Papers, Please

I love this game so much. Anything repetitive and methodical I adore. It's such a good game to pass the time with, and I love all the choices you can make. It's fun trying to unlock new endings.

GLORY TO ARSTOTZKA!

A very good engaging game with a lot of replayability.

Reviewing (mostly) every game (or DLC) in my library, part 32:

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/10

Papers, Please brands itself as a “Dystopian Document Thriller,” and that tagline couldn't be more accurate. Set in the fictional communist country of Arstotzka, the game places you in the grim role of a border inspector at a checkpoint with one job: check paperwork.

At first glance, that premise might sound dull, but what unfolds is one of the most morally complex and emotionally affecting experiences in gaming. It’s a game about scanning passports—but also about power, fear, loyalty, survival, and the quiet, insidious ways that authoritarianism can turn people into cogs in a cruel machine. It is also a landmark in indie design, showing how minimalist aesthetics and mechanics can deliver enormous narrative weight. A chilling, thought-provoking masterpiece that turns bureaucracy into art. Grim, brilliant, and unforgettable.

📄 Pros:

• Tight, addictive gameplay loop. The core mechanic—checking documents—is deceptively simple yet increasingly layered. Each day brings new rules, new documents, and new ways to trip up. You have limited time per day to process as many travelers as possible, creating real pressure between speed and accuracy. Lastly, you’re penalized for mistakes, but mistakes are inevitable. The tension escalates when deciding whether to follow the rules, accept bribes, or risk helping someone in danger.
  
  
• Complex moral choices. The moral weight of your actions is what elevates Papers, Please from mechanical sim to narrative powerhouse. Do you let a crying wife through even though her papers are invalid? Do you help a rebel smuggle explosives to topple the regime—or arrest him? The game never moralizes, but always forces you to ask: what would I do if it meant feeding my family?
  
  
• Resource management and consequences. You earn money per person processed, and must budget that income to care for your spouse, son, uncle, and mother-in-law. Rent, heat, and medicine are recurring costs. There is no perfect run. You will be hungry. You will get sick. As a result, there are real consequences for your actions, which heightens the stress. Accepting a bribe or letting someone through might be the difference between life and death—not for them, but for your child.
  
  
• World building through paperwork. Arstotzka and its neighboring nations—Kolechia, Impor, Obristan—come to life not through cutscenes, but through stamps and scribbled memos. You learn about corruption, war, and propaganda through the slow escalation of border rules. Terrorist attacks lead to body scanners. Factional coups tighten restrictions. Missing seals or misaligned photographs tell whole stories.
  
  
• Minimalist yet immersive presentation. The pixel art is bleak and oppressive, perfectly matching the tone. The color palette is washed-out and bureaucratic—grays, greens, rust reds—which only makes small human gestures (like a pink slip or a family photo) stand out more. The sound design—metal stamps, buzzing detectors, gunfire—is stark and effective.
  
  
• Multiple endings and replay value. There are 20 unique endings, shaped by your choices: Will you remain loyal to the government? Will you join the resistance? Will you flee, die, or survive with your family?
  

• Can become repetitive. The gameplay loop, while compelling, doesn’t dramatically change after the halfway point. If you're not invested in the story or world, the daily grind of checking documents may feel monotonous.
  
  
• Learning curve. The interface and mechanics are deliberately clunky (though clear), which adds realism but can frustrate new players. Juggling rulebooks, ID cards, seals, permits, and fingerprints becomes overwhelming fast—especially under a time crunch.
  
  
[*] Emotionally draining. This is not a feel-good game. It’s stressful, bleak, and sometimes harrowing. Its tone and themes may not appeal to players looking for light entertainment.

A superinvesting game with a simple story that catches your interest by making you into the perfectionist you truly are. The music is iconic and the design is sweet. Trying to survive and help other people can be a real struggle.

I like the story and attention to detail. The margin for error is wide in terms of citations before being docked pay wise and yet impossibly small in terms of the story which makes it feel a bit more real and stressful. I like this much more than I thought I would.

its good but can get boring at times. I would give it a 4.5/5. really good i just need some extra spice in the game, also the point where you lose money and have to restart is honestly sort of frustrating because you have to keep trying and theres honestly not much you can do to prevent it from happening again so you have to go on from day one. Great game though!

Papers, Please's innovation on gaming is so crazy no one even knows what genre you would call it. I'd call it flippin' awesome. It's so great, passport not required!

very entertaining, fun, and interesting as there are a lot of different endings.

perfectly accurate U.S. border officer simulator-documentary

10/10

A game about being a border guard and deciding who gets in to the (fictional) country.

You have rules to follow but you also have a family to feed plus perhaps a moral compass about those particular set of rules imposed from upon high. And thus you have to make decisions on who to let in an who not to whilst trying to square this circle.

