9 Brutal Video Games You'll Only Beat Through Repetition
6. Papers, Please
Grestin Border, Arstotzka - 1985. You are an immigration officer given the task of investigating people who wish to cross the border of East and West Grestin. How do you accomplish your task?
Hours of looking through the same documents over and over to find discrepancies in the paper work. If you find a problem, reject the person's application and send them away. If there's no problem, approve their application and have them cross over the border.
If you make a mistake, there will be consequences. If you wish to keep your family warm and healthy, do your job exactly as you're told. The words 'repetitive' and 'soul-crushing' have no bearing when you have such an important job to do.
Lucas Pope's Papers, Please can only be described as an exercise in repetition. But ironically enough, despite being given a single, mind-numbing task, the repetition of the job is how the player can break free from their role as just a cog in an oppressive and stifling bureaucratic system.
Using your knowledge of the game's strict rules, you control the narrative and make choices that will forever change the future of Arstotzka.
Who knew monotony could be so liberating?