My impressions about: Papers, Please

I remember seeing some videos of this game several years ago, at the time it did not call my attention at all, beyond its aesthetics, which to this day still seems pretty good, despite its "simplicity". Because it didn't catch my attention I didn't know more about that game until recently, while watching some videos of one of my current favorite Youtubers/Streamers, I could see that besides being a highly entertaining game, it is quite challenging in that you must be very aware of everything that happens on screen.

Papers, Please, in a nutshell is a "border agent simulator", in which, by following certain requirements and guidelines, we must validate or not the access to the country of Arstotzka to citizens, whether or not originating from that country. At the beginning the game becomes quite easy, since the requirements to allow the entry to civilians are few, for example, on our first day of work, we only have to validate the entry to Arstotzka, only to citizens of the country (as long as all the data of the person, including the passport photo and date, are correct), so the first day is always easier. As the days go by, the requirements become more rigorous, and we can accept foreigners, but only if they have a ticket, which, as well as the passport, we must make sure that everything is correct.

The difficulty increases as the days go by, because not only we must be aware that the date of the passport and the photo of the person match, but also the gender of the person, the reason for entering the country and the days that person will stay in Arstotzka, are very important to check them carefully, because in case of any mistake, we will suffer a warning and we will lose money, which is important for the other aspect of this game.

Parallel to our work as a border agent, in which every day and depending on how many people we serve per day, we will earn a certain amount of money, which will help us to support our family (a son, a wife, a mother-in-law and an uncle). Our whole family must be supported with the money we earn, if we earn little money, it is quite harmful for them (and us as a player), for example, as the days go by, some of our family members may get sick, so we must have enough money to supply them with medicine, or also, we must have money for heating, among other things. In this way, in addition to the tension that we have to check the papers of each person that passes through the border, we have the tension that our whole family must be well.

But Papers, Please not only stays there, because as we advance there will be events which will mean in the repercussion of certain endings, the game has 20 endings, which we will unveil according to our actions, for now I have managed to make two of the 20 endings, one of them the easiest to do, Since it is the one that every player who plays Papers, Please for the first time achieves it and consists in that we are in negative balances, that is to say, our warnings are so many that we owe money to the country, so this final is that because of this, your whole family is taken to a village, while you are imprisoned. The other ending I discovered was one in which through the resolution of certain events and helping the rebellion, I managed to make the rulers of Arstotzka, give them a coup, thus causing the rebellion to take over the country, thus being able to stop working as a border agent and thus achieving one of the endings, but also note that while I was on this "mission" to help the rebellion, I was given two options: flee the country leaving my family behind or continue working and do the next steps in the right way for the rebellion to achieve its mission (which is the end I did).

I do not know how are the other 18 endings that this game has to offer, but certainly this is a very challenging game, in which we must always be alert to what we see on screen, an excellent game that is well worth playing.

Glory to Arstotzka.