the citation). Or better yet, if the discrepancy lets you detain them; do this to the scripted entrant who criticizes your son's drawing and they will desperately assert that his drawing "should be in museum" as they get hauled away.
Complacent Gaming Syndrome: Most players tend to switch between Food and Heat payments each day to conserve more funds, and never bother with upgrading apartments due to the costs outstripping the perks.
There are some characteristics that are fairly rarely contradictory, but often enough to result in a good number of citations in the long run if you don't look for it. Probably the worst is height, which is sometimes off by as little as 10 cm (which looks like less since they move up and down a few cm). It's a good idea to align those wall-hanging objects to provide a quick reference for height without having to read those dark little numbers on the side of the wall all the time. Thankfully, it's easy enough to just use the investigation system to compare a person's height to the one listed in their papers (once you've bought the first booth upgrade).
When it comes to terrorist attacks, the scripted armed bikers are by far the most dangerous, as their sudden appearance can catch you off guard, and they always come in packs. If you're not a good shot, prepare to lose a lot of tranquilizer bullets.
Weight discrepancies are relatively easy to catch; just check the weight on the entrant's documents against the weight on the scale. But fail to spot the weight discrepancy, and you may find yourself with a terrorist attack; sure, the weight could've been because the entrant put on a few pounds naturally, but it could also be due to a hidden weapon on their person.
Incorrect Passport Numbers and Names, while they start off being very obvious, become extremely deceptive near the end of the game. (Example: Entrant Passport has FCL2X-R89ME as the ID# but another document shows FCL2T-R89ME instead. Or it could have a missing digit: FCL2X-R89M.)
Incorrect Issuing Cities or ID Card Districts are also a common detail that trips players up, to the point where some just write down the regions' cities and districts on a separate piece of paper for much quicker reference. Misspellings of cities become easy to identify once the player is familiar with them, but sometimes this discrepancy comes in the form of a correctly-spelled issuing city from the wrong country.
Ensemble Dark Horse: Jorji Costava, a real Cobrastani hero! So much so that in the final game, he can potentially save you and your family with the fake passports, no matter how many times you've sent him away.
Anyone who gets something wrong verbally (length of stay, reason), at least after the point where denial reasons are required. If you miss it, boom, citation. If you question them, they will Verbal Backspace 100% of the time, so you have to go through this short rigmarole and it's never a free denial/detainment afterwards. However, before Day 18, you can just disapprove such cases and your bosses won't object one bit - such are the advantages of working for a totalitarian state.
People coming in for work are the most troublesome immigrants to deal with as they have to provide a Work Pass, meaning they give you more papers than anyone else and more discrepancies to watch out for. This is worst on Day 26 where you'll need to check five documents for a single worker (passport, ID supplement, vaccine certificate, Work Permit, and Entry Permit).
At least in some versions of the game, smuggling something under their clothes can cause people to be lighter than their passport states.
On Day 29, Jorji will tell you that he can smuggle you and your family out of Arstotzka if you give him valid Obristan passports for each family. He'll offer you his after you give it back, or you can confiscate it yourself, but if you do it rightnote Confiscate his passport before he gives you the flier for the forgers, then remove the confiscated passport from the drawer before giving him a stamped passport seizure slip, he'll give you another passport even though you already took his, giving you two passports for one citation.
In the iPad release, you can Strip-scan any scripted non-entrant passerby that has a head model by clicking the space where the scan button should be repeatedly, which yields amusing results.
Hollywood Pudgy: A woman who is 181 centimeters tallnote ~5'11" and weighs 73 kilogramsnote ~161 pounds can have "overweight" listed as a notable characteristic in her ID along with a face that resembles a puffer fish.
Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: The two journalists who harass the inspector for his decision to reject them or to approve them are generally hated by players more than the uptight and paranoid Arstotzkan government or the maybe-revolutionary-maybe-just-terrorists EZIC organization.
Magnificent Bastard: Calensk is a border guard working alongside the Inspector. Dissatisfied with his pay as he tries to survive in Arstotzka, Calensk approaches the Inspector and cuts a deal with them to detain more people, no matter how flimsy the reasoning, in exchange for a decent bonus. Calensk proves more than meets the eye when a terrorist leaves a bomb on the Inspector's desk. With absolute calm, Calensk proceeds in aiding the Inspector in disarming the bomb, before telling the Inspector not to shut down the checkpoint to ensure continual profit and ultimately selling the bomb for scrap as though it was no trouble at all.
Memetic Badass: Calensk. What did you expect from a generic-looking border guard that walks into your booth after someone sets a bomb into it, which he describes as an amateur piece of crap?
