Papers Please

Papers Please Has You Playing Again And Again For The Glory Of Arstozka!

In theory Papers Please should be the most monotonous, bland and boring video game that has ever existed. This is no exaggeration but more of an understatement. Hate paper work in real life? Well this is exactly what the premise of Papers Please is.

You are an immigrations officer for the recently liberated Arstozka and must thoroughly check visitors papers to make sure nothing is amiss. You wouldn’t want to let someone smuggle in concealed goods or let a murderer in.

End of the day though you do have a family to provide for. You must look after their environment, food and medicine. Times are often bleak and having to choose between them is common.

There is something about forming your own methodology of checking everyone’s papers, that must be done within a time limit that becomes addictive and a rewarding process. Spotting mismatched passport numbers, checking the correct details add up and stopping any counterfeit documents takes me back to my Carmen San Diego days of spotting criminals.

While this all sounds simple there is more complexity to it than originally meets the eye. There are a number of moral choices to be made such as choosing to separate a wife from her husband because her documents don’t match. You can be bribed in certain scenarios but there will always be consequences for your actions, that can affect your family too!

The game spans over a 30 day period but can end any day pre-maturely. It is great however that when you restart you can choose which day to begin at.

The overall tone of the game projects an eery feel from the bleak black, red and grey colour palette to the ominous sound track.

Re-playability is some what limited even though there are 20 different endings having played through a couple of times, knowing the storyline and what to expect lost its impact somewhat.

Overall

Looking for a bargain and a game that is truly like nothing you would have ever experienced then Papers Please really is worth the couple of dollars you can scrounge together.