Very clever, very thoughtful, few games like it.

Great game hands down, such a classic. Deserves to be in every steam library.

I love this game, it is super chill but interesting! You can play it as many times you want actually.

Best game that makes my Soviet dream come true!! The drama? Gripping. The choices? Morally gut-wrenching. The tension? Palpable with every passport I stamp.

Every forged document, every desperate plea, every faceless bureaucrat—it all builds into this cold, brilliant symphony of survival and suspicion. I found myself caring way too much about every tiny detail: is the issuing city correct? Is the picture slightly off? Am I letting in a spy… or turning away someone who just wants to see their loved ones? This is more than a game. It’s an experience. A grim, glorious one. Chef’s kiss.

Glory to Arstotzka.

É um clássico, mas a gameplay em si pode ser frustrante. Vc depende muito da repetição de uma forma precisa para passar os dias, o que pode ser nem repetitivo. A história e o clima do jogo são o brilho dele.

good game. A little tricky to follow after so many mechanics are added, but overall a very good game

I love this game. I watched Jack play it back in the day, never bought it because it felt unnecessary. Well, I finally bought it, and i can see why Jack loves playing, honestly. It was fun to watch, yes, but even more fun to play. So many different ways to mess up, and so much information to keep track of! It can be confusing at times, but still very enjoyable!~

its like your in a soviet border patrol person except its fiction

So simple, yet so frustrating when you get lulled into a sense of security. Its old, but its gold.

great main story, fun side stories. I played every possible outcome and simply exploring the ends was real fun!
Its also a great mindless game on endless mode when you just wanna catch up with friends and chill <3

How does a game that seems so simple have such a compelling narrative and at the same time such an addicting gameplay loop? It boggles the mind.

While I only have 20 hours in this game at the time of writing, It is still one of the greats in my library. While I was spoiled on the story, the game is still fun. I know there are some among the population who haven't played the game yet, but if you are considering it, please do. The artstyle is fun, the gameplay loop is constantly giving you new things to do and look out for, and there is an endless mode you can unlock. I won't tell you how, but I will say it is fun. Sometimes I reinstall the game just to play it sometimes.

Overall 10/10 Glory to Arstotzka!

its a simple game i loved it so many endings and branches to explore

Papers, Please is definitely a game most people have heard of by now so it felt good to finally play it and see what everyone liked. There's so many nuances to checking everyone's documents along with being on a timer throughout your days. While I do think this is a good game, I ultimately didn't really enjoy it.

For me it felt like there were too many little things to check for and being rushed on top of that just made me feel more anxious then anything. Think the gameplay loop just isn't for me as I did get bored of checking for everything and then your checklist gets even longer the more you progress. It feels unfair to give this game a bad rating just cause I didn't really enjoy the gameplay loop itself so i'll leave it as a positive because I do think more people should try this out if they haven't. It's a very unique game compared to anything I've tried in the past and am always out for trying different games like this.

100 Backlog Games of 2025: 32/100

LOVE LOVEEE THIS GAME ! i have watched people for years play it and finally I tried it out and no regrets. It is something I like to play when I am bored bc I can spend hoursss on it. I lose track of time whenever I play this game and def is a comfort game that I always can go back to ! I also love that I can spend a month not playing and still go back and get back into the groove

This game is by far the best to play! With pixel aesthetics, relating irl-problems, mind trick moments and very challenging for the most part!

Definitely a good game! I have been glued to this game for the past 36 hours and I can tell you now, the different endings keep you playing and the amount of information as an 'inspector' that it keeps you on your toes and makes you feel terrible for getting a citation when making a mistake.

I would recommend this game to players who like a good thinking game!

the best job i could imagine, just click click and boom glory to arstotzka

Amazing game, I highly recommend it. You are the person that checks people's papers at the border to see if they are allowed to enter the country. The progression as more and more documents slowly became required felt great. I enjoyed the game the most towards the end when there were multiple documents to look at. The game is also rather simple in terms of mechanics, so it's quick to pick up. Definitely give it a try, especially on sale as the price is even better than it is now. We love Jorji!

Papers Please is a game about discrimination to foreigners. You play as a sexy immaculate man who has a wife, son, niece, and god forbid the mother in law. As this amazing man you play as a BORDER INSPECTOR, YEAH THATS RIGHT you my friend are border control. You have the privilege to DENY foreigners (aka the BRITISH) from entering Arstotzka ONLY if they have INVALID documents, MISSING documents or having a semi-nuclear pipe bomb strapped to there ANUS. Whenever i play this game i always no matter the occasion treat kolechians as the british. Why you ask?, Its because im Irish and they took the bloody NORTH FROM US. so as repayment i make sure to threat every kolechian as shit as one could possibly get threated. But overrall this game was amazing and id honestly give it a 9/10 only for the fact there are some minor glitches every now and then but its nothing game breaking, i also really enjoy discriminating foreigners EXCEPT FOR JORJI HE IS MY BELOVED (love you potato man xx)

Positively delightful puzzle game with some heavy hitting themes. The game features a mechanic that lets you scan for problems in the passports, but after making it about halfway through the game I found myself capable of finding discrepancies without it.

