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Essays 01 September 2022, 15:40

author: Darius Matusiak

Papers, Please. Games to emotionally shatter you

Table of Contents

Genre: puzzle game

Developer: Lucas Pope

Release date: August 8, 2013

As a kind of satire on the communist regime, Papers, Please brings few reasons for laughter. Instead, it tests our morality using some very difficult examples. This little, independent game puts us in the role of a border guard. Our job is to examine documents and an ever increasing set of additional permits and bureaucratic rules to determine who can be let into the country, and who doesn't. We're always under pressure of time and money – punishments for mistakes are severe, and if we're not achieving optimal performance, we won't be able to support our family.

We have to make some extremely difficult choices. We will decide whether to let a desperate mother with a baby and an incomplete set of papers in, or a shabby guy who has the paperwork in order, but is unlikely to be honest. Is it worth risking the welfare of your entire household by giving a favor to people in need, who want to cross the border at all costs? Papers, Please doesn't serve up simple entertainment; it's job is to give us moral dillemas and reasons for some serious reflections on systems of power.

  1. Papers, Please in our encyclopedia

Darius Matusiak

Darius Matusiak

Graduate of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Journalism. He started writing about games in 2013 on his blog on gameplay.pl, from where he quickly moved to the Reviews and Editorials department of Gamepressure. Sometimes he also writes about movies and technology. A gamer since the heyday of Amiga. Always a fan of races, realistic simulators and military shooters, as well as games with an engaging plot or exceptional artistic style. In his free time, he teaches how to fly in modern combat fighter simulators on his own page called Szkola Latania. A huge fan of arranging his workstation in the "minimal desk setup" style, hardware novelties and cats.

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