Ahhh East Germany.
As our country would tell us this side of Germany was rife with oppressive Government policies, restrictive travel access, bleak and dismal atmospheres, cold and harsh societal values and of course, vile and degrading cannibal families... Hey, I had to.
Let's ignore the fact of course that these delightful assertions came from the mouths and dissertations of corporate agencies that would cease to profit from a publicly owned economy. Let's also forget the fact that these corporate articles were drafted by those born after the fall and likely by those who are alien to the histories, peoples and cultures of Russia herself.
As our country would tell us this side of Germany was rife with oppressive Government policies, restrictive travel access, bleak and dismal atmospheres, cold and harsh societal values and of course, vile and degrading cannibal families... Hey, I had to.
Let's ignore the fact of course that these delightful assertions came from the mouths and dissertations of corporate agencies that would cease to profit from a publicly owned economy. Let's also forget the fact that these corporate articles were drafted by those born after the fall and likely by those who are alien to the histories, peoples and cultures of Russia herself.
The game Papers Please does not in all actuality try to provide an insightful critique of East German society or history per say. After all they don't exactly say the country this game takes place in is really East Germany at all (although they didn't exactly make it subtle either).
The game itself revolves around some very simple mechanics, that of a stamping and observing mechanism. Immigrants will approach your booth and await your command to have their passports reviewed before you either approve or deny them access into Arstotzka.
It sounds simple doesn't it? Maybe even 'boring'?
But it isn't, in fact it's completely engrossing.
The game progresses in days and at the end of each day you need to divvy up your expenses between your earnings which is calculated by how fast you can sift through passports.
Again, try not to focus on details, despite the fact that it was known that basic utilities, housing, schooling, public transportation, healthcare and a variety of other domestic functions came free or virtually free of charge, PAPERS PLEASE tends to stick to the common conceptions of life in East Germany as dystopian.
I mean after all, when a group of East German dissidents make a board game which is used today as, "all you need to understand life in East Germany", there's a pretty big distortion problem here. We don't often let the homeless communities or members of the Ferguson Riots tell the world what America is like, we only let those kinds of people tell us what foreign countries are like and we always take it at face value.
So let's get to the meat of the game. Although it may sound simple to review someone's passport information and then stamp it for approval the story of the game will see you through some significant events that begin tightening the admission process, causing you in effect to become more scrutinizing in your review process.
Of course there are plenty of times when the falsity of a passport is blatantly obvious.
What makes this process interesting, especially for someone like me, is that whether intentionally or unintentionally, the process for the tightening of travel access usually follows a series of terrorism acts which spreads fear through the Arstotzkans.
Contrary to the common idea that the East German government needed to shield the East Germans from the beautiful and superior standard of living in the west, PAPERS PLEASE nudges the player into feeling the restrictive reforms were motivated by fear of terrorism.
Contrary to the common idea that the East German government needed to shield the East Germans from the beautiful and superior standard of living in the west, PAPERS PLEASE nudges the player into feeling the restrictive reforms were motivated by fear of terrorism.
PAPERS PLEASE may be as disillusioned as most other western schools of thought when regarding Communism as a means of expression in gaming.
But it cannot be denied that PAPERS PLEASE is a riveting game that certainly doesn't paint of East Germany as a psychopathic dictatorship cracking down on an unsuspecting populace for the sadistic pleasure of... Well nothing.
If this game is in any way interesting to you, I highly advise you buy a copy and support the developers.
It's available on GOG, a preferred site of mine that offers it's products DRM free.
Happy gaming!
And remember to keep your mind open alright?
Stay inquisitive!