Papers, Please was an indie title that released back in 2013 and got a lot of buzz due to its very unique setting, concept, and execution. In the game, you played as a simple man in a totalitarian nation with forced patriotic values. Your name was drawn in the job lottery and you were selected to determine whether or not foreigners get into the country on a case by case basis. Any mistake could cost you and your family your life, and your pay was minimal even with maximum performance. Many random events occurred that would make life at the border harder and your job more intensive as you had to decline very specific immigrants due to political bias.
Papers, Please is also now a short film! Due to how intrigued players and the developers were with the world they made, the game was adapted into a short ~ 11-minute film. Unfamiliar with Papers, Please? It takes place in a fictional world in 1982. It takes place in East Grestin, Arstotzka, where a six-year war with the neighboring country, Kolechia, is over. A border checkpoint now separates east and west Grestin, and that is where our protagonist is sent to work.
You can watch the Papers Please short film for free on YouTube or Steam. Fan of the game or not, it’s only just under an 11-minute watch, with subtitles for 22 different languages! Why not give it a shot?