Infusions of Humanity in Papers, Please

I previously wrote a guide for Papers, Please, where I urged you to care very little about the characters if you want to succeed. Now I will show you why this is difficult to achieve.

In your small immigration inspector’s booth at the Arstotzkan border checkpoint, there is obviously no abundance of hope. The game will never let you slide with a violation of protocol without a citation; rules are constantly changing; there are frequent terrorist attacks; you barely make enough money to pay rent and feed your family; the list goes on. Throughout the day, though, you are the source of hope for each immigrant that steps up in line as their way of entry. Many of them come to you in vulnerable situations. These moments, or “infusions of humanity”, may bring up very conflicting emotions — do you stay firm in just doing your job or do you strive to be a better human being and help those in need?

Below detail a few of these scenarios. This is not a complete list, so if you have more to add, please share in the comments!

• Plea to stop Dari Ludum. A female entrant gives you a note asking for your help because she fears for her and her sister’s safety. Ludum appears later that day and hands you a Pink Vice slip. He presents valid papers, which means denying him will result in a citation. Ultimately, whether you approve or deny him, you find out the next day in the paper that some dancers at the club were found dead.

• Vengeful Father. A man comes by and gives you a picture of his daughter, Julia, who he says was killed by Simon Wens. He asks you to confiscate the murderer’s passport and let him through so he can then avenge her death. Doing so will result in a citation. Should you go against the father’s wishes, even if you detain Wens, you will be called a heartless bastard.

• Reuniting Sergiu and Elisa. After a few days after introducing himself as one of the guards, Sergiu comes to you asking you to grant entry to Elisa Katsenja, a woman he fell in love with during the war. He then gives you a locket with her picture. Elisa ends up not having all the required documents, so letting her through will result in a citation. If you accept this and still approve her, a terrorist will kill Sergiu after the reunion if you don’t save him. If you deny Elisa, she says she understands and adds “Please, tell Sergiu I will always love him. We will be together in another life.”

• Jorji Costava. Ah, yes. Can’t forget about this guy! While less serious, Jorji presents comic relief and still inserts humanity back into the grim world of the game. He never takes it to heart when you deny him and always comes back for more (and eventually… eventually, with proper documentation). It’s easy to become attached to this character, which makes his possible strip search and detainment feel very, very wrong.

• Son’s Drawing. At some point, you find out your son’s birthday is coming up in the End of Day screen. You have the option to get him the gift he really wants, a crayon set. If you buy it for him, he’ll make you a drawing and presents it the next day. This moment was off-putting for me because it was later in the game (you know, when I already learned to shut off my feelings, spending money on food and heat every other day) and it was the first time my family members felt real to me. So, like me at this point, if you hang the drawing and your supervisor sees it, you’ll receive a fine.
• Option to adopt your niece. When your sister gets arrested for an unknown reason, you are asked whether you want to adopt your niece. This is an extra mouth to feed, but it seems like she has no one else to look after her. I chose to adopt her, so I’m unsure of the consequences of deciding differently, aside from feelings of guilt.

Of course, there are more minor infusions of humanity, too. These include the phrases you hear such as “You’ve ruined me” upon denial or “What’s happening?” upon detainment. Another moment is when an Antegrian man asks you to let in his wife after him, and she doesn’t have an entry permit.

With only a couple exceptions, there is always a punishment for giving in to your emotions and helping these characters, which is why I advised against it in my last article. But we are all human, and refusing to care for those in need just for a paycheck (that isn’t even real) is difficult. Papers, Please was created to present this conflict to us, which it clearly does successfully.

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Originally published at vgboundaries3.wordpress.com on March 17, 2015.