Papers, Please

Papers, Please immerses players into the role of an immigration officer in the communist state of Arstotzka. With the recent end of a 6-year war, tensions are high as the player must control the flow of people entering Arstotzka from neighboring Kolechia. Amidst the crowds are smugglers, spies, and terrorists, hidden among legitimate immigrants and visitors. Using only provided documents and primitive inspection tools, players must decide who can enter, who will be turned away, and who will face arrest. Through meticulous scrutiny and adherence to ever-changing rules, players navigate the moral complexities and personal challenges of their role in this dystopian Eastern Bloc-like society. Special thanks to YouTubers Jacksepticeye & Markiplier for playing through this game, allowing us to pull a lot of this information from their videos.

• Release date: 08-08-2013
• Developer: Lucas Pope
• Publisher: 3909
• Platforms: Android, iOS, Linux, MacOS, PlayStation Vita, Windows PC

Triggers for this game

Crime

• Explosions & Bombs

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  At several points in the game, there will be terrorist attacks at the border. The person committing the attack will blow them selves up with an explosion noise and fire.

  • Can't be avoided

• Guns & Shooting

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  The guards around the border checkpoint all have guns. If you choose to detain a person, guards will threaten that person with their guns. At one point, you are given a tranquilizer gun in order to incapacitate terrorists during border attacks. Later on, you receive a sniper rifle. The player doesn't have to use either gun, but they're encouraged to do so with a bonus if they shoot the terrorists and a smaller bonus if they shoot but miss.

  • Can't be avoided

• Human Trafficking & Forced Labor

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  Early in the game, you encounter a woman who hands over a note naming a man whom she believes is going to force her into sex work at a brothel. The man shows up later in the day, and you can allow him entry, deny him entry, or detain him. If you shows him the note, he gets angry and threatens to "break her in two". No matter what you do, after the man comes through there will be an article in the paper the next day about a girl dying at a brothel.

  • Can't be avoided

• Murder

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  You are tasked with murdering several targets over the course of the game — once by poison, others by sniper rifle. (Can be avoided as not required to complete the game) Two of the criminals the player has to look out for are an athlete accused of murdering his girlfriend and a man who is a serial child murderer. The father of one of the child victims tasks you with letting him into the country but confiscating his passport so that he can kill him in revenge. The player does not need to accept the request.

  • Is avoidable
  • Can't be avoided

Death & Loss

• Death of Child

  Depending on choices

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  As the game progresses, your family will get sick and you have to pick who gets medicine. Those who do not get medicine die. Note: you never see your family in-person. They are just markers on the main game menu. (Depending on choices) One of the criminals the player needs to look out for is a serial child murderer from Republia attempting to flee the country.

  • Is avoidable
  • Can't be avoided

• Death of Friend

  Depending on choices

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  As the game progresses, your family will get sick and you have to pick who gets medicine. Those who do not get medicine die. Note: you never see your family in-person. They are just markers on the main game menu.

  • Is avoidable

• Death of Loved One

  Depending on choices

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  As the game progresses, your family will get sick and you have to pick who gets medicine. Those who do not get medicine die. Note: you never see your family in-person. They are just markers on the main game menu.

  • Is avoidable

• Death of Spouse or Partner

  Depending on choices

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  As the game progresses, your family will get sick and you have to pick who gets medicine. Those who do not get medicine die. Note: you never see your family in-person. They are just markers on the main game menu.

  • Is avoidable

• Suicide

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  Suicide bombers

  • Can't be avoided

Drugs & Alcohol

• Drug Sales & Drug Running

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  One of the reasons the player can detain people is because they are attempting to smuggle drugs into Arstotzka.

  • Can't be avoided

Gore

• Blood

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  At one point, the resistance group EZIC gives the player a container of anthrax powder to poison an assassin attempting to cross the border. If the player does poison the target, they begin to vomit blood and infect either the guard who comes to check on them (if they were approved for entry) or the large number of innocent bystanders in line (if they were denied entry). The player can also die by touching the powder, but in this case it just causes the game to fade to white and sends you back to the main menu.

