Papers, Please

Papers, Please is a 2013 puzzle simulation video game by Lucas Pope, developed and published independently through his production company 3909 LLC. The game was released on August 8, 2013, for Microsoft Windows and OS X, for Linux on February 12, 2014, and for iOS on December 12, 2014. A port for the PlayStation Vita was announced in August 2014 and was then released on December 12, 2017. A port for Android, alongside an updated port for iOS, was released in August 2022. In Papers, Please, the player takes the role of a border-crossing immigration officer in the fictional dystopian country of Arstotzka, which maintains a longstanding state of mutual political hostility with its neighboring countries. The player must review travelers' passports and other supporting paperwork against an ever-growing list of rules using a number of tools and guides. Tasks include allowing in those with the proper paperwork while rejecting those without all proper documents, detaining those with falsified information, and balancing personal finances. Papers, Please was positively received on its release, and it has come to be seen as an example of an empathy game and a demonstration of video games as an art form. The game earned various awards and nominations from the Independent Games Festival, Game Developers Choice Awards, and BAFTA Video Games Awards, and was named by Wired and The New Yorker as one of the top games of 2013. By its tenth anniversary, Papers, Please had sold more than five million copies.