10 Video Games That Punish You For Showing Mercy

Papers, Please is perhaps gaming's ultimate expression of the banality of evil - you're cast in the role of a border crossing immigration officer working for the fictional nation of Arstotzka.

The player is tasked with reviewing the documentation of both incoming immigrants and returning citizens and deciding whether to let them in the country or not.

This forces you to make some tough decisions, such as whether to grant entry to those in dire straits whose paperwork may have inconsistencies.

The human argument of turning a blind eye speaks for itself, yet doing so will eventually get you a citation from the Ministry of Admission (M.O.A.), as will result in your wages being garnished.

If you're not careful, you can end up without enough money for rent, food, heat, or medicine for your family, resulting in an ending where they all die.

It's brutal, but so perfectly encapsulates the game's thorny moral compass, where players must balance the wellbeing of themselves and their loved ones with that of others.