Papers, Please
Papers, Please is an independent game created by the developer Lucas Pope, released on August 8, 2013 for Windows and OS X, then for Linux.
Papers, Please takes place in 1982 after a 6 year war between Arstotzka (The country we belong to) and Kolechia. At the end of the war a border line was established separating the city of Grestin in two, a clear reference of the Berlin wall.
The game immerses us in a simulation where we will become a customs inspector where we will have the task of reviewing the papers of immigrants or people returning to the country, after checking if everything is in order we will choose whether to approve or deny the passport.
The totalitarian regime
Our country Arstotzka is a communist nation with an Orwellian method of government, similar to the book 1984. Arstotzka is a portrait of the old Soviet Union.
In spite of being a communist nation, dozens of immigrants try to enter every day in search of work and a better life, although for the population of Arstotzka the immigrants are badly seen, the immigrants would take away the work to the population of Arstortzka.
The routine as a game mode
The story begins with a congratulatory message, our name has appeared in the labor lottery, we must present ourselves to the ministry as soon as possible. Our new job is to manage a customs office, and for this we have been given a department near the border where we will live with our family.
We start our first day walking to our cabin with a gray environment around, the game has opaque colors giving the dark touch to the story. The gameplay is based on reviewing the documentation of immigrants, looking for errors in the names, genders, due dates, cities of origin and even the passport number.
Therefore the game will keep us in a routine, which is not for everyone, some will be bored and others will be glued to the screen. We will have an incentive at the end of the day, we have to support our family, we will have to pay rent, food and heating and sometimes if we remove one of the two our relatives can get sick and we will have to buy medicine.
The more people are processed by us, the higher the pay at the end of the day, but if we let someone in without the proper documents we will be reprimanded and a part of the payment will be taken away, which keeps us attentive when playing since we will not want to hear the noise of the printer when it takes out a warning. Apart from buying food and having heating, with our savings we can move to a better home. As we move forward we will be more tight when it comes to reviewing the documentation as it will become more and more papers and frustrate us since we will take longer and not process many people a day, having a low pay.
The decisions made by the player
And this is the highlight of the game, the decisions that the player will have to make by advancing the story, and I clarify that there will be no good or bad decisions (Except some), We will be faithful to maintain order in our nation or let ourselves be carried away by the feelings of the people we process.
The NPC's are not simple, the game will create them by giving them an infinity of physical characteristics, names and passport numbers, but some will have a big problem.
We have an example of a man who goes through his papers in order and suddenly asks us to let pass his wife who is behind but she does not have the papers in order, what should we do? we can dedicate ourselves to our work and be neutral by denying her passport or we can be soft and let her pass, as a reward the person will give us a token, which we can collect, however, what is better? Do not be warned and take the money to maintain our family or help a couple to live together? the decision will be made by you, you will not be told which is the good option, because there is not, the decision will be the one that the player believes is correct.
The rebel groups and the endings
The further we advance, there will be terrorist attacks on the border and due to the frequency of these we will be given a precision rifle to help counteract the attack. But on the other hand will come certain people who belong to a rebel group that plans to overthrow the regime on duty, this will be the order of EZIC.
EZIC will leave messages in our cabin asking us to let its members pass, we can choose to help this group to fulfill their plans or simply ignore them and continue with our work. But in our first time playing the sure thing is that we choose to help them, but there will be a consequence, we will be visited by our superior who will interrogate us about this group intimidating us and making us think about it again.
And this will affect the end because we will have a variety of endings that we will obtain according to the decisions we make. We can end up as heroes helping to overthrow the regime, we can end up imprisoned for betraying the regime, escaping with our family to another country, among other endings.
Undoubtedly, Papers, Please is a game where you do not need high quality graphics or gigantic maps to tell a weighty story like Papers, Please, if you want to try a new experience, go buy it right now and try it out. Bye ;)