Papers, Please 
Save
Lucas Pope's new Playdate exclusive is a delightful riff on Papers, Please, but for farty Martians and sad cyclopsMar 14, 2024 - PC GamerIt took Mars After Midnight six seconds to make me laugh. Before starting a new save file I checked the settings menu—always check the settings menu—to find only a single option with a check box: "Mirth." Uncheck it, and Mars After Midnight's playful squiggly text stops shaking about so much. I wouldn't dare, to be clear. Mirth is what I'm here for in Lucas Pope's new game, which has the air of Ryan Gosling doing Serious Actor roles for years before embracing his inner Kenergy... Read more.Papers, Please celebrates 10th anniversary with a retro LCD demake, merch, and a big donationAug 10, 2023 - PC GamerPapers, Please was a singular experience when it released in 2013: A subdued narrative game in which you check the papers of immigrants to a fictional eastern bloc country and determine whether or not to let them in, leading to hard decisions and heart wrenching consequences. The influential game has sold over five million copies in the last 10 years, and in celebration of that anniversary, developer Lucas Pope has released some cool stuff for fans and made a contribution to those suffering in real life... Read more.Papers, Please turns 10 and hits 5 million salesAug 10, 2023 - GamingOnLinuxPapers, Please is a game about being an immigration officer in a fictional dystopian country named Arstotzka. It's quite a unique experience and clearly did well for the developer Lucas Pope. Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2023/08/papers-please-turns-10-and-hits-5-million-sales Lucas Pope marks 10 years of Papers, Please with a free demake for your browserAug 9, 2023 - Rock, Paper, ShotgunDystopian border control simulator Papers, Please turns 10 years old this week, and developer Lucas Pope has marked the occasion by demaking it. Created in collaboration with Keiko Pope, the resulting browser-based LCD, Please "runs" on a mocked-up LCD console, akin to Nintendo's Game & Watch. Pope is also celebrating the anniversary by donating $100,000 to the International Rescue Committee. The demake gives you the simplified strokes of the celebrated 2013 game: you're a border control officer, approving or denying entry to the fictional country of Arstotzka, which boils down to checking mugshots and bios against faces that, in this rendition, call to mind Rorschach blots. The representation of an LCD screen with "baked-in" graphics is impressive - I had to fight the urge to tilt my computer to catch the sunlight while playing. Read more 10 Years!Aug 9, 2023 - Community Announcements{STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/4987388/2d87098994d64e590508b0f49e1d8e6f30ed7ad6.png Papers, Please is 10 years old! Hard to believe! I owe a sincere thanks to everyone that's supported me and my games over the last decade. A few things to celebrate the anniversary: Set up a $1.99 sale until the weekend, just a few days. Designed some fresh goods (shirts, stickers, posters, etc) Released the soundtrack on a few streaming services Made a $100K donation to the International Rescue Committee (rescue.org) Created a free de-make game: "LCD, Please" More details on the homepage: https://papersplea.se/#year10 Thank you!Update 1.4.11Mar 21, 2023 - Community AnnouncementsTaking care of a few more issues. Mainly, super slow animations when running at insane framerates, and muted sounds. Changelist Reworked frame sync logic, again, to fix slow animations. Tries 60fps vsync first, then CPU sync. Fixed bad language selection dialog when booted with unknown language Fixed zeroed sound volumes on locales with "," decimal point Always stretch screen to extents in windowed mode Added 720p and 1080p commandline options to override native fullscreen resolution Update 1.4.10Mar 12, 2023 - Community AnnouncementsThis is a small update to address issues reported in version 1.4.9. Please comment below or send a support request if you're still seeing problems with the game. Changes Fix softlock when detaining Simon Wens while he's leaving Fix crash when too many items appear on night list Fix day 4 rent increase to apply immediately Fix repeated dialog when multi-clicking interrogation button Possible fix for animation/physics stutter by always capping framerate at 60fps Possible fix for zeroed music and sound volumes on startup Increase mouse double-click timing from 0.15 to 0.2 seconds Remove booth upgrade night