Sharp writing and as bleak and depressing as it is the presentation and atmosphere is pitch perfect.Ĭons: The main gameplay mechanics are simplistic and inarguably boring – which is entirely on purpose, but makes playing for long periods of time difficult.Games tell stories about people and places. Pros: A fascinatingly original concept that has a lot to say about human nature. In Short: The concept may sound absurd but the experience of playing Papers, Please shines a light not on the game’s hapless victims but on the player’s own sense of decency. ![]() Games like The Last Of Us have already begun to take video games out of an era of black and white morality, but the sea of grey that Papers, Please operates in is the bleakest yet – not just because of the setting but because of how harshly it tests your own sense of morality and compassion. If you don’t feel bad about yourself after knowingly ruining the lives of innocent people then that’s your own business, but even though it’s ‘only a game’ the implications on both a global and personal scale are chilling. The old adage that ‘all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing’ is brought to life in daringly bleak terms, making a game of it but one that offers no moral commentary of its own. There’s something very profound in Papers, Please – in its ability to show the knock-on effect a lack of empathy can have on the lives of everyone around you. When you get to the end of one of them it’s not the enjoyment of the game mechanics that will have you coming back for more, but the desire to engineer a happier ending. The story mode (there’s also a trio of endless modes) lasts around four or five hours, as tensions with neighbouring countries rise and the game’s main story arc comes to a conclusion in one of 20 possible endings. And yet despite this the game is incredibly tense. You’re not supposed to be enjoying being an immigration official, checking rulebooks and cross-referencing entries. In terms of gameplay mechanics though there’s no getting away from it: Papers, Please is boring and repetitive. Also, people will start asking favours of you, which not only jeopardises your position but also makes checking documents a lot harder. Papers, Please (PC) – are you the villain or are they?Īs the story progresses more and more new rules are introduced, as you’re told to detain residents of particular countries or look out for a wanted criminal. In Papers, Please though the way the game is set-up encourages you to trust no one, to assume the worst of your fellow man, and to think of no-one but yourself and your family. Moral decisions have been one of the big fads of this current generation, but they’re usually so melodramatic as to have no real psychological depth. You can be lenient and let them through anyway – especially if they have a sob story to tell – but why should you risk your own living for the sake of a complete stranger? ![]() You just look at the documents you’re given and check for typos.Īn incorrectly entered height could simply be a mistake or it could be a sign that the passport is a forgery. What happens to these people though is not your concern you don’t end up in fierce gun battles with them or fight to liberate an oppressed people. Your job is to inspect the papers of the endless queue of miserable-looking people lining up at the border, checking for discrepancies in their documents and trying to weed out smugglers, spies, insurgents, and other enemies of the state.
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