Papers, Please for Windows

Papers, Please is an exemplary story about the ubiquitous bureaucracy that gets in the way.

The plot of the game Papers, Please begins with the fact that the main character is told in writing, they say, he became the winner of the October lottery of jobs, and from now on and for an indefinite period he is a customs officer. This slightly compelling news does not in the least upset the protagonist, but on the contrary – in the fictional state of Arstotzk there is a crisis and an acute shortage of jobs, and therefore such a letter for the protagonist is a holiday. After all, he needs to feed his family and pay for the house.

If someone in childhood was overcome by dreams not about the profession of a policeman or a musician, but about shifting pieces of paper from place to place, comparing lines in various documents and the rest of the office – well, for those people Papers, Please will not only be an excellent internship for future work, but also a real panacea for boredom. The game tells about a huge amount of paperwork, but there is nothing to complain about – it is unlikely that the gameplay in the role of a customs inspector could be different. However, the gameplay cannot be called boring every day there are new regulations and directives; Yesterday was banned entry for all foreigners, today hired workers at the entrance must present two certificates and three documents, and tomorrow the rules will somehow tighten, so as not to facilitate the work of customs. And in each certificate there is a huge amount of different information, it is necessary to check whether the seal is correct, you need to keep track of the date of the document, compare the words of the person entering with the purpose of the trip indicated in the certificate – in a word, sheer bureaucracy. Every day about a hundred people strive to cross the border of Arstotzki, and each has its own reasons.

According to the plot of Papers, Please, the player will have to face very interesting personalities and events, there is even its own underground revolutionary group – well, helping her, or walking along the road outlined by the government is the work of the player himself. However, blindly following orders will not work, you have to twirl around. This is because Arstotza is a communist state, and the power in it, as in any dystopian totalitarian country, does not tolerate even verbal claims in its direction – whether the player helped the revolutionaries, or ignored their requests – he interacted with them in one way or another, and this is almost a ninety percent chance to get first into the room to the investigator, and then to prison. From the very first time, when a representative of the opposition group began to interact with the main character, there will be no way back. It is impossible to enlist the support of the authorities, and to support them or not, the player himself will have to choose.

Papers, Please is filled to the brim with all sorts of stereotypes, as if they came from the times of the Cold War and absolute totalitarianism. The game is dominated by gray and dark tones, although it seems that all other colors do not prejudice in any way – however, they do not look cheerful or bright. The whole game takes place at the table of the customs inspector, without changing locations – sit and check the documents. Sometimes they will give the opportunity to make a couple of shots – after all, the border can be crossed through the fence, you just need to blow it up correctly. In case of such sabotage, the government provided the protagonist with a sniper rifle, however, due to the unexpectedness of such attacks, it is easy to panic – and then it may be too late. For each killed terrorist, the government gives the protagonist a prize, and the more citizens were checked, the more salary the protagonist will receive.

Papers, Please is a clear example of how you can easily create an interesting and addictive simulator from the seemingly boring profession. It is not for nothing that it is believed that the story itself is not so important as the way it is presented. Anyone who is even slightly interested in dystopias will definitely enjoy the customs inspector simulator.