budget option if unpurchased after day 30 Touchscreen Controls The game should support touchscreen-as-a-mouse style controls but it's been reported that this is all broken in 1.4. If you have a touchscreen desktop/laptop and can give it a spin, please let me know exactly what's wrong.Version 1.4.9 - Engine UpdateMar 7, 2023 - Community AnnouncementsVersion 1.4.9 is a technical update to "Papers, Please" that transitions the underlying engine from Haxe/OpenFL to Haxe/Unity. This is a major change that will hopefully fix a number of systemic issues that have been building up over the years on modern OSes and hardware. In addition to the engine change, some small logic, localization, graphic, sound, etc issues have been fixed. If you see something that looks broken, please report it in the comments or through https://3909.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new There is no new game content in this update. A brief changelist: Engine converted to use Unity Many small bug fixes Added Korean, Turkish, and Czech localizations The full changelist (everything from 1.2.76 to 1.4.9.x): https://3909.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360053256073-Version-Changelist Some more details on this update's beta period: store.steampowered.com/news/app/239030/view/3483000339649202293 If you run into problems and I'm not quick enough to fix them, the previous build will remain available on the legacy-64 Legacy 64-bit build (1.2.76) branch. Invisible Update IncomingNov 26, 2022 - Community AnnouncementsAs part of porting this game to phones, I re-wrote most of the code in Haxe and switched from OpenFL to Unity as the core engine. That's worked ok so far on phones and now it's time to transition the desktop builds to this new version. This is intended to be a mostly invisible update on desktop - no content changes and no loss of progress. Still, the fact that so much has changed behind the scenes has made me cautious. Beta Testing Version 1.4.5 covers Windows/Mac/Linux and is now available on the preview branch. If you're feeling brave, please give this version a try and let me know if you notice anything different or run into any problems (in the comments here, on Twitter @dukope, or through the support form). I'll move this build to the main branch after building a little confidence. What's New Content-wise, all platforms and versions are as similar as possible. Some notable changes from the currently-available 1.2.76 to 1.4.5 on desktops: Runs under Unity 2020, hopefully improving compatibility. Tweaks and bug fixes here and there. Added command-line switches for disabling vsync, stretching to fill the screen, and more. No more "boot.xml" for overriding the save directory (use "savedir" command-line switch instead) Added an official localization for Korean (by BADA Games) Added an official localization for Turkish (by Bared ÇİL) Added an official localization for Czech (by Tomas2886 et al) Updates from Beta 1.4.4 to Beta 1.4.5 Reworked fullscreen/windowed logic to fix blurriness Fixed savedata folder calculation on Windows Fixed disappearing ambient audio when pausing/unpausing Fixed intermittent flickering system mouse cursor Fixed "-1" endless score display Extended confiscation drawer hit rect into border for easier clicking (Thank you memenorio and Haï!) Updates from Beta 1.4.5 to Beta 1.4.6 Fix stampbar quick-open/close and non-auto-closing issues Restore original inspection sound effects Fix errant shadow pixels on entering traveler Fix cropped sub-title text in newspaper (Thank you again memenorio!) Updates from Beta 1.4.6 to Beta 1.4.7 Fix original inspection sound effects again Compensate for mouse lag in macOS Cap framerate at 60fps in all modes to prevent broken animations (Helped again by memenorio) What May Break Some things that may not work right: Achievements & leaderboards. This has been tested a bit but the underlying social API has completely changed so anything could happen here. Anything. Game progress. OpenFL and Unity use fundamentally different methods to determine where to store savedata on the HD. I've copied the logic from 1.2.76 but tracing that logic through OpenFL to Lime to SDL is not exactly straightforward. If there's a problem here, the game will be looking in the wrong spot for your save files. Input & rendering. Unity is handling all rendering and input now instead of the OpenFL/Lime/SDL stack. Another place where anything could happen. Who knows! Custom localization packs. Loc packs used to be in