Being cast in the role of an early 80’s, Soviet Bloc immigration official is not my idea of a cracking good time.ĭon’t get me wrong, I think Papers, Please is an important game, much like Gone Home, and it’s one that I think everyone should at least try because it does break some new ground in terms of game mechanics and narrative structure. Ultimately, I play video games to have fun and escape the trials and tribulations of real life for a few hours. I know that’s a very desolate outlook on things in general, but that’s the mindset this game put me in and, in case I haven’t made that clear, I don’t really like that. The point being that there are no good endings in this life…it’s just a relentless winter of discontent. I was always going to debtors prison, getting arrested for other infractions, or my whole family was dying on me because I couldn’t consistently feed them, keep the heat on or get them medicine. I played Papers, Please for about 10 hours and I, for the life of me, could not get a “good” ending. I don’t know if it has a title, but I took to calling it “The Dirge of Endless Oppression.” It’s not particularly bad it’s just goddamn depressing. And I don’t mean that in a negative way I personally dig games with a distinctly retro vibe, but gamers of the last couple generations may not get it and be put off by that. Something else that should be mentioned regarding the presentation in Papers, Please is the music, especially the theme song, which is a crushingly sad tune, like something ripped from a Kafka-esque nightmare. Of course, I know differently, but the graphics and overall gameplay definitely have that late ’80s, early ’90s vibe going on. When it comes to overall presentation, I would swear this was a game that I was playing on a Commodore Amiga (or some other computer of that era) emulator. Making the decisions this game forced me to make made me uncomfortable … perhaps because I remember the Cold War tales of Communist woe all too well and never was (and never will be, unfortunately) the commander of a kick-ass spaceship. What it boils down to, I suppose, is that Papers, Please blurred the line between a fictional game world and reality a little too well for my liking. I mean, if I made a decision that pissed off Jack in Mass Effect 2, she doesn’t want to be my pal, and then she ultimately dies at the end of the game because of that, should I be upset? I can tell you right now that I didn’t shed a tear because it’s just a game … and she was a temperamental pain in the dick anyway. Of course, there have been morality choices in games before, but none have seemed as “real” or consequential (at least to me) as they do in Papers, Please. Those stampers make an awesomely satisfying “KA-CHHUNK!” sound when you use them.Īnd this is where my major issue with this game arises: Does what I described above sound like fun to anyone? I’m certain the dictionary definition of “fun” doesn’t include words like immigration, passport, government officials or border in that definition. Of course, various factions and individuals will offer you money to help their cause or look the other way when shady things are going down, but accepting those kinds of bribes have consequences and soon, the agents of the Arstotzkian government will be visiting you at work with rather pointed questions to ask. When you don’t make a great deal of money, you can’t afford the things your family needs and then they’ll start dropping like flies. When that process is slowed down, you don’t make a great deal of money because you aren’t processing enough immigrants. Each day, you are saddled with new regulations and requirements that slow down the immigration process because you need to scrutinize each and every shred of information for inconsistencies. This is where the true madness and/or genius of Papers, Please sets in. food, heat and medicine) you can provide for your family, who always seem to be either sick, cold or hungry. The more money you get, the more “luxuries” (e.g. The more people you process in a typical work day, the more money you get. If not, you can send them packing back to wherever it is they came from. It’s your job to inspect the various documents that people present to you to cross that border. If their documents pass muster, they can enter glorious Arstotzka. Set in the winter of 1982 against the bleak, grey backdrop of the fictional Communist nation of Arstotzka, the player is cast in the role of a “lucky” lottery winner who wins a job in the big city as an Immigration Inspector on the newly opened Arstotzkian border. The title screen reminds me of the C64 classic, Raid Over Moscow.
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