As a big fan of Beholder, I’m really into games that are made up of and driven by choices. Complicated narrative is simplified but meanwhile, players are still given the freedom to choose their own adventure. It’s a clever move. Papers Please is a good game of this kind. Though I know that a lot of people love this game and I shouldn’t have expected too much considering it was released 7 years ago, I still find it extremely disappointing that the weakness is so obvious.
The protagonist is a lucky dog whose name was pulled in October labor lottery. His family moved to an apartment because of that, and he needs to work hard to pay their rent and bills. As far as I’m concerned, the main mechanic is to process papers according to rules. These rules could be the lines written in the rule book, or they could also be the information that players receive from citizens each day. These rules cause players keep questioning themselves: should I comply with regulations or should I listen to my heart? Family, conscience, friendship, patriotism, revolution…Each of them is equally important, yet players can’t have them all. That’s where choices and branches come from. I remember an old man named Jorji who was always cheerful and never complained about those paper works. He came to my checkpoint every few days and treated me as a friend. However, though I felt happy to see him, I still needed to call the guards when I knew he carried drugs with him since I had a big family to raise.
I think the most fun part of this game is its papers. As the rule book changes day by day, paper works become more and more complicated. It’s ironic that though they are designed to keep the country safe, it actually makes no difference. However, the most boring part is also the papers. Though some choices contribute to different endings, most of the time, players have to deal with papers that have nothing to do with the story. It’s also not randomly generated, which makes people lose interest in repeated play.
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