Terrific review. Papers, Please was a brilliant work of game design and of fiction in general, and I think it's fair to say that it resonates even harder now than it did in 2013. It's so thoughtfully and beautifully constructed — not a word of dialogue or a pixel of spritework is wasted. Probably Top 5 of All Time in my book.
I think you're totally right to attribute its continued success to its heart and its humanity. No other game does as good a job at representing Orwellian bureaucracy without detouring into overtly political messaging, and I wish more developers would follow Pope's lead in that regard. It's a shining example of how game design can broaden perspectives and even alter worldviews, and that's precisely what we need to be doing in order to prevent actual Orwellian totalitarianism. Not many people will enthusiastically read and internalize Solzhenitsyn these days, but just about anyone can pick up and play Papers, Please.
Thank you! Absolutely agree, reminds me of what you said re. Psycho Patrol R - games are better able to communicate with people because they are better able to hold people's attention for prolonged periods through reward systems and interactivity, and Papers, Please is a great example of that: it's really fun and rewarding to play while also conveying serious thoughts and ideas in a way that most media could not.
Yes, an absolute gem of a game. If I was a history or social studies teacher, I'd do a lesson on it with the older kids. Nothing teaches you better why people do not simply say no to coercive systems and how easily you have to compromise your high ethical standards than struggling each day between "doing the right thing" and ensuring your son doesn't waste away...
I’ve avoided Papers Please on the grounds that I thought it would be incredibly depressing; I may have to give it a shot, particularly if it’s such a brief game.
Talking about ludonarrative harmony; I think that it’s one of the things that distinguish games as an art form; being more experiential than more consumption based media like movies. (For me, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is probably the tightest designed game I’ve ever played, with everything geared toward syncing player and protagonist as an unrelenting shinobi)
A common criticism of games that I see is that they intrinsically glorify action, esp. combat. I think the Last of Us plays with that idea in an interesting way, and it sounds like Papers Please, by virtue of not being combat centric, does a lot to push back on that narrative.
Thanks for reading! I'd definitely recommend it, it's a little bleak but not 100% depressing, there's a lot of humour and warmth that takes the edge off and feels quite true to life, and a happy ending is attainable.
Hard agree on Sekiro, it's possibly my favourite FromSoft game along with Bloodborne. My hot take is that both are better than Elden Ring due to being more streamlined, cohesive, and having a better sense of progression, but I fear I'll be murdered by the townsfolk if I put that in an article :P
Also agree on the value of emphasising alternatives to combat - Papers, Please is actually kind of a better exploration of violence than many more action-oriented games, because it's about the kinds of violence that are most ubiquitous in the real world, i.e. state violence, economic coercion, abuse of authority, etc.. And it prompts the player to think about the pressures that force ordinary people to become implicated in violence in the real world. It's a really clever narrative.
I’ll grab it next Steam Sale or similar. Excited to try it!
I still need to play Bloodborne (I bounced off each Soulslike until Sekiro, but I think Sword Saint Isshin gave me a better capacity for video game suffering, and it’s on the list)
I agree with your hot take, although Elden Ring is a monument to the quality of quantity. Sekiro is think the closest they’ve come to a comprehensible story (not requiring 3 hr lore videos to understand), and I’d like it if they wrote something a little tighter again. Elden Ring is brimming with interesting ideas, half executed and partially sketched, tantalizing in their incompleteness.
At some point I really ought to spend more time exploring non combat oriented games; I spend most of my time in the action/rpg space. Although Fallout New Vegas and BG3 do a good job of presenting you with non-lethal options (sometimes).
I agree as well, Elden Ring is great, and big, but for as well made as it is it's just too loose and sprawling compared to DS1, Bloodborne, and Sekiro, which I think are From's high points. Especially in replays, the sheer volume of ER starts to wear on you, while the more focused games are much more engaging from moment to moment even if you know what's going to happen next.
If you want a good game that takes the focus off of combat and violent solutions, and don't mind reading a whole lot, I can't recommend Roadwarden enough. It may look like a visual novel, but it's more like a gamebook that's been fully digitized and expanded into an adventure/RPG about exploring a small peninsula.
Thanks, I think I do own Roadwarden, might try it soon!