one place...Version 1.2.76Mar 9, 2022 - Community Announcements1.2.76 Added a Ukrainian localization (from Skovoroda l10n) Changed some Identity Supplement feature descriptions Video games to play on Brexit DayJan 31, 2020 - Rock, Paper, Shotgun I did not expect that I would ever Google something like “will Big Ben bong?” in service to an article for RPS, and yet here we are – and it turns out it will not. The big B day has arrived, not with a bong but a whimper. It’s a sore subject for a lot of us (stuff disappearing off of Netflix; my partner is European and won’t have to queue as long at airports), a genuinely frightening one for others (unknown economic impact; forced repatriation). As in most times of stress, I turn to video games for both a distraction from and mirror to life. I don’t even mean obviously Brexit-y things like Not Tonight or Spinnortality. There are many games notionally unrelated to today that nonetheless feel apposite to play. Here are a few that I thought of. (more…) The best games of the decade on PCDec 6, 2019 - Rock, Paper, Shotgun It’s been an eventful decade for PC games, and it would be hard for you to summarise everything that’s happened in the medium across the past ten years. Hard for you, but a day’s work for us. Below you’ll find our picks for the 50 best games released on PC across the past decade. (more…) The 9 harshest winters in gamesDec 6, 2019 - Rock, Paper, Shotgun One Off The List is our weekly list feature. Is there something you think doesn t deserve to be on this list? Comment with your reasons why, and next week it may be taken off. Tis the season / use a brolly / tra la la la / la la la la. Hello, it’s me, the list goblin, here in this festive first week of December to deliver a big black bin bag of presents to you. And by presents, I mean a single irrevocable inventory of the most disastrous and terrible winters in the videogames of recent history. Yes, there will be cannibalism. Yes, thousands will die of exposure. But from this great compendium of coldness will come knowledge, strength, and, okay, at least one adorable puppy. Here are the 9 harshest winters in videogames. Wrap up. (more…) Games of the Decade: Papers, Please's immigration takedown is more powerful now than everNov 30, 2019 - EurogamerLucas Pope's dystopian document thriller Papers, Please is, on the face of it, a puzzle game about catching people out, but I think it's actually a game about coping with being punched in the gut, over and over again, with the relentlessly regular beat of a bass saxhorn playing a slow march rhythm. Bowm! Bowm! Bowm! Bowm! Amid the stress of trying to catch travellers out as an immigration officer working at the border crossing between fictional Eastern Bloc-style countries Kolechia and Arstotzka (glory to Arstotzka), Papers, Please forces you to decide the fate of not only strangers, but your loved ones. It is impossible to earn enough money to feed, heat and nurse your entire family. So you must decide who should live and who should die in your house. My wife is cold, sick and hungry. My son is cold and very sick. My mother-in-law and uncle are already dead. My son will die without medicine. If I spend the $5 I have spare after paying rent on medicine for him, my wife will probably get very sick and die. Both will get very cold because I can't afford to pay for heating. Read more We fed game characters into a neural net' and it told us who they were with an astonishing 15% accuracySep 16, 2019 - Rock, Paper, Shotgun Those of you chained to the churning wheel of the internet might have seen this facial recognition algorithm thingo doing the rounds. It’s called ImageNet Roulette, and it’s basically a website where you feed in a photo of your human face and see what the cybergods of our terrible future make of you. But it’s probably not safe to show the neurohive your real face. So we showed it 13 pictures of videogame characters instead, to see if the machine lords of the net realm can tell who they are and what they are all about. The short answer: not really, but sometimes. The neural net, it turns out, is a dangerous idiot. (more…) Watch us play 21 games from the last 20 yearsSep 6, 2019 - EurogamerOK, so I know Eurogamer's actual birthday was two days ago, but as is our style, the Eurogamer video team is once again Late to the (birthday) Party. Over the past three years, we've been introducing each other to our favourite (and/or least favourite) games from yesteryear as part of our Late to the