Most Satisfyingly Depressing Game of 2013
It’s a great strength of Papers Please that it makes the work you do feel dull and monotonous (just like a real border patrol guard) whilst also appealing to a particular part of your puzzle solving brain. It also makes you paranoid like little else. Dare I risk keeping my son’s drawing on the wall with that inspector around? The game has some irritating issues that I don’t often see addressed, but I won’t list them here. It's more than ready to screw you over at a moment’s notice. Set in a world of hypocritical, xenophobic authority figures, desperate, terrified citizens and refugees, rebels perhaps no better than those they seek to depose and a troubled family just hoping to eat for another day, Papers Please is a harrowing yet brilliant experience, made all the better by its thinly veiled roots in real history.
Praise Arstotzka!

Most Satisfyingly Depressing Game of 2013 It’s a great strength of Papers Please that it makes the work you do feel dull and monotonous (just like a real border patrol guard) whilst also appealing to a particular part of your puzzle solving brain. It also makes you paranoid like little else. Dare I risk keeping my son’s drawing on the wall with that inspector around? The game has some irritating issues that I don’t often see addressed, but I won’t list them here. It's more than ready to screw you over at a moment’s notice. Set in a world of hypocritical, xenophobic authority figures, desperate, terrified citizens and refugees, rebels perhaps no better than those they seek to depose and a troubled family just hoping to eat for another day, Papers Please is a harrowing yet brilliant experience, made all the better by its thinly veiled roots in real history. Praise Arstotzka!