TITLE
Papers, Please at 10, and how it inspired one writer to get back into gaming
AUTHOR
Alan Wen
PUBLICATION
Whynow Gaming
YEAR
2023
ARTICLE TYPE
Article
FROM THE ARTICLE
Gaming has had its fair share of memorable years, and 2013 was most certainly one of them. In the blockbuster headlines, it was the year that gave us The Last of Us and Grand Theft Auto 5, whose influence and popularity can still be keenly felt 10 years on. More importantly, it was towards the end of the year that I got back into video games after a hiatus that had lasted for almost a decade. The game that did it, however, wasn’t any of the obvious big hitters, but rather the most unlikely one of all: Papers, Please.Developed by Lucas Pope, it’s a seemingly mundane game in a grim fictional Eastern Bloc-inspired state where you play as an immigration officer at a migration checkpoint. Each day is spent checking the passports of migrants and returning citizens, and then stamping to either approve, reject, or even detaining those with fake documents that might be suspected criminals or terrorists.
GAMES MENTIONED
Papers Please