Party series. During that time we've shared our love (and/or hatred) for over one hundred and fifty different games and thanks to this, we've been able to make a compilation episode of LTTP that features one game from every year that Eurogamer has been alive. In this video, Aoife, Zoe and I are joined by some friendly video team faces from the past (who?!) as we play our way through the 20 years worth of games, including 1999's Dino Crisis, 2006's Gears of War and 2017's PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds. Basically, if you want a healthy dose of nostalgia (or just want to feel rather old) this is the video for you! Read more Great moments in PC gaming: Dealing with Jorji Costava in Papers, PleaseOct 14, 2018 - PC GamerGreat moments in PC gaming are short, bite-sized celebrations of some of our favorite gaming memories. In Papers, Please you play a border guard scrutinizing people as they try to enter the fictional state of Arstotzka. You slide papers around, compare dates and stamps and check whether cities match countries and photos match faces, trying to make sure people with forged papers don't slip through. Or perhaps you let some of them through, but not so many that the indiscretion is noticed and your pay docked or, worse, an investigation begun. Jorji Costava is unlike anyone else who comes into your booth. The first time he doesn't even have a passport, and the second time he cheerfully hands you one that doesn't even qualify as forgery. It's a chicken-scratch mess, the drawing of a child or a simpleton. You stamp it REJECTED, explain what's wrong with it, and send him on his way. He never stops smiling. When he comes back he has a passport but no entry papers. Then he comes back with no entry papers, but now he has an entry ticket. It's invalid, of course. It's impossible to be mad at the grinning doofus—this is all just a game. Jorji returns again and again, becomes a friendly constant, easy to deal with compared to the people whose papers need to be analyzed and whose emotions are volatile. One day he rocks up with papers that are impeccable. Grinning the same ridiculous grin, he hands you the work of someone who listened to every word you said, took note of all your criticisms, and obtained perfect facsimiles. The fool has something foolproof. I didn't see that I had a choice. Knowing the papers were fake but unable to explain why within the bureaucratic rules of my job, I waved him through. Jorji bumbled across the border happily. I think of him every time I nervously stand in line at an airport or a train station, hoping I've ticked the right boxes and declared everything I need to declare. His optimism helps me relax in a stressful situation. If Jorji can figure this out, anyone can. Here's to you, Jorji Costava, and glory to Arstotzka. Daily Deal - Papers, Please, 50% OffJul 5, 2018 - AnnouncementToday's Deal: Save 50% on Papers, Please!* Look for the deals each day on the front page of Steam. Or follow us on twitter or Facebook for instant notifications wherever you are! *Offer ends Saturday at 10AM Pacific Time Podcast: Who are your favourite NPCs?Jul 5, 2018 - Rock, Paper, ShotgunAh, the non-player character. Stoic endurer of all our sadistic whims. It s time the monsters on the RPS podcast, the Electronic Wireless Show, made tribute to these humble little robots, whether they re annoying companions, side characters, or disembodied human heads. Let s talk about some of our favourites. (more…) Tickets, please! Watch Papers, Please s official short filmFeb 26, 2018 - Rock, Paper, ShotgunThe closest I’ve come to an altercation with a border guard was on a family holiday. We’d arrived at Philadelphia airport, and the American at the desk was deeply suspicious about my parents lack of a shared surname. He demanded to know why they weren’t married, prompting my dad to explain that while he was in favour of it for tax reasons, neither of them really believed in the importance of marriage as a cultural or religious institution. We made it through, just. Who knows how that conversation would have played out in Arstotzka, the fictitious setting of Papers, Please and its newly released official short film. Developer Lucas Pope was involved with the writing, which helps explain how it manages to capture the spirit of the game so effectively. If you didn’t get your fill of tortuous decisions packed with moral angst and grim ramifications from Papers, Please itself, then this should do the trick. (more…)
Show Comments
