Papers, Please Price History & Deals Across Stores

Language	Interface	Subtitles	Audio
Simplified Chinese	Yes	—	—
English	Yes	—	—
French	Yes	—	—

Language	Interface	Subtitles	Audio
German	Yes	—	—
Spanish	Yes	—	—
Portuguese-Brazil	Yes	—	—
Russian	Yes	—	—
Italian	Yes	—	—
Japanese	Yes	—	—
Polish	Yes	—	—
Ukrainian	Yes	—	—
Czech	Yes	—	—
Turkish	Yes	—	—
Korean	Yes	—	—

RecommendedSteam player

09/23/2014

Papers, please. What do you mean? I just want to review the game. Due to a recent acts of vandalism, reviewers are required to provide proper id. Oh, yes sure, here you go: ╔════════════════════════╗ ║ Steam-User-Certificate ║ ╠========================╣ ║ Name: Janus ║ ║ SteamId: Headmade ║ ║ Level: 24 ║ ╚════════════════════════╝ The certificate states you are level 24, but according to our database this is not true. Well yes, I have leveled up since. I will have to search you, turn around. What?! This is ridic... There is something in your pocket. Is that a Bad Rats badge? Erm I'm keeping that for a friend, I would never play such a... With credentials like this you do not qualify as a reviewer. Guards! Nooo! Detain! But papers please is great game! You hear me? It's AMAZIIiing... Next!Show moreShow less

5.7 hours at review3,267 people found this helpful

Not recommendedSteam player

11/27/2013

Papers, Please is a very original game, but unfortunately it doesn't reward the time you spend with it. During the first hour or two of playtime it's easy to find yourself immersed in the dystopian fictional world and curious about what will happen next. However, after a while you realize that there is very little variety in terms of the scenarios that present themselves. Assuming you manage to stay on the good side of your superiors, this lack of variety leads to sessions that drag on and on and become extremely tedious. After reaching the end of any given playthrough there's little point in playing again. The only changes you'll encounter are when you get to choose a slightly different path by allowing somebody's wife through (or not), confiscating a diplomat's passport (or not), and so on. The differences in outcome are minor at best and certainly not worth 30-60 minutes of drudgery as you click through endless piles of documents. The game's presentation is bare bones, but I think the audio and visual style works well and accomplishes what it sets out to do. The interface is decent, although the small space you have to work with means papers get lost under other ones and lots of annoyance as you go digging for whatever it is you're looking for. The system for finding discrepancies is fairly opaque at first, which will lead to frustration as you wonder how to properly execute your instructions. Even later on this can be an issue at times as the demands you're placed under become more and more complex. I think Papers, Please is an interesting experiment and worth at least playing around with for a few hours. I'd definitely wait for it to go on sale though. I just don't think most people will find enough enjoyment here to justify paying full price.Show moreShow less

5.8 hours at review658 people found this helpful

RecommendedSteam player

12/28/2013

I had no idea what I was getting into with this game. From what I'd heard you just sit at a border checkpoint and decide if people are allowed to enter the country or not. And that's exactly what I got, but Papers, Please is so much more than that. It's not just a job simulation, it's a story of moral choices and corrupt government. It's not just about a border guard, it's about a man who struggles to provide for his family, who must work for the smallest of wages to make some of the toughest choices. You sit in your little checkpoint booth. A man comes up and hands you his passport. You skim over the information and stamp a big green "APPROVED" for him. He thanks you and starts to walk away, but before he does he says, "my wife is right behind me, please be nice to her." Sure enough, up steps a nice young woman. There's her passport. You look down and see an expiration date of last month. "This document is expired" you say. She stares at you, eyes wide and pleading: "Please, if I go back to my country they will kill me. Please let me in." What do you do? Do you risk losing your paycheck and therefore leave yourself unable to buy medicine for your sick son? Or do you abandon all morality and turn the woman away? Papers, Please is not an easy game, nor is it free of consequences. Not only does it become insanely difficult to reivew piles of papers and make sure every little details is accrate and correct, but every choice you make determines who you are and the path you take. Will you work tirelessly for the glory of Arstotzka, or will you join the Order and be a part of the uprising against the tyrannical, corrupt government?Show moreShow less

5.2 hours at review1,601 people found this helpful

Not recommendedSteam player

08/08/2019

You are under arrest for looking at negative reviews for this game. The penalty is forced labour. The safety of your family is unknown. Glory to Arstotzka.Show moreShow less

