Papers, Please is not a game you enjoy. It is a game that you experience - and that is what makes it stand out from every other game on this list. Never before has a game made you do a job and left you feeling entirely responsible for doing it well, lest you fact the consequences if you do not. Taking on the role of an immigration officer, it's your job to decide who can come in to your country and who cannot. It seems like a very basic, boring task, but the game ramps up the tension as your sole crossing point becomes a hotbed for diplomatic, terrorist and human interaction. Set in the fictional Communist state of Arstotzka, the player is made to decide whether or not your leaders are doing what is right or what is wrong through daily news updates and new tasks that are assigned to make your life that little bit more difficult. Letting ineligible people in to the country is punished first by warnings, then by docked pay - and when you have a family to feed, home and keep warm, it becomes vital that you do your job well. The game's difficulty curve makes that a tricky task, yet it's on a steady graph that means you're never left feeling suddenly overwhelmed. Where the game really stands out though is in the characters you meet. There are comedic moments where a man repeatedly tries to cross the border with obviously faked documents; then you're left deciding whether to separate a husband and wife trying to cross together. Your government might be telling you that somebody is a terrorist, but when they're telling you why it's so important that they cross the border, you're suddenly left facing a very difficult decision with many consequences. A gripping story and wonderfully constructed gameplay mechanics mean that Papers, Please can keep going for a considerable period, along with a number of different endings you can re-play parts of the game to access. The understated perhaps drab graphics are also fitting given the otherwise mundane aspects of your job, but this is without a doubt a game that is far from a relaxed, easy ride. If there is any game that you should have played already, then it's Papers, Please.
22 year old Journalist/Producer, with far too much to do and spends far too little of his time actually doing any of it. You can find me on Twitter (@KatsJonouchi) or on my YouTube (katsinthebox)
