Papers, Please

johnny_ultimate · 09-08-2013 10:47pm #1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QP5X6fcukM

Ah, it's games like this that fill me with such hope for the potential gaming! 'A dystopian document thriller' might not sound like the most exhilarating concept, but what a wonder it is: novel gameplay mechanics, thematic depth (yes, really!), fantastically economic storytelling and characterisation, distinctive aesthetics... Mostly, it's memorable for the emotional responses it elicits - you're constantly torn between doing your job properly, being altruistic and trying to manage your family's well-being. Unfortunately, these tasks quickly to prove to be rather mutually exclusive...

Anyway, it's absolutely wonderful. 8.99 on Steam, a tad cheaper through GOG or Humble. No need to wait for a sale or its eventual bundle release: games like this deserve the full support.

Myrddin · 10-08-2013 10:23am

I seen the Yogscast team play it a while back, & tried it myself. It's really good for all the above mentioned reasons. Very bleak & dystopian hue to it

Gummy Panda · 10-08-2013 1:39pm

Jorji.. will he ever learn

Duggy747 · 10-08-2013 2:23pm

Godammit Jorji, get your shìt together.

Very good game though can be quite unforgiving when it comes to missing out on a detail because the game might not fully explain to you how to keep an eye on it.

Bleak game, though. Pesky hungry, cold family.

johnny_ultimate · 10-08-2013 2:31pm

Gummy Panda wrote: »

Jorji.. will he ever learn

I was this close to approving his handdrawn passport for sheer effort. I also love how he always walks away jolly and optimistic. I know the game is going to punish me for liking him, though.

"1234 - OKOK"

Duggy747 wrote: »

Pesky hungry, cold family.

Don't forget sick!

Taylor365 · 15-08-2013 8:21pm

Great little game this.

Amazing how such a simple idea can appeal to a wide range of gamers. (aka $$$$$$)

sarumite · 15-08-2013 8:47pm

I am really intrigued by this game, though I wonder if it feels too much like work. Not sure if I can cope with heavy concentration after a day of work!

cherryghost · 15-08-2013 9:02pm

Amazing game. Guys go buy it! Currently holds a resounding 87 on metacritic too

Mister Man · 16-08-2013 1:33am

Gave in and got this tonight. Have to say it's quite an interesting game. Good fun. Well worth a look. Jorji needs to stop! He just keeps coming! My game ended though because my family died, or just my son. How can I stop that...?

humanji · 16-08-2013 8:56am

Does the paid for version have anything different to the free online version?

Nollog · 16-08-2013 10:23am

humanji wrote: »

Does the paid for version have anything different to the free online version?

Endless mode, and a story mode with 20 different endings.
A few graphical changes here and there, and it's not exactly the same in the first 10 days as the demo was either.

You get to do more than stamp people's passports or detain them later on too, pretty funny so I won't spoil what it is.

Wossack · 16-08-2013 1:18pm

'visitors to this country, must have a passport'
'I have it here'

so why didnt you put it on the #%$#^&£ table..!?!?

I'd let my family die freezing and sneezing for an 'incinerate' booth mod sometimes..

Taylor365 · 16-08-2013 2:38pm

Wossack wrote: »

'visitors to this country, must have a passport'
'I have it here'

so why didnt you put it on the #%$#^&£ table..!?!?

I'd let my family die freezing and sneezing for an 'incinerate' booth mod sometimes..

It a distraction technique.

Those people usually have a something to hide.

Dothehustle · 17-08-2013 3:28am

A crayon set ... A fecking crayon set .. That's the most expensive crayon set in the world ... I could have fed the family with that money

C14N · 17-08-2013 9:20am

It looks really good. I just wish I had time to play it

takamichinoku · 17-08-2013 10:04am

Didn't know there was a free beta version on their website, will check it out, thanks!

Mister Man · 18-08-2013 2:41am

Lads, how to you find out if someones a criminal? I tried searching for it, but nothings coming up. Keep getting a penalty because of it!

Nollog · 18-08-2013 6:56am

Mister Man wrote: »

Lads, how to you find out if someones a criminal? I tried searching for it, but nothings coming up. Keep getting a penalty because of it!

There'll be three faces in the bulletin on the second last page

Friend Computer · 18-08-2013 9:15am

Damnit, Jorji!

SeantheMan · 18-08-2013 9:20am

My family are constantly sick and hungry.

Day 10, Aunt and Uncle - dead
Son and wife - very sick and hungry

pablomakaveli · 18-08-2013 11:40am

Went ahead and bought this after this thread piqued my interest.

Damn games forum. Always tempting me to buy games :P

Jet Black · 18-08-2013 12:05pm

SeantheMan wrote: »

My family are constantly sick and hungry.

