15 Most Important Video Games Of The Decade (So Far)

12. Papers, Please

Seriously?! A game about passport control?! Look, just... just go with it for a paragraph. You'll be hooked, I swear. Still here? Good. So here's the thing; the whole 'you're a dude in a booth' thing isn't the hook. The hook, is deciding how well you value your own morals when it comes to deciding who will be allowed citizenship into the fictional state of Arstotzka, a Cold War-era nation where you will be severely punished and quickly fired for getting anything wrong. Your job entails puzzle-like elements as you match up symbols between verified documentation and whatever the people in front of you present to gain admission, and how this dictates whether or not you let people slide for all sorts of reasons, is where Papers, Please sinks its teeth in. You might see a husband present the right papers, only to realise his wife does not. Do you let them through and face repercussions (mistakes mean less food and medicine for your own ailing family), or split them up and live with your decision? That's just the tip of the iceberg, and there are a lot more instances as the game advances. Scores of games have done moral choices and consequence, but Papers, Please's own brand of dour cerebral engagement makes you realise precisely how far you'd go to save your fellow human, which in itself is a truly special trait.