Simulation

Papers, Please

Single Player

Critic · Metacritic

4.4

Users · RAWG

2013

Released

Platforms

🔗🛒▶

📅 Release Info

Release DateAugust 8, 2013

Developer

Publisher

🏷️ Game Details

Genres

SimulationEducationalIndiePuzzle

Playable on

PCPlayStationMobile

Show all 6 versions ▾

LinuxmacOSPCPS VitaiOSAndroid

Screenshots & Videos

About this game

The communist state of Arstotzka has just ended a 6-year war with neighboring Kolechia and reclaimed its rightful half of the border town, Grestin. Your job as immigration inspector is to control the flow of people entering the Arstotzkan side of Grestin from Kolechia. Among the throngs of immigrants and visitors looking for work are hidden smugglers, spies, and terrorists. Using only the documents provided by travelers and the Ministry of Admission's primitive inspect, search, and fingerprint systems you must decide who can enter Arstotzka and who will be turned away or arrested.

Pros & Cons

Pros

Immigration inspection creates tension through routine administrative work.
New rules, discrepancies, and tools gradually expand document checks.
Regulations, personal aid, and family needs create conflicting pressures.
Multiple endings give daily decisions lasting consequences.
Bleak setting, terse encounters, restrained visuals, and sparse audio create oppression.

Cons

Document checking becomes repetitive during longer play sessions.
Time limits, fines, and family expenses make failure costly.
Rules, documents, and tools become cumbersome during timed inspections.
Economic penalties and binary rules constrain moral choices.

Pros & Cons are AI-assisted summaries, not our own playthrough reviews. Sources and how we make recommendations.

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