If you're a fan of "spot the difference" you'll love working for the Ministry of Admission.

Glory to Arstotzka

A good Booth working game that requires focus and A keen eye to prosper in.

excellent game, fun, addicting, engaging and memorable!

Still the best Game of it's type.
Decide the Story, one Stamp at a Time!
A Flawless Masterpiece

solid game but gets boring by the end. Glory to arstozska

It's amazing that even the dull admin part of this game is fun to replay. Great concept, well executed, and definitely something a bit different. Aped but never equalled.

Arguably my favourite game on Steam. Some may say it's repetitive but that's where the discrepancies catch you!

Great game. Feels like a day job, but that's part of the charm. Would've loved some more depth re the political topics.

Papers, Please makes stamping passports weirdly addictive. The repetitive tasks get tougher each day, and the pressure to catch mistakes while juggling rules feels surprisingly intense. It’s challenging, a bit stressful, and totally absorbing.

I love this game, very simple yet very fun to play. The occuring events every day and the more rules you need to follow makes it very interesting to play. The idea behind it is very good aswell.

[h1] overall: 9/10

A very nice game experience across the board. Gameplay is simple but effective, it has no bugs or issues (to my knowledge), and the music gives a wonderful atmosphere to the world. I feel that the story could be a little more interesting to juxtapose the simple gemeplay, but it's still a clear, effective story. A solid 8/10

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☐ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☑ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☐ Good
☑ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☑ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☑ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☑ Old Fashioned
☐ Workable
☐ Big
☐ Will eat 15% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☑ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☑ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☑ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☑ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☑ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☑ 9
☐ 10

---{ Author }---
☑ https://vojtastruhar.github.io/steam-review-template

A tricky game about work, littered with several fun little story lines. Jorgi is best character.

I used to play this game since I was a kid and bought it for nostalgic, still has special place in my heart!

When it came out, it was a light year ahead of other type of the games :)
10/10

I remember watching jacksepticeye play this game way back when I was a kid. I'm an adult now and this game is just as entertaining to play as it was to watch it when I was a kid. Truly a timeless game, the concept is just perfect. I heavily recommend it.

outstanding concept and amazing game! 10/10

Absolute gem of a game. I've sunk many hours into this on the mobile app and it's so much fun keeping track of everything as you process people through.

Papers, Please is a brilliantly crafted indie game that turns border control into a deeply emotional and morally complex experience. Created by Lucas Pope, this dystopian document-checking simulator offers a gameplay loop that is surprisingly addictive and emotionally powerful.

At its core, the game places you in the role of an immigration officer in the fictional, oppressive nation of Arstotzka. Your job is to inspect documents, follow government protocols, and decide who gets to enter the country. While the premise sounds simple, the rules change daily, and the pressure mounts quickly. One wrong decision—whether out of carelessness or compassion—can lead to fines, lost pay, or worse. The stress of keeping your in-game family alive adds an extra layer of urgency, making even the smallest details feel significant.

Visually, Papers, Please uses pixel art to great effect. The muted colors and blocky characters reflect the bleak Cold War-inspired setting. But the minimalism isn’t a weakness—it adds to the immersive experience, drawing attention to details like document stamps, mismatched names, or expired dates. Sound design is also a standout feature, with tense music and ambient noises that heighten the game’s atmosphere.

What truly makes Papers, Please exceptional is its storytelling. Through simple interactions and branching paths, the game introduces players to a cast of hopeful immigrants, suspicious characters, and desperate families. Each decision carries moral weight—do you follow the rules, or help someone in need at your own risk? The emotional impact is real and lasting.

The game has been widely praised since its release in 2013. It won multiple awards at the Independent Games Festival, including the Seumas McNally Grand Prize and Excellence in Design. With a 97% “Overwhelmingly Positive” rating on Steam and praise from critics around the world, Papers, Please has cemented its legacy as one of the most innovative indie games of the last decade.

In short, Papers, Please transforms the mundane into something unforgettable. It’s thought-provoking, emotionally rich, and expertly designed. For anyone who loves narrative-driven games with real stakes, this is an absolute must-play. Five stars.

Really fun tedium, really great story, simple yet elegant, glory to arstotzka!

Even though it can be a little short in terms of play time, it's absolutely worth it. Interesant gameplay, exciting in-game events and shocking endings... It doesn't dissapoint.

Lives up to everything I've heard about over the years. Great game & execution of its concept.

Glory to Arstotzka.