by Kerreth » Mon Aug 26, 2013 2:13 am
I've recently gotten into a love/hate relationship with . You play as a border control agent recently hired by a work lottery by a communist country, and you have to inspect documents and approve or deny entry. However...
1. You are paid per person you process, and you have a limited amount of time each day. If you don't process enough people, you won't earn enough money to pay for the rent, food, and heat to keep your family well. Going too fast, however, will leave you vulnerable to making mistakes, and every incorrect approval/denial will earn you a citation, starting with warnings and leading to monetary penalties and eventually termination.
2. This game could accurately be renamed "The Desk Simulator" because of the extremely limited space you have to work with.
You'll quickly have to compare too many documents to each other and use the ! button to point out discrepancies to the person.
3. The rules are constantly changing on a day-to-day basis, based on the current events of the game. They'll start lax, and then get strict, and then get lax, and then strict, and you'll need to keep on top of it all.
4. You'll quickly be dealing with terrorists, spies, traffickers, and corrupt officials. You are allowed to deal with each odd situation in your own way, and the achievement list suggests there are multiple endings depending on what you do.
While I hate that the game doesn't do a good job of teaching you the interface, and the sort of soul-crushing "I'm a stamping deskperson" feeling it can leave you with, Papers Please is pretty fantastic. The many large bits of story and political intrigue it throws at you really shows off the world they created, and all with you just stamping papers in a booth.
Glory to Arstotzka.