Papers Please explores that intriguing space between what you'll do to see a narrative progress, and what you're just too uncomfortable to do even in fiction. And it's partly down to the desire to find out what's going to happen next, what are these illicit actions gaining you, what will change in the relations between Arstotzka and its neighbours? Will your son survive his illness to see his next birthday? Noticing an anomaly triggers a reward mechanism in your brain, and you feel on top of things. From spot-the-difference to intricate logic problems, such data matching is an intrinsically satisfying process. So why is this interesting, even entertaining? It's partly just down to the very basics of puzzles. And you're definitely in trouble if a terrorist breaks through and causes the whole place to be shut down early. Oh, and make sure his face is not on that day's Most Wanted list, and ensure he's not someone you're supposed to illegally let through if you're willingly helping the secretive organisation.Īnd if you're not processing around eight or so in the extremely brief days, you're in trouble. Then you need to make sure the reason for entering and duration he states matches up to those listed in the paperwork, spot if his date of birth is a real date, check that the issuing town listed on the passport really issues passports according to your rulebook, and that the symbols on everything match up to the official ones. Check his weight and height against the measurements listed on the ID supplement, as well as the short description listed there. And his gender - if that doesn't look like it matches up, it's time for a scan, which will show him or her naked. You need to check his name against the permit and work order, then his passport number against the permit, along with the expiry dates for all four against today's date.
It is, in short, difficult.Ī couple of weeks in, if you manage to keep your job for that long, and indeed keep your family alive, things might go like this: Man arrives, offers his passport, entry permit, work pass and identity supplement. But as each day passes, the bureaucracy grows, the required observation and effort on your part increases, and the complexity of correctly scrutinising the papers of every entrant to the country becomes always more elaborate. You're paid per person processed, so speed is essential if you're going to be able to keep your extended family safe under your roof, with food, heat and medicine, and maybe even birthday presents. You play in days, each racing past at a terrifying rate. And yet remains an engrossing, creeping affair, almost rogue-like in its grip on you to last longer, work faster, abandon principles more freely, and compromise integrity with ever-more consummate ease. Its lofi graphics and static setting join its focus on mundanity and repetition under pressure to suggest something that sounds about as far away from "game" as you might imagine. And secret underground operatives who woo you into their dangerous world of spies. Set in 1982, in the fictional Soviet-like nation of Arstotzka, this is a game of bureaucracy, cruelty and poverty. Which makes it kind of weird that it's so utterly compelling that I've overworked today by three hours so far, and don't seem to be stopping. You're a border guard, and your job is to either let or not let people through.
Unless you're reading this in a country for which the dystopian themes of Papers Please's oppressive border controls and poverty-stricken workers are all too familiar, in which case please have some of my Western guilt. Papers, Please is a pretty effective way of having you take a look around yourself, and feel damned grateful for what you've got.
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