3.7 hours at review464 people found this helpful

RecommendedSteam player

11/26/2013

Papers, Please has no right to be as fun as it is. Papers, Please has no right to be as poignant as it is. Papers, Please has no right to be possibly the best PC game of 2013 I've played. Papers, Please is all of these things. The gameplay of Papers, Please is more or less a tedium simulator. It's Paperwork: The Game. And yet, you know that you need to process as many of these poor people as you can so that your family won't starve. You know that the old lady who you just denied will probably never see her son again; you know the young man you just let through has less than glorious ambitions in your city. Will you support the rebels? Will you toe the party line? Will you let the young lady through, even though her passport is clearly fake, because her fiance was just before her and bribed you to do so? The choice in this game is staggering, and the simplicity of the game itself allows for complete assimilation of your mind into the mind of your character. You feel bad when your child gets sick, but you know that food is sometimes more important than heat. Papers, Please is a work of video game brilliance - a work of art. I give it seven out of seven stars.Show moreShow less

4.5 hours at review1,464 people found this helpful

Not recommendedSteam player

05/08/2019

I heard about the rave reviews this game had, and I was excited to try it. I also spent many years working in government, and a lot of that time was checking documents to find forgeries and mistakes. I will say the game's portrayal of document checking is fairly realistic. Unfortunately it's a little bit too realistic for me, and it just feels too much like doing work. The game gets an A+ for how accurately it recreates what government workers do when they check documents, and it deserves bonus points for convincing people document checking can be a fun game with emotional highs and lows instead of tedious, soul-crushing, drudge work. Ultimately though, I can't recommend the game, even if I can see why others might like it. I could barely stand playing this game when I was being paid money to do it, and for me it's even less fun doing a computer simulation of it for free. And to any other government workers out there who think they might be really good at this game because they already do this all day and every day at work, don't get this game. There are better things you could be doing with your precious free time. You know this. Go do that instead.Show moreShow less

2.4 hours at review161 people found this helpful

RecommendedSteam player

10/26/2015

One day a woman came to my booth She said a man was following her and I must not let him through or she would be forced into slavery The man came through with valid papers I denied him I was told that the man had valid papers and was charged 5 credits I am now 5 dollars in debt to the great state of Arstotzka I come home to find my child and wife have been taken by sickness I hear knock at door I answer, two soldiers arrest me, and take my surviving family members away from me I am told that delinquency is not tolerated in Arstotzka I am thrown in jail until I can pay my debts I cannot because I am in jail I die in jail Such is life in ArstotzkaShow moreShow less

1.4 hours at review1,091 people found this helpful

Not recommendedSteam player

11/05/2017

This is not a bad game, it just isn't for me. The game has a bunch of good bits to it, though I found it a little too stressful and repetitive for it all. I recommend this to someone that really thinks they will like it, but if you just wanna get it due to the popularity or the Overwhelmingly Positive reviews, you may be dissapointed. I respect this game and the developers that made it. I see why others like this game, but it just didn't click with me like it did with them.Show moreShow less

3.2 hours at review155 people found this helpful

RecommendedSteam player

06/10/2017

In theory papers please should not be a fun game. It is literally a simulation of performing a monotonous, tedious and thankless job. But the game is definitely a good game. So what makes the game fun? I have concluded that the game survives almost completely upon atmosphere. There is a tragic realism to horrible job you have in this third world nation. You live in so much poverty with the risk of illness or starvation being a very real threat. It gives you many moral dilemmas and will test your principles in ways games do not normally expect you to. You are paid so little that you find yourself accepting bribes to let terrorists, smugglers, etc. into Arstotzka. And you will accept the bribes, because often it is the difference between eating and not. Yet at the same time the game is humorous. The customers make it so and some have very humorous personalities. You will get to know your favorite customers and favorite scenes. The world is so overblown with propaganda, corruption, etc. that the grim world becomes humorous (to those not in it). Finally, the world reacts to the player. You’d be amazed how big of an impact deciding who to let into the nation can have on the nation. You let an assassin into the nation a high ranking official may die and the government will respond with harder boarder policies. It is generally simple things, but these really complete the atmosphere. The game play itself is a point and click adventure. Where you will face a number of customers which you must either let in or find the error in their paperwork. It is all done on a timer forcing you to be quick. It almost becomes stressful. The graphics look like they belong on an Atari and yet somehow seem appropriate. You are matching blurry faces to other blurry faces. In conclusion I recommend this game. It is fun and addictive. Glory to ArstotzkaShow moreShow less

19.7 hours at review923 people found this helpful

Not recommendedSteam player

09/02/2022

You are under arrest for looking at negative reviews for this game. The penalty is forced labour. The safety of your family is unknown. Glory to Arstotzka.Show moreShow less

0.8 hours at review105 people found this helpful

Papers, Please

Price History

01About Papers, Please

Credits

Steam player reviews

Lowest recorded in 36 months

Language support

02Before you buy

Play mode

Language

03Frequently asked questions

Popular Steam reviews