Terrific review. Papers, Please was a brilliant work of game design and of fiction in general, and I think it's fair to say that it resonates even harder now than it did in 2013. It's so thoughtfully and beautifully constructed — not a word of dialogue or a pixel of spritework is wasted. Probably Top 5 of All Time in my book.
I think you're totally right to attribute its continued success to its heart and its humanity. No other game does as good a job at representing Orwellian bureaucracy without detouring into overtly political messaging, and I wish more developers would follow Pope's lead in that regard. It's a shining example of how game design can broaden perspectives and even alter worldviews, and that's precisely what we need to be doing in order to prevent actual Orwellian totalitarianism. Not many people will enthusiastically read and internalize Solzhenitsyn these days, but just about anyone can pick up and play Papers, Please.
Thank you! Absolutely agree, reminds me of what you said re. Psycho Patrol R - games are better able to communicate with people because they are better able to hold people's attention for prolonged periods through reward systems and interactivity, and Papers, Please is a great example of that: it's really fun and rewarding to play while also conveying serious thoughts and ideas in a way that most media could not.
Yes, an absolute gem of a game. If I was a history or social studies teacher, I'd do a lesson on it with the older kids. Nothing teaches you better why people do not simply say no to coercive systems and how easily you have to compromise your high ethical standards than struggling each day between "doing the right thing" and ensuring your son doesn't waste away...
Absolutely! There are very few games that really get into the roots of tyranny in such a stark and direct way.
I’ve avoided Papers Please on the grounds that I thought it would be incredibly depressing; I may have to give it a shot, particularly if it’s such a brief game.
Talking about ludonarrative harmony; I think that it’s one of the things that distinguish games as an art form; being more experiential than more consumption based media like movies. (For me, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is probably the tightest designed game I’ve ever played, with everything geared toward syncing player and protagonist as an unrelenting shinobi)
A common criticism of games that I see is that they intrinsically glorify action, esp. combat. I think the Last of Us plays with that idea in an interesting way, and it sounds like Papers Please, by virtue of not being combat centric, does a lot to push back on that narrative.
Thanks for reading! I'd definitely recommend it, it's a little bleak but not 100% depressing, there's a lot of humour and warmth that takes the edge off and feels quite true to life, and a happy ending is attainable.
Hard agree on Sekiro, it's possibly my favourite FromSoft game along with Bloodborne. My hot take is that both are better than Elden Ring due to being more streamlined, cohesive, and having a better sense of progression, but I fear I'll be murdered by the townsfolk if I put that in an article :P
Also agree on the value of emphasising alternatives to combat - Papers, Please is actually kind of a better exploration of violence than many more action-oriented games, because it's about the kinds of violence that are most ubiquitous in the real world, i.e. state violence, economic coercion, abuse of authority, etc.. And it prompts the player to think about the pressures that force ordinary people to become implicated in violence in the real world. It's a really clever narrative.
I’ll grab it next Steam Sale or similar. Excited to try it!
I still need to play Bloodborne (I bounced off each Soulslike until Sekiro, but I think Sword Saint Isshin gave me a better capacity for video game suffering, and it’s on the list)
I agree with your hot take, although Elden Ring is a monument to the quality of quantity. Sekiro is think the closest they’ve come to a comprehensible story (not requiring 3 hr lore videos to understand), and I’d like it if they wrote something a little tighter again. Elden Ring is brimming with interesting ideas, half executed and partially sketched, tantalizing in their incompleteness.
At some point I really ought to spend more time exploring non combat oriented games; I spend most of my time in the action/rpg space. Although Fallout New Vegas and BG3 do a good job of presenting you with non-lethal options (sometimes).
I agree as well, Elden Ring is great, and big, but for as well made as it is it's just too loose and sprawling compared to DS1, Bloodborne, and Sekiro, which I think are From's high points. Especially in replays, the sheer volume of ER starts to wear on you, while the more focused games are much more engaging from moment to moment even if you know what's going to happen next.
If you want a good game that takes the focus off of combat and violent solutions, and don't mind reading a whole lot, I can't recommend Roadwarden enough. It may look like a visual novel, but it's more like a gamebook that's been fully digitized and expanded into an adventure/RPG about exploring a small peninsula.