Video games have a habit of making some of the most draining and tedious elements of life like driving or going to work, well, fun. You can live a thousand lives, in any design that you want; want to be a hero who hunts monsters? The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Archaeology in space? Heaven’s Vault. Each feeds on reality for its inspiration, with their own commentaries and nods to that inspiration in varying degrees of transparency. With Papers, Please it could mean a myriad of things, with a through a roaming crew of NPCs, and a faceless border guard that you control.
The game itself is a simple one in theory; you are a citizen from Arstotzka whose job is to man the border of the country, checking passports and entry tickets, work visas and watching out for those who might cause harm to your country. Each person you allow or deny entry allows you to earn currency (Credits) to pay for heating or food, or medicine for you and your family. Sometimes you’ll have some leftover, in which case: good job! However, sometimes, you’ll be left with having to decide between eating or staying warm. Go too long without either of those, and some of your family members might fall ill and/or die.
The style is something that brings to mind Soviet-era Eastern Europe; even the song which plays upon opening the game displays this, right down to the styling of countries, their spelling and the fact your border guard can be sent to gulags in several different endings. Even the text is similar to fonts you might see upon previous Soviet-era propaganda posters.
But that’s not all there is to it. Sometimes, you have to make the decision of using your morals to work against the system and letting in someone with good standing or to deny the entry of agents working to dismantle the government system. Some of the choices are simple, for instance, I was more than willing to be told I’d made an ‘error’ for letting in a woman with incorrect papers, when her husband had been admitted with no issues. The five credit penalty for that day was worth it, and I didn’t feel like I had to rip my heart out to debate my choice; the joy of the pair was instantly worth it. Likewise, having a man who is revealed to a sex trafficker, or another who is a murderer is pleasing. You can’t do much from your little booth on the border, but a little karmatic justice can make all the difference.
You can gradually get to know people throughout the game; there are NPCs (non-player characters) that will arrive at the border again and again, or they work nearby or are your supervisors; each presents a story and a choice. How often do you deny Jorji entry?
How do you react when the goalposts and rules change literally every day? Day 1 is solely accepting Arstotzkan citizens, a simple yes or no moves people long really quickly, but by Day 30 you are taking shots at potential terrorists, checking fingerprints, ID cards, vaccination certificates, ensuring they’re not international criminals while trying to gather the passports to escape the country with your entire family.
The game ‘allows’ for two mistakes per day with no penalty, for each above three you are fined five credits. And sometimes, this minor margin (or significantly larger margin, if you’re as terrible at the harder levels like I am) can be the difference in surviving comfortably or having to turn off the heating/ not feeding your family for the second day in a row.
Papers, Please has twenty possible endings for the game; some can end as early a week or two in, if you can’t get your finances in order. Others require you to accept or refuse a bribe, or to notify your supervisor of the mysterious papers someone handed you – even if you didn’t want to get involved, you’d still get in trouble. Or do you take the family (or only certain members?) and escape to another country? Do you instead remain loyal to Arstotzka, and see how long you can play as the border security in the game’s Endless Mode?
My knee-jerk reaction in this scenario was to just get out of the country. Having to flee your home is a terrifying concept (and one that thousands of people around the world have to make), but the thought of staying and potentially facing dire consequences is far worse. And leaving the country alone to have your family take the fall for your actions (or inaction, if you decided to not bother getting them false passports)
But like I said, it’s not always about what you want to do. Hard decisions must be made sometimes, and you will hate yourself if you make the wrong one. It all depends on you. The lack of music beyond the title screen amplifies every mistake you make; the mechanical printer cuts through the silence, grating and you’ll soon grow to despise the sound.
In preparation for this article, I replayed the game several times. Some endings were a lot quicker than others – such as failing to disarm a bomb, or taking the bribe from EZIC but forgetting to let in the agent who stops you from being arrested for it. Or one of the many endgame results. There’s always certain elements of the game that are scripted and will come up, one that sticks out to me is the guy who accidentally hands you two passports, realising his mistakes far too late.
The number of papers being handed to you at times can get overwhelming, I believe it can be five or even six in the endgame. You’ll long for someone from Arstozka to come along just as they don’t need half of the documents as the others do. Just remember to try and keep yourself organised or else the piles of paperwork will consume you.
But I really enjoy this game, as simple as the mechanics are; it’s engaging and to truly make a difference you physically have to pay attention to the little things. The more you play it, the quicker you can spot certain mistakes – after two or three days of playing on and off, I was able to catch several mistakes without having to go through the official check systems. Weight differences and issuing cities are all by sight now; it speeds up the smaller things significantly and when you get into Endless Mode it definitely helps in the long run.
The game was developed by Lucas Pope of Return of Obra Dinn fame, so you know this has all the love and care place into its production. And it definitely comes through in the final product!
Want to check it out yourself? The game is £6.99 on Steam, and even has a version in the app store to play on iPad! Not a native English speaker? No problem: the game has translations into languages including Italian, Spanish, Russian, Polish and Brazilian Portuguese.
Your first run of the game should be about four hours, and there is an ‘easy’ mode if you get stuck. But the satisfaction is in the grind, whatever outcome you’re hoping for.
Articles will now be arriving on The Nerdy Archer far more regularly, and I’d love to hear what you want to see – suggestions are always welcome 💜💛 🏹
And if you like what you’ve read, why not support the site: we have a tip jar now over at: https://ko-fi.com/louisechase
The Nerdy Archer 
Leave a comment