Papers, Please | a Review
originally published on 22/08/2020;
Hello everyone, I am the servant of the state, G.E.M.Simov, a man who must perform exceedingly well at his state mandated job or get locked up in prison and lose his expensive apartment, ready to tell you about border control in Papers, Please.
Simple review details - I rank games on an out of 10 basis, granting up to 3 points in 3 categories, as well as a last, single point from my own self, depending on my experience with it. Also, I am a gameplay designer and a writer so I got the credentials to talk shit.
Gameplay
“Papers, Please” is a 2D game that technically falls in the simulator category of games, and it does not have any movement at all. In “Papers, Please” the player works at a border crossing and checks the papers of people who want to pass through. That is almost everything there is to the game.
It might sound simple, and it is relatively simple. Almost everything is done through the use of the mouse, via clicking and dragging. There are opportunities to get the keyboard involved, but those come at a later point in the game, and they require currency to be spent.
Most of the game will be spent in the booth, where the player is given the documents of the person who wants to come into the country, and then the player needs to make sure everything is legitimate, following the regulations set by the state. In some cases those are restrictions on the nationalities of people who can enter, there are additional papers required, there are different papers required for different types of people, there are different types of documents, there are different types of things the people say as they come in and answer the questions, automatically asked by the player’s avatar… And all those things need to match up and have no discrepancies.
The gameplay of “Papers, Please” is checking through the notebook and the daily bulletin, and then looking over the documents presented by the individual who has presented them, making the decision of whether or not things are in order, and then approving or not approving the person for entry.
This may sound complex, but “Papers, Please” starts off really, really easy, giving concise orders to the player, having them only accept people from a certain nationality. Then the difficulty ramps up, but not by a lot, as all nationalities become permitted for entry into the country, but the documents they present are just their passports. The difficulty ramps up as more documents become necessary to get through, and more things need to be done by the player to confirm the validity of the documents presented by the person who wants to cross into the country.
The gameplay is exceedingly smooth - so much so that I don’t think anything has ever truly been smoother than this, not even the brain of a convicted pedophile. The game makes the player feel good as the player plays it, even without being provided with a reward, as the fluidity of this waterslide of an experience is enjoyable in its own right.
The gameplay is sectioned off in days, and, at the end of each day, based on how well the player has performed, which is determined by how many people have been processed by the booth, the player gets paid. But then, immediately, the player needs to pay taxes, which are separated into 3 categories - food, heating, and rent. There are additional charges that might become available, such as purchasing upgrades, buying birthday presents, moving into a better apartment, buying medicine, so on and so forth.
The difficulty of the game comes from doing the checking quickly, which presents more opportunities for error, as the player has less time to make sure everything is handy and dandy. The checks must occur quickly, because the amount of money the player gets from processing 1 person is around 5 units of currency, and the player needs around 50 units of currency to be able to pay their bills. That means the player needs to process at least 10 people a day to get the job done. Of course, extra expenses are going to need to be dealt with, if the player has the money to handle it.
The game presents a harsh reality that the player must deal with, and the difficulty is quite realistic and very reasonable. It is hard to feed a family, as a single working individual providing for 5 people, the player character included in that. To keep up with the difficulty of keeping the bills paid, the player might rush through the people who want to pass, but mistakes are noticed by the government, and, making more than 2 results in a monetary penalty.
But the game was designed by a person who knew that the challenge of the game should not be overwhelming. And so the player can take bribes. Get extra payments, on top of their salary. Taking those bribes might pay off, but it might also not. Depends on how the player decides to deal with their cards.
Overall, the game is splendid in its gameplay. It has everything someone could have wanted from it, provides increased functionality as a reward for doing well, as the player can only afford upgrades if they are ahead of the curve, when it comes to their savings, smooth, relatively deep gameplay and a good way of handling difficulty. 3/3
Presentation
“Papers, Please” is, as mentioned, a 2D game that fits in the simulator category. It is, however, crafted entirely out of pixel art, and is a mixture of top-down and up-front camera, as there is a viewpoint where the player can see the characters from up above, as well as a viewpoint where the player sees the characters as if they were face to face with one another.
The characters, themselves, are all unsightly. None of them are made to appear beautiful, or even presentable - they all look ugly. Even those who are, supposedly, involved in businesses that would require they appear attractive, look as if they’ve been mangled by a dog or hit with the dummy stick. That adds to the spirit of the game, to the feeling, of how everything is ugly in this world, in this country of totalitarian rule where a person cannot even blink without being observed.
The rest of the game looks good, if a little dark and moody. The background that is observed is grey, concrete, a splendid example of the monotone, mundane world that the characters live in. Other illustrations are predominantly a dirty, dark green, dirty and dark red, grey, black, muted yellow.
The game has one musical track, and that track is quite good, as well as memorable. The rest of the game is given life by ambience and by sound effects, which are very satisfying and crisp to listen to. There is no voice acting, although there are semblances of voices.
Overall, the presentation of this game is good. I simply cannot live down the ugly people, but, other than that, everything is splendid. 2/3
Story
“Papers, Please” is set in a fictional world, where, in a fictional country that is very similar to the Soviet Union, a new border checkpoint is opened. The player’s character has their name drawn in the job lottery, and is given the job as a border inspector. Now, the player needs to work diligently to bring glory to the country, which goes by the name Arstotzka.
That is the story, as it begins. However, the story goes in many different directions, there are many little side-stories, there are many big stories, and the experience is one that almost made me want to be a border inspector, which was quite a feat of persuasion, even if the process and living conditions, depicted in this game, are quite unpleasant.
The game is a reminder of what the world has managed to save itself from, for the most part, excluding China, Russia… Well, there goes half the world. Ah well, who cares about those places, we got Europe, super democracy– Oh, right, European Union. Yes… The USA? Oh no...
Ahem, the game is a reminder of the horrors that any kind of totalitarian rule, can bring upon a country’s inhabitants. It is strikingly in tune with the past of my own little country, which, too, has been ‘blessed’ by the brutal wrath of totalitarianism. “Papers, Please” has an interesting story that has 20 endings - 20! And, even if some are similar, others are quite unique and have their own sets of tasks that need to be completed, before they can be achieved.
All in all, “Papers, Please” is a wonderful experience, when it comes to the story of the game. It gave me something to think about, it had a clear message, it was delivered in a very nice manner, and it was rich in colorful, albeit a bit ugly, characters and some small side stories that gave some tint to the grey of the world depicted within. 3/3
Legendary Point
Does this game get the legendary point, so craved and wanted by all and none at the same time? Yes. It does.
As I said, “Papers, Please” is a game that captures quite a few things that I consider important for the world. I would go as far as to claim that games like these can be wake-up calls for many delusional individuals.
On top of that, “Papers, Please” has the potential of being an endless game. That kind of game is incredibly valuable, because most games that attempt becoming endless games lack in gameplay, or their replay-ability becomes less and less adequate with every few hours. “Papers, Please” has the potential, because its gameplay is simply that good, and the act of performing the deeds needed to continue is enjoyable in its own right. 1/1
Conclusion
9/10. Another masterpiece discovered by yours truly. I am not going to stop anytime soon, but, while waiting for me to bring more to your attention, I strongly advise that you play “Papers, Please”, as it is a game that contains, within itself, a very clear and concise lesson, one that more people need to learn.
I tuck it under my belt, another shining achievement that I proudly display. It could have looked a bit prettier, for sure, but gold is still gold, and so it glitters like an All Star.