"Papers, Please" a steam greenlight game
http://dukope.com/ <- Free beta, unzip and play
Trailer:
Simply put, a game that would seem to offer nothing but a dull desk job has quite a few surprises up its sleeve. Glory to Arstotzka.
Trailer:
A Dystopian Document Thriller.
The communist state of Arstotzka has ended a 6-year war with neighboring Kolechia and reclaimed its rightful half of the border town, Grestin.
Your job as immigration inspector is to control the flow of people entering the Arstotzkan side of Grestin from Kolechia. Among the throngs of immigrants and visitors looking for work are hidden smugglers, spies, and terrorists. Using only the documents provided by travelers and the Ministry of Admission's primitive inspect, search, and fingerprint systems you must decide who can enter Arstotzka and who will be turned away or arrested
Simply put, a game that would seem to offer nothing but a dull desk job has quite a few surprises up its sleeve. Glory to Arstotzka.
Comments
Needs to bring back the documents or otherwise show what you missed (exactly) to make things feel a bit less like the game is cheating. Likewise, not throwing multiple 'family members sick and need medicine' at you a few months in a row (with food and heat paid for every month), just because you've managed to save up $50.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=138290904
Really the more annoying bit is that you have to sort through the rulebook quickly, much of the time, even if you know what's wrong. I just leave it set at the 'basic rules' most of the time, unless a seal is wrong, or to check the issuing-city if I don't recognize it as a valid one.
More annoying is the stuff they DON'T mention... like that Aztotzkan citizens' ID cards contain a DOB, height and weight that also need to match. It's there in front of you, but you never really think to check it (as they're the only ones who have it) until you start getting pay-docked. Same with the 'sex'... some of the portraits are very ambiguous until you learn who is meant to be male/female, and which names are masculine/feminine.
Ironically, I picked up on the checking sex, DOB, height, and weight more quickly than the no-document checking mechanism. After seeing the numbered bars in the background and the kg in the bottom right, it seemed obvious that it would be an effective way to check for forgeries/fakes. For sex, I found comparing the M/F line with the person's face to cause you to ask them if they were male or female. However, if we had the search function available at all times, you could easily pornoscan them and figure out their sex immediately. There was one person who I was sure was female until a search detected that he had clearly 'dude' body parts.
I didn't really experience this rubberbanding feel at my 2nd playthrough. My first was terrible but even then no one died because it had so many stages before they actually croaked. On my 2nd I barely scraped by but always managed to get all the necessary things to keep family perfectly "ok". Can't say it made things worse or more expensive just because of that.
I agree with this, since detaining takes significantly more time It's always better to just reject them on the spot instead. I imagine the dev will add some kind of mechanic where suicide bombers will jump over the wall if not detained correctly.
The only gamebreaking bug I got so far was when I got nothing but a plastic ID card I couldn't stamp. Asking for passport didn't work because Astotzka citizens only need a valid ID. Luckily it saves each day so I just had to restart a bit back. It helped a lot to have a screenshot of the entire rulebook on my 2nd monitor since memorizing fake countries, cities and districts correctly was just a nightmare.
I loved the idea of checking the news for names and portraits, actually managed to detain a criminal that showed up by investigating the newspaper and his face. Upcoming feature (release version) is a box you can unlock with a key to draw a tranq gun and a regular gun to shoot people going over the wall. I can't find the youtube of it right now though.
Played through a few times now, intentionally letting certain people through. Early on, the 'warnings' are just to cover for new players; later on, they let you choose to let someone through who should be rejected, based on their documents, with no penalty. Some reward you (and not just the guy trying to bribe his way in) with what appear to be collectibles... possibly making room for achievements, a warm feeling/other effects at the end of each day, or a Good End+ ending in the full game.
It takes way to long to verify everything and I end up not making a good salary if I check everything.
--Scythe--
P.S. Don't watch any youtube videos about it. It's better to experience it afresh.
Anyway, its a great game which I recommend to anybody.
--Scythe--
Yeah, it would have helped.
It's a huge button saying "PAPERS PLEASE, Steam Greenlight" on the page I linked, seemed unnecessary to link it separately.
Thumbs up, citizens!