KILLER SIDEBURNS.ExplanationID suplements may note this characteristic.
What is passport?ExplanationSome entrants may say this line upon questioning their lack of passport.
You are under arrest for [X].ExplanationThe game has twenty endings, most of which involve the inspector being arrested. Many Papers, Please-related YouTube videos (especially ones regarding said endings) will have comment sections parodying the endings by having the inspector be arrested for minor things, or making versions for more mundane situations such as not turning in homework.
Nightmare Fuel: The ending of the film adaptation. After letting a couple in, having approved the wife's entry and letting an inconsistent spelling of her last name slide (after having broken Elisa's heart by denying her entry and thus the chance to see her lover Sergiu), the couple blows up the booth without warning while the husband screams "FOR KOLECHIA!!", raid sirens go off as the scene abruptly turns urgent, and the disoriented Inspector steps outside to see the husband shooting Sergiu dead. This terrorist then turns his gun on the Inspector and the screen smashes to black as a second gunshot is heard, implying that he killed the Inspector too.
It won't be long before you spend the first few seconds after approving/denying someone cringing in anticipation of a citation, especially after you get two that day since any more will carry a penalty.
M. Vonel being at your booth before you even arrive is sure to give you a start, and leave you wondering if he'll be back to arrest you should you prove to be anything but squeaky clean.
The first time a terrorist attacks the border, which happens as early as the second day of work, will leave you twitchy as you await the next inevitable bombing. When it does happen, you'll further wonder if it was scripted and unavoidable, or something you could have stopped if you were just a little more diligent. Tip: The non-scripted attacks come from people with weight discrepancies, since a weight difference may mean they're smuggling weapons or contraband. Knowing this just makes an "invalid weight" discrepancy feel like even more of a screw-up, since you may end up having the day cut short in a few seconds. In the short film adaptation, the Inspector allowing a woman (the wife of the spouse who he just approved for entry) with a misspelled name into the country leads to the couple blowing up his booth.
Keeping the newspaper with the faces of the wanted criminals around so you don't accidentally let one through. A criminal could be the very next person in line, for all you know.
Player Punch: There's many such moments given that this game often makes you choose between upholding the law and helping out people down on their luck, but the biggest one is on Day 26, should the player choose to approve Elisa at Sergiu's request. A terrorist attack happens later down the day and Sergiu can die if the player doesn't stop the terrorists fast enough, meaning that you just took a citation and reunited the couple only for it to be All for Nothing.
Polished Port: The iPad version rearranges the game interface to better suit the iPad's screen, and lets you drag multiple documents at once (although you have to pay in-game credits for the upgrade), providing a much more immersive experience (especially if you're using the 12.9" iterations) than dragging the paperwork with a mouse. It's also easier to shoot terrorists (as well as the Man in Red if you're trying to get two certain endings) since you just need to touch the terrorists' sprites, making saving Sergiu, for example, far easier.
The phone version further rearranges the interface to fit the smaller screen, opting for a rack-and-carousel interface allowing for one-finger operation, while placing more buttons to reduce the need to drag anything, other than the passport when stamping, EZIC items that need to be dragged over other items, or the keys when the guns become necessary.
Sometimes, people will come through with the right documents, but won't give you all of them unless prompted. Another one is when the entrant states a mismatching purpose or length. When interrogated, they always correct themselves instead of giving you a possibility to deny them. These do nothing but waste time.
As noted by Yahtzee, the X-ray mechanic chews through inordinate amount of time, especially when most of the time when it comes up you KNOW something is up with the entrant, but can't reject him/her without a proper reason. That or finding out that there wasn't a discrepancy to begin with.
The iPad version supports multi-touch...but you have to pay 10 in-game credits, and those 10 credits might have to instead go towards your needs instead depending on how well you're doing with your money.
The Scrappy: Both of the Journalists that come in day 17 and 20 respectively are complete entitled assholes that always come with insufficient papers. You can always deny them, but they prove to be quite a nuisance themselves by calling out your either strict protocol or your lax decision in the next day's newspaper entry, claiming that Arstotzka's border check is too strict or too lax, enough for the MOA to issue a Reason of Denial stamp into your booth. The fact that they can't be detained at all makes it more infuriating. At best, you can poison the second of two journalists with the powder meant for Khaled Istom / The Man in Red, but this does not net any unique scenes or dialogue (just the same outcome as poisoning any other entrants who aren't EZIC's intended recipient), which makes it a disappointing form of revenge.