Day 10, Aunt and Uncle - dead
Son and wife - very sick and hungry

Yeah my son and uncle died quickly enough the first time around. Mother in law wouldn't die. After playing endless mode for a couple of hours I've got a system of checking things. Second play through getting through about 13-14 people a day without a mistake. All the family are happy and my son got

crayons for his birthday, made me a lovely picture

Great game and story. Thought I would have been bored of it quickly but it's addictive fun.

Vojera · 19-08-2013 10:46am

Just finished the beta there. I was surprised at how much pressure I felt at trying to get people through quickly. My whole family died, but hey, what were they doing to advance the glory of Arstotzka? Nothing!

So it's been added to the wishlist. Does anyone ever actually clear their Steam wishlist or does it just keep growing out of control?

pablomakaveli · 19-08-2013 12:06pm

Having played the game for a bit i can certainly see why it's getting popular.

Checking passports and documents shouldnt be this addictive but it is.

Sabre0001 · 19-08-2013 1:14pm

Well, got arrested on my first play through! Serves me right for getting desperate when trying to provide for my family!

Started again - same incidents seem to happen on the same days. Was hoping it might be a little more randomised. Still, always nice to bump into Jorgi with his antics again

Much more efficient this time around so I have some savings (and the mother-in-law isn't threatening to die!). Of course, it'll probably be one of those games where if you feel like things are going ok, everything is about to change!

ShooterSF · 19-08-2013 2:21pm

Picked this up on gog last night from reading this thread. Great game if not exactly "fun" if that makes sense. Always trying to balance how long you spend going over someone's papers versus how many people you can get through is a great mechanic. I struggle to get through more than 11 or 12 a day and that is with a cheat sheet I wrote out of all the places in each country beside me

Still that sound of the citation sheet starting to print always gets to me.

meoklmrk91 · 21-08-2013 11:13pm

I'm fairly poor at the moment but I had to go ahead and get this game, I had watched some vids on YouTube, downloaded the beta tonight and played through I just had to get it, downloaded off steam, one of the great things about this game is it's tiny filesize, was playing in a couple of minutes even on my crappy connection.

I love the music and the graphics, I love how bleak it is, it's just so... Soviet. Jorji and other moments break the bleakness for a bit of a laugh though. Think I am on day ten or eleven, I had to stop and go to bed or I would have been there all night, and still I feel the compulsion to go downstairs and grab the laptop, haven't felt like that with many games as of late.

VinLieger · 22-08-2013 2:38pm

Got to about day 13 i think and got arrested cus i didnt burn the 1000 bribe money and my neighbours reported my wealth, pretty sure my family was about to die so didnt really have a choice, god thats so bleak. Well time to go again

pablomakaveli · 22-08-2013 2:43pm

VinLieger wrote: »

Got to about day 13 i think and got arrested cus i didnt burn the 1000 bribe money and my neighbours reported my wealth, pretty sure my family was about to die so didnt really have a choice, god thats so bleak. Well time to go again

I took the bribe money but when i got investigated it, i was cleared of any wrongdoing. I didnt get the money back though.:(

VinLieger · 22-08-2013 2:47pm

pablomakaveli wrote: »

I took the bribe money but when i got investigated it, i was cleared of any wrongdoing. I didnt get the money back though.:(

Yeah i may have ****ed up and detained the guy who was supposed to fix it

VinLieger · 22-08-2013 4:15pm

Didnt realise you could just go back a day and change the result its a pretty neat way to play the game

sarumite · 22-08-2013 4:21pm

I have been watching quite a few 'lets play' vids of this by now. I think I would atcually prefer watching others play it. I like the concept, I just don't have the mental capacity after a days work to focus as much as seems required.

C14N · 23-08-2013 9:06am

Reviewed in this week's Zero Punctuation and it was a very positive review.

Link

johnny_ultimate · 23-08-2013 12:54pm

I hope this game facilitates more of a discussion about whether games need to be purely 'fun' in the traditional sense. Now, I'm not denying there's a certain satisfaction to the old stamping mechanics, and the game is enlivened with a sense of humour at times. But this, more than any high-profile game I can think of, is a far grimmer, more repetitive and less instantly gratifying experience than we're used to. It achieves such a unity between its presentation, writing and mechanics that it's almost in a league of its own. I think successful games like this have the potential to kickstart somewhat of a revolution, quietly but thrillingly. In its way, it might just be the most "important" game I've had the pleasure of playing in a while.

C14N · 23-08-2013 3:58pm

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

I hope this game facilitates more of a discussion about whether games need to be purely 'fun' in the traditional sense. Now, I'm not denying there's a certain satisfaction to the old stamping mechanics, and the game is enlivened with a sense of humour at times. But this, more than any high-profile game I can think of, is a far grimmer, more repetitive and less instantly gratifying experience than we're used to. It achieves such a unity between its presentation, writing and mechanics that it's almost in a league of its own. I think successful games like this have the potential to kickstart somewhat of a revolution, quietly but thrillingly. In its way, it might just be the most "important" game I've had the pleasure of playing in a while.

