This is followed by a brief, static screen of white and green text on a black background. Most of the day is spent in the immigration booth, looking over papers until the horn signals the end of the day. The core gameplay loop of Papers Please designates work as of the utmost importance. It is not only through paperwork and armed guards that Askrokia maintains its power, but from the way it controls the player’s limited and valuable time. And yet the player is still dependent on their job to ensure their family’s survival. The player seemingly has little agency, yet directly controls the lives of every applicant that enters their booth. This framing allows the opportunity to explore complex issues of bureaucracy, borders, and the way the state controls individual freedoms. Papers Please has a simple central concept: you are an immigration officer, checking passports and entry documents for a seemingly endless line of desperate people, hoping they can enter the glorious country of Askrokia. Lucas Pope’s 2013 game Papers Please has been rightfully celebrated for the way it utilises aesthetics and gameplay to provide the experience of being a powerless arm of an authoritarian dictatorship.
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