  • Can't be avoided

Hate & Discrimination

• Dehumanization & Objectification

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  The game forces you to treat certain people as sub-standard via racial profiling. At various points in the game, certain "countries" are at odds with Arstotzka, and as such are treated poorly. You can choose whether or not to participate in this, but you will be penalized if you do not. You can force people at the border to do anything. In particular, you're required to use invasive scanning techniques to scan for contraband and check that the person's genitalia match the gender on their passport.

  • Can't be avoided

• Racism

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  The game forces you to treat certain people as sub-standard via racial profiling. At various points in the game, certain "countries" are at odds with Arstotzka, and as such are treated poorly. You can choose whether or not to participate in this, but you will be penalized if you do not.

  • Can't be avoided

• Transphobia

  The game assumes that every person has a binary gender.

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  A game mechanic is looking at the people trying to cross the border and assigning them a binary gender based on how they look. If the gender on the person's passport does not match what they present as, the player can question them and turn them away for having a "wrong" passport. If the gender is "wrong" but the player does not question it, the player will be penalized. Once the player receives the "scanning" ability in the game, the player can scan the bodies of people whose gender is "wrong" on their passport as per the game mechanic above. The scanner shows the player a naked picture of the person and the player must scrutinize their genitalia. If the genitalia does not match what is on the person's passport the person must be turned away or the player is penalized.

  • Can't be avoided

Horror Themes

• Jump Scares

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  The warning for terrorists is easy to miss for first-time players, so attacks can appear to happen without warning. They involve a suicide bomber shown on the other side of the gate with an explosion. The warning for attacks is this: if the player doesn't say "Cause no trouble" to a Kolechian traveler when they're let in, then that person is going to bomb the border.

  • Can't be avoided

Mental Health

• Misc. Mental Health

  Existential Despair

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  Existential Despair — The game presents to the player an extremely grim outlook on life. Either the player can be moral and allow good people through but get penalized, the player can be strict and amoral and turn away people who need to get into the country (for example for a much-needed surgery) but never get penalized, or the player can take bribes and turn people away for nothing to make more money. The overall attitude of the game is that whatever the player does they will be penalized in some way, thus the struggle to survive becomes futile.

  • Can't be avoided

Non-Sexual Abuse & Violence

• Emotional Abuse

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  Throughout the game if the player chooses to reject people they will verbally abuse the player. This may or may not be common in the game depending on how the player treats people trying to enter the country.

  • Can't be avoided

Phobias

• Claustrophobia

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  The entire game takes place in your small guard booth, and you cannot leave it.

  • Can't be avoided

• Emetophobia

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  At one point, the resistance group EZIC gives you a container of anthrax powder to poison an assassin attempting to cross the border. If you do poison the target, they begin to vomit blood and infect either the guard who comes to check on them (if they were approved for entry) or the large number of innocent bystanders in line (if they were denied entry).

  • Can't be avoided

• Hemophobia

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  At one point, the resistance group EZIC gives the player a container of anthrax powder to poison an assassin attempting to cross the border. If the player does poison the target, they begin to vomit blood and infect either the guard who comes to check on them (if they were approved for entry) or the large number of innocent bystanders in line (if they were denied entry). The player can also die by touching the powder, but in this case it just causes the game to fade to white and sends you back to the main menu.

  • Can't be avoided

Sex & Erotica (Consensual)

• Nudity

  ShowHide potential spoilers or triggers

  The player eventually receives the "scanning" ability that allows them to scan people at the border. This produces a naked picture of the person with visible genitalia. The nudity can be turned off in the Settings page of the game.

  • Is avoidable

Traumatic Events

• Mass Casualty Event

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  Several terrorist attacks happen throughout the game, via suicide bombers.

  • Can't be avoided

• Misc. Traumatic Events

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  Several terrorist attacks happen throughout the game, via suicide bombers. At one point, the resistance group EZIC gives the player a container of anthrax powder to poison an assassin attempting to cross the border.

  • Can't be avoided

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