Papers, Please

Papers, Please takes place in a fictional dystopian country called Arstotzka, a nation resembling somewhere you might encounter behind the Iron Curtain. Players act as an immigration officer at a border checkpoint, and have access to a variety of tools that they can use to verify an immigrant's status--they are tasked with keeping out undesirables, such as terrorists, criminals, or smugglers. These unwanted individuals may attempt to bribe the player, and there is often an emotional cost to this. Perhaps someone with incomplete papers has a husband in Arstotzka that they are trying to reunite with--or perhaps they're really a terrorist from one of the nations Arstotzka is at war with. Perhaps a smuggler is involved in crime because they have a young daughter to feed. The player has a family of their own, though, and too many "mistakes" will lead to a decrease in daily salary. Money collected from salary and from bribes must be spent on rent, food, clothing, and heating for themselves and their families.

Players must also choose whether or not to aid in the downfall of their own totalitarian government, at the possible cost of everything they hold dear.

There are no "good" or "bad" choices in Papers, Please--or at least, not obvious ones.

There are no tutorials, but it isn't exactly a game about winning, either.

• What were the toughest choices you had to make? What did you choose, and why did you make that choice?
• Would you have played the game differently had you not had a family to care for?
• What might be different about being a border guard in a totalitarian nation vs. a democratic one? What might be the same?