Papers, Please - The Bear and Badger

Elmlea

Surprised this didn't already have its own thread!

Papers, Please came out on Steam yesterday. It's a strange indie management game set in a fictional communist country called Arstotzka. The premise is really simple; you've been selected in the labour lottery to become a border inspector at a newly-opened checkpoint between Arstotzka and its neighbour Kolechia, that it's been fighting with for years. The game layout is very simple:

Top shows the world around your little checkpoint. Bottom left is your view, with whoever's trying to get through. As they slide their documents through the little slot, you move them across to the desk space on the right to open them up and examine them, ultimately deciding whether to let them into Arstotzka or send them packing.

It starts off so simply; "border just reopening; Arstotzkans only." So just check the passport country and the validity date, and look for odd errors like wrong sex. Easy; you're paid 5 credits per person processed, which goes on rent, food and heating for your family. But it progressively gets more complex which makes it very compelling. First they let foreigners in, but you have to check the issuing cities on passports is valid using an almanac. Then they decide Arstotzkans need an ID card, which you have to cross reference with the passport. Then foreigners need an entry ticket; then a permit with more details and a different expiry date. Then they start a work permit scheme. Then forgeries start to appear. Then diplomats. Then....

You get 2 free mistakes per day, then you start getting fined, and that starts to affect your family. There are numerous moral choices. Do you let someone through who's being persecuted, even though it means a 10 credit fine, which means you can't afford medicine for your sick son or might have to do without heating? Or do you look after your own and send them to their doom? Then a guard offers you money if you detain more people. So instead of just rejecting them for an out-of-date passport, do you send them to prison if it makes you a few credits?

The story mode has 20 endings, and there's an endless mode with various modifiers and scoring systems. A free beta is still available; try it!!

Brooks

Oh yeah.

regmcfly

Played beta. Had a time. Will investigate full game

Carbon_Altered

Eurogamer review here

Spoiler:

EvilRedEye

Sounds intriguing, will purchase soon.

Sasukekun

Has to be an ios version in the pipeline right?

EvilRedEye

[Sigh.]

Yossarian

Sasukekun wrote:

Has to be an ios version in the pipeline right?

Hope so.

Elmlea

It's still very good. There's a shadowy cult who make an appearance, the secret police pop up every so often, you end up with some photos of wanted criminals to check out, and the moral choices keep coming. Regarding those:

Spoiler:

Elmlea

Also, from the Eurogamer review, this is totally right:

Before long, the number of things you need to watch out for is so overwhelming that it's easy to botch the job by missing something obvious - like somebody not matching their passport photo.

It's so tense. You check their 5 or 6 documents, their work permit, their entry permit, passport and identity supplement, then let them through. Then watch them walk out of your booth as the next one comes in, waiting to see if the little printer starts up and runs off a citation warning.

As it does, you find yourself saying "what! He was valid! He was allowed in!" before it reveals that actually, it said female when he was male and you didn't double-check by fingerprinting him/her to confirm their identity. Or that their passport photo was of someone else, and you didn't check that most basic thing!

I've now got to the stage where:

Spoiler:

RamSteelwood

i read the eurogamer review the other day and this does look interesting. when's the next steam sale?

Moto70

RamSteelwood wrote:

...this does look interesting. when's the next steam sale?

This.

n0face

All my family died and I lost my job. how do you make more money?

Brooks

Can one not just bork the whole show by refusing anyone entry just in case? Narratively that doesn't seem like something one'd get reprimanded for, I mean it's a totalitarian state.

n0face

You get docked money if you refuse valid applicants, then your family dies from sickness and cold and you loose your job.

Brooks

But how do they tell if they're valid afterwards? Aren't they in fact relying on you to provide that very ruling?

google

Brooks wrote:

But how do they tell if they're valid afterwards? Aren't they in fact relying on you to provide that very ruling?

You're instantly told if you got the entry visa wrong.

It's a videogame, Brooks. It still abides by videogame rules unfortunately.

It would be far more satisfying if you had the ability to let whomever you want in, with the understanding that if you fuck up someone might fire you, kill you, etc.

The instant notification that you fucked up doesn't really do anything for me.

GooberTheHat

Don't you only get money for letting people in to?

Elmlea

No, I'm pretty sure you get money for handling people correctly.

Pseudoscot

Just took a punt on this from steam and I'm gobsmacked. The continuous questioning of your own morality really sets it apart from most other games and the pressure just builds and builds. Soon you will be arresting people for the smallest excuse so you can get the kickback from the guards to pay for medicine for your sick child. Can't recommend it enough for a few hours of soul searching that ramps up with every passing day.

fronkhead

There isn't much else to say that everyone else has already said but I really enjoyed this too.

Only negative part of my experience came from me trying to finish it in a few sittings which made it feel like actual work by the end of it. Unless that was the point as well.

Will definitely revisit this in a few years' time.

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