Game 129 - Papers, Please - Week X - May 24

apers, Please. A game that has always been lauded as a top contender for the best of indies. A small and simple game with a lot of depth developed by a single person, providing an entirely unique experience the demonstrated why AAA isn't where the truly creative forces are going to be found. And after playing it I can officially say it did not dissapoint. It was everything I heard it was and more. Immediately just from the start screen the music is grand and oppressive; just like its inspiration the USSR. You are a freshly minted checkpoint officer, working for the Glory of Arstotzka, who most sort the genuine from the illegitimate. The frontier between civilisation and the barbarians are the gates. Your family has moved into a nearby apartment and you must keep them fed, safe and warm. Each time you correctly pass or refuse a passport you're reward five dollars. Each failure you're penalised. Fail too much and you won't enough to keep your family fed and healthy. As you progress rent will go up; and so will the requirements for checking passports. This is a subtle increase; first an ID you must cross reference with the passport; checking the ID number, 2 photos to face, D.O.B., expiry, etc. Then you need to check a work form; then a visitor card, and so on. As the pressure increases you begin to slip and crack more; making more mistakes to try and save your family. In my first playthrough I was playing on steam deck and that was a mistake; I barely made 10 out of 30 days before getting my first ending. It was okay using the touch pads but it's clear this game requires dexterity to optimize how efficient you are. 

It's clever in that way, your booth feels like a material workspace. Documents flood your desk which can barely hold two at a time - which you must shift around as you check whether countries and districts are legitimate to the reference book. Or you make check the ID paper to the passport to the workers slip. It's easy to miss something and each time you let someone through you'll be anticipating a citation with anxiety, hoping they pass that line without fault. It even nails that we've all experience going through an airport; or bar. Where they hold up the ID and cross-reference your face. Your eyes will be darting back and fourth between document and actual person, weight, height, finger prints. etc. As you progress wild cards are thrown into it. Anything from terrorist attacks that cut the day short, to a rebellion from a secretive organisation known by some as Ezic that incites your help, to bribes from various workers trying to survive, to pleas of help that make you choose between your family surviving and living in a moral and just world. Then there was my favourite; you're provided with a key to a lockbox with a tranquilizer gun or rifle. Shoot the terrorists before they cause damage and you'll get a "sharpshooter" bonus in your pay. 

Ultimately I tried to strike a balance and that was a mistake, the game ending with me being arrested, Ezic going underground, and my families fate unknown. Two alternatives where interesting; the first I took just to see what would happen and had me assassinate an agent working against Ezic. I was arrested, as I was told I would be but my family was safe. Ironically this would be the best ending. The other ending had me use a forged passport, given by a funny little man who frequents your checkpoint with obviously fake ID and passports (one looking like it was drawn by a child). With this I escaped to a neighbouring country; experiencing the other side of being on the booth; making it through but my family's fate was unknown. But despite running a very efficient booth my canon ending would ultimately be one of failure; to Ezic and the motherland. Thanks to the indecisive choices I made. There is so much more nuance I haven't even mentioned. Needing to keep an eye out for wanted criminals, checking weight so you can find contraband, checking gender, hair cuts, surgery and more via the scanner. Detaining those that are illegitimate or refuse to cooperate. Even the small pieces of flavour like someone dropping a card to a strip club; to add that reeking sense of desperation. It all just paints the perfect USSR simulator.