Zero-Citation Runs are pretty common, and harder than they sound as the rules and documents stack up (not to mention morally taxing, as a lot of sympathetic entrants have to be turned away). Technically a true Zero-Citation Run is impossible because a late-game interaction with Jorji forces a citation, but general consensus is that this doesn't count since you don't have a choice.
If you're feeling particularly spiteful of the Arstotzkan government and EZIC, you can meet the conditions for Ending 19 by completing at least four EZIC tasks, then gather enough Obristan passports for your whole family, shoot the EZIC agents on Day 30, and flee the country for Ending 18, basically giving the middle finger to both factions, although this does not trigger any unique rewards or cutscenes.
Signature Scene: Jorji presenting his blatantly-fake passport is a very memorable moment for many players.
After the previous day where you can just reject all United Federation passports, this day once again requires their entry if all their papers are in order and introduces Vaccine Certificates, giving you yet another piece of paperwork you have to verify on top of the passport, Entry Permit, and ID Supplement for most foreigners and the Work Permit for foreign workers, meaning you can potentially have to check five papers at once for a single entrant. Fortunately, the M.O.A. acknowledges that this is madness and the following day, they consolidate the Entry Permit and ID Supplement into a more space-efficient Access Permit.
The day is especially this if you want to keep Sergiu alive. You have to destroy two motorcycles and neutralize one wall-jumping terrorist. Your tranquilizer gun has three darts, but its aiming reticle is hard to use at high speeds because it does not mark the location of where the dart will hit. You have to mentally draw the cross from the horizontal and vertical line segments given to you on the edges of the reticle that do not cross to find out where the dart will hit. The sniper rifle has two bullets so it does not have enough ammo to do the job unless you can figure out how to use the Splash Damage the motorcycles generate when they explode, but its aiming reticle marks the location the bullet will hit so is easy to use. Oh, and you have to shoot the attackers quickly enough before they gun down Sergiu.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Nathan Cykelek a.k.a. Carpov Calistnen, the entrant who accidentally presents two passports by accident. Most players will just slam the Detain button the moment it appears, but if you stop to interrogate him, he says that he'll explain why he has two passports if you give him his documents back, which would've been an interesting bit of worldbuilding given that he has Arstotzkan and Kolechian passports (and those two countries just ended a war with each other). But giving his documents back results in him simply leaving without saying another word.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Of the seven nations featured in this game, Impor gets the short end of the stick when it comes to lore. Arstotzka is the Inspector's own country, Kolechia is the country that Arstotzka just finished a six-year-war with and which has claim to one half of the city of Grestin, Republia and Antegria are rival nations that were prominently featured in a previous Pope game, Obristan is where Jorji is allegedly from and where the Inspector and possibly his family flee to in several endings, and the United Federation is the source of a polio outbreak that leads to a vaccine cert requirement that lasts for the rest of the game and where child killer Simon Wens was imprisoned. But the most action Impor gets outside of the randomly-generated entrants from there is a trade sanction that leads to Arstotzka imposing a ban on Imporian entrants, and that gets resolved a day later with seemingly no long-lasting effects.
Unpopular Popular Character: In-Universe, Jorji is a nuisance to the inspector, for him being a kinda stupid guy who constantly attempts to slip past border control with faulty paperwork and, in the lategame, attempting to smuggle in drugs; at best, he's a helpful annoyance for giving the inspector a means to escape Arztotska, and even then the inspector (the sole character shown to interact with him) never regards Jorji with more friendliness than he does to any of the other people the game features. Out of universe, the fandom loves Jorji's wacky antics for bringing a lot of memorable comic relief to the game, finding him very endearing.
Lots. You will be encountering lots of people with varying degree of problems that you really just want to give them a hug, from a couple of immigrants that's escaping from their tyrannical country government to a loving father who has lost his (presumably) only family and was driven into state of depression.
Elisa Kastenja has no remaining family members after the war between Arstotka and Kolechia five years prior, and the government couldn't care less about her state and refuses to give her the proper documents needed for immigration, leaving her stuck either surviving in her hellhole homeland or dying trying to escape it. If you approve her entry and Sergiu is still alive at his post, she will be grateful towards your kindness and give you a hefty chunk of money the following night, presumably her savings from prior to moving.
The Inspector's whole family, really. While they never say a word, they all depend on him to live, and if he's not doing what the M.O.A. considers a good job, they all suffer for it and can possibly even die.
. It's a cheerful piano piece that lets you know that, depending on your ending, you have escaped Arstotzkan totalitarianism with your family, you've toppled the Arstotzkan government, or you've proven your loyalty to Arstotzka and can continue your duties as a border inspector without worrying about EZIC anymore.