I think that discussion has been coming up a good bit in the last year or so. I think both Spec Ops: The Line and The Last of Us were games that many considered to be very good and engaging but which weren't exactly "fun". There's also the old horror game genre too (which we don't see very much of anymore) which is almost never fun as you tend to spend most of the games running for your life away from things. It's a good discussion to have though because it is important for gaming to break away from the idea that a game needs to be fun. How many of the best films or books each year could you really describe as being fun?

Silverfish · 23-08-2013 8:54pm

Got this today, god it's depressing. Such an excellent game though.

Vojera · 23-08-2013 9:17pm

C14N wrote: »

Reviewed in this week's Zero Punctuation and it was a very positive review.

"Bureaucracy-'em-up" - ha!

C14N · 24-08-2013 10:01pm

Okay, I bought it, even though I almost never buy games at full price. Hopefully it'll give me something to do when I'm travelling without my desktop.

meoklmrk91 · 25-08-2013 5:56am

I finished the game the day after I got it, it's not very long. It's well worth ten price as there are 20 different endings, I've gone back and started a whole new game, playing it in a different style to how I played it in the first game to see what endings I get this time.

johnny_ultimate · 26-08-2013 10:51pm

My favourite immigrant yet was the one who

drops two passports by accident and then goes "oh, wait..no... I've made a mistake!"

Shed a tear of joy when I was finally allowed let Jorji pass.

C14N · 01-09-2013 2:04am

I'm about 6 days into this now and I still don't make nearly enough money to pay bills. I generally pass around 7 people each day, which doesn't leave enough money for food. Am I just terrible at the game or does this start to turn around a bit in the near future because I think my family is going to die?:(

Edit:
Okay it turns out I was just terrible at it. I played through again and started getting 10+ each time so that I have loads of money to spare. Also, money can be saved by only feeding and warming family members every second turn. My best advice for playing is to do this:

faultytool · 01-09-2013 9:18pm

Fantastic little game, just "wasted" my whole Sunday engrossed in it. Great example of how you don't need cutting edge graphics to create an immersive experience.

I found myself getting really grumpy with housemates for interrupting, breaking my concentration...the safety of Arstotzka is at stake here people! It's the kind of game that if you pause in the middle it can completely throw your train of thought and make you slip up.

My first game resulted in

being investigated for irregular finances and being thrown into a prison cell along with the rest of my family

...a bit harsh I thought! Playing through now going strictly by the book, showing no empathy for anybody...

Jet Black · 01-09-2013 9:44pm

This is the layout I have.

1. Keep rulebook on counter with countries shown.
2. Take passport only first and check city matches and not on wanted list.
3. Check rest of docs.
4. Approve/deny, call next, put rulebook back on county page.

Psychedelic · 02-09-2013 12:48pm

I started playing this yesterday. It's quite addictive, spent 3-4 hours playing it. Frustrating when you think you've verified all documents, approve entry and then get a penalty for a rule you completely forgot to check. It was only €7 on Steam so well worth the price.

faultytool · 04-09-2013 9:17pm

The only small criticism I have is that it's not always clear how to link discrepancies. I only just realised how to highlight a non-existent alias after a fingerprint scan, it's not exactly intuitive.

C14N · 05-09-2013 3:32am

faultytool wrote: »

The only small criticism I have is that it's not always clear how to link discrepancies. I only just realised how to highlight a non-existent alias after a fingerprint scan, it's not exactly intuitive.

I agree, it kind of throws you in at the deep end. On the other hand, this does kind of help you relate to the character who was clearly not given any proper training in the story.

Also, they let you start over from any day you want while maintaining previous saves which give you a good chance to get used to it.

Angron · 05-09-2013 12:49pm

C14N wrote: »

Reviewed in this week's Zero Punctuation and it was a very positive review.

Link

Following up on that, the folks at LoadingReadyRun made a Papers, Please video too: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/loadingreadyrun/8009-Papers-Please

johnny_ultimate · 14-10-2013 6:06pm

On sale for just over a fiver on Steam right now. Go on, sure, Jorji is waiting for you!

Doge · 14-10-2013 10:14pm

^^^

Thanks to you Mr. Ultimate and the O.P.!

This game has tickled my fancy and i've just purchased it!

Shall keep me going until I replace my PC which has developed a faulty mobo.

Burning Eclipse · 15-10-2013 9:50am

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

On sale for just over a fiver on Steam right now. Go on, sure, Jorji is waiting for you!

Niiiiiiiiiiiice. I was going to buy this over the weekend, but held off. Needless to say, it's purchased now!

Julez · 15-10-2013 11:33am

Burning Eclipse wrote: »

Niiiiiiiiiiiice. I was going to buy this over the weekend, but held off. Needless to say, it's purchased now!

Same, only I did by it last weekend! Dang!

Papers, Please

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