Glory to Arstotzka!
May 2, 2013 10:02 AM   Subscribe

"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."
Papers, Please is a "dystopian document thriller" game by Lukas Pope. (Downloadable, for Windows/OSX; NSFW)

Pope's earlier game The Republia Times (Flash) touches upon similar themes.

The game just got the Greenlight, so it appears a commercial version is in the works.
posted by neckro23 (22 comments total) 43 users marked this as a favorite
 
I didn't realize that @dukope also created Helsing's Fire. Cool!
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 10:08 AM on May 2, 2013


What makes it NSFW?
posted by edgeways at 10:17 AM on May 2, 2013


I used to get paid to do this in chicago at iit. what makes it a game?
posted by infini at 10:17 AM on May 2, 2013


Pretty interesting game. Sort of in the vein of Cart Life in a way. Northernlion looks at Papers, Please
posted by Ad hominem at 10:20 AM on May 2, 2013


what makes it a game?

mostly the installer, i guess
posted by LogicalDash at 10:20 AM on May 2, 2013 [4 favorites]


Wow, super tacky. What's next, stop and frisk?
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 10:20 AM on May 2, 2013


As a visible minority, I've played this game every time I cross the border or fly overseas. I usually end up losing to: bigotry, racism, sexism, racial profiling, inhumanity, & rudeness.

Thanks but no thanks.
posted by Fizz at 10:24 AM on May 2, 2013 [3 favorites]


Every person who wants to pass the checkpoint is a challenge. You have to inspect their documents carefully to catch inconsistencies. Is their work permit expired? Does their entry visa match the serial number on their passport? Are they a wanted fugitive on the run from the law?

You are paid based on the number of people you process during your shift. If you don't make enough money, your family has to go without food and/or heat. I suppose if you underperform long enough, you either get fired or your family dies off.

On top of all this, there are moments that make you question yourself. For example, a man moves through the checkpoint, with plans to immigrate permanently. His documents are fine. The woman behind him claims to be his wife, but her passport is expired. Would you let her through?
posted by rustcrumb at 10:26 AM on May 2, 2013 [4 favorites]


>What makes it NSFW?

At a point later in the game, you have to have to search incomers for contraband and so there is mild nudity.

It's a really good game about, well, moral choices, and the way people and their decisions are shaped by The System they live in.
posted by pmv at 10:27 AM on May 2, 2013 [3 favorites]


Wow, super tacky. What's next, stop and frisk?

Depiction is not advocation.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 10:35 AM on May 2, 2013 [24 favorites]


I love this game because it is terrible.

It's not a bad game, no; it's actually a great game.

But it's terrible because it's a game of quiet terror and of struggling within a system.

It's not 'super happy funtimes with denying people entry.' It's a fucked-up, depressing game, with the only real lightness coming from a guy who returns every single day (if you deny him). Every day the government changes its bureaucracy in a way that further screws over innocents, and you have to look the innocents in the eye as you reject them. There's a brief moment of glory here or there--arresting Legitimately Bad Guys--but they are few and far between.

Even the art style is glum and fascistic in its design--it's far more evocative of the movie Brazil or 1984 than of, say, Nitrome's work.

Everything else is horrible--you either succumb to The System (as pmv puts it) to save your family or you try to hold on to some human decency as your entire family (uncle included) dies of illness and malnutrition, because your penalties for letting the 'wrong' people in make it hard for you to pay rent, let alone buy food or pay the heating bill. And yes, they can actually die.
posted by flibbertigibbet at 10:35 AM on May 2, 2013 [22 favorites]


I have not played it, but are there bribes? That's how it worked right, you have all the right documents but still have to pay the official to get through. That was how the official got paid, since the state didn't really. It was a "system" within a system.
posted by stbalbach at 10:40 AM on May 2, 2013


Or, RobotVoodooPower said it very well, too.

stbalbach: people will occasionally try to bribe you or... slip you other tokens.
posted by flibbertigibbet at 10:42 AM on May 2, 2013


There's a brief moment of glory here or there--arresting Legitimately Bad Guys--but they are few and far between.

The baggage claim at international arrivals in LAX this summer had TVs playing "news" reports featuring heavily armed customs officials storming various things to find drugs or other contraband. I really didn't know what to make of that--was it supposed to be intimidation or propaganda?
posted by hoyland at 10:47 AM on May 2, 2013


When people bemoan the state of gaming, this, and maybe Fez and Kentucky Route Zero, are pretty much the games they want to see made. It is a subtle game with complex choices.
posted by Ad hominem at 10:47 AM on May 2, 2013 [4 favorites]


Wow, super tacky. What's next, stop and frisk?

Worse: I hear they're making a game where you have to shoot people to win.
posted by Edgewise at 11:04 AM on May 2, 2013 [34 favorites]


was it supposed to be intimidation or propaganda?

Yes.

The game seems interesting to me, but as someone with some experience in the realities of this, it seems way too easy as a simulator. Try hundreds of data points, only a few minutes per adjudication, without the "benifits" of x-ray scanners or bribes!
posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 11:05 AM on May 2, 2013 [1 favorite]


train outsourced ground staff in african countries simulator.
posted by infini at 11:37 AM on May 2, 2013


So it turns out that this is actually an Enders Game type of simulation where we are actually being manipulated into controlling a major US border checkpoint, unbeknownst to us.
posted by Avenger at 12:10 PM on May 2, 2013 [17 favorites]


Worse: I hear they're making a game where you have to shoot people to win.

I hadn't thought about Super Columbine Massacre in years.
posted by mrgrimm at 3:24 PM on May 2, 2013


I'm working at a DMV as a temp right now.

Sigh...
posted by Groundhog Week at 5:36 PM on May 2, 2013


Neocolonialism: Vote in parliament. Broker free trade agreements. Manipulate the IMF. Get rich by impoverishing the world. The map is upside-down.
posted by LogicalDash at 6:01 PM on May 2, 2013


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