Otter Byte Review: "Papers, Please"

Papers, Please

Stamps and Sadness

90/100 (A-)

Positives:

• Creepy, constantly unsettling atmosphere and design
• Challenging, complex gameplay for puzzle game enthusiasts
• Roughly twenty different endings to experience
• Surprisingly emotionally involving

Negatives:

• Gameplay isn't for everyone; essentially a paperwork simulator
• Time constraints often seem overly-harsh
• Not great for longer sessions

Papers, Please is a game that could have very easily failed miserably if incorrectly executed. Papers, Please is quite literally an immigration-control simulator. You play an inspector assigned to guard the gate into a Soviet-esque state. You are tasked with checking the passports and other important documents of all would-be immigrants and checking for discrepancies. On paper, that sounds about as fun as doing real life paperwork, but in practice, Papers, Please makes it challenging, and arguably, enjoyable.

Right off the bat, one of the most important things to note about Papers, Please is that it is not your average game. I will hesitantly label it as a puzzle game, although it's really more of a spot-the-differences game at its core. The player must consult several rulebooks and invoices detailing various restrictions from mission to mission. Then, following these rules and regulations, the player has to decide if they're going to let the person through or not. Things get complicated quickly, as a player is tasked with checking everything from expiration dates to whether or not a citizen is from an unfriendly territory. Luckily, 

Papers, Please provides the player with an extremely useful button that allows you to compare two documents or pieces of information and instantly detect any discrepancies. 

Personally, I found the gameplay to be extremely challenging, but rarely frustrating. The game even throws moral choices at you when you're forced to choose between turning away a poor old man who doesn't have an entry ticket, or getting written up by your superiors. As if the pressure to get every inspection right wasn't enough, you are also only given a short amount of time each mission to complete inspections, making the process quite nerve-wracking. And if that wasn't enough, you are also paid a small amount for each successful inspection per mission; this money is then used to pay for heating, food, rent, and medicine for your family members. With the lives and well being of your family at stake, stamping passports has never felt more intense. As you can probably tell, the game gets depressing quickly.

To avoid spoiling anything, I will just say that the story progressively gets more and more dramatic as days go by, giving the player incentive to press onward and find out what happens next. The story can actually become rather emotional if you're the sensitive type, and it gets painfully difficult when you're forced to decide which members of your family you can afford to let live because you didn't stamp passports fast enough.

Papers, Please strikes a beautiful balance in terms of its atmosphere and design. The entire game has a heavy air of oppression and strict regulation, yet somehow you still feel compelled to dive into this gray, depressing world. The designs of the world and its inhabitants are genuinely creepy, in their own strange way. Everything about the world of 

Papers, Please comes across as slightly...off. Even the low drone of the title screen (which I found extremely irritating) adds to the atmosphere of hopelessness and repetition. During actual gameplay, there is no music other than sound effects, which makes it that much more terrifying when the typewriter sound effect notifies you that you've failed an inspection. 

If you're into micromanaging or want to try playing the dark, gritty version of "Spot the Differences", Papers, Please might be the game for you. I would not recommend it for people who don't like games without tons of action, or for people who aren't good with attention to detail. Additionally, if you're a perfectionist, be prepared to reset missions multiple times because you forgot one important detail that led to you being written up. If you're the kind of person who can enjoy a good puzzle, a good challenge and a good story, Papers, Please might be just the game for you.

GLORY TO ARSTOTZKA

Link to the "Papers, Please" website, if you're interested!