About an hour into playing Papers, Please, when the game had added what can only be described as an aggressive amount of documents for me to check, I started to question why exactly the game had been designed with so few systems to effectively manage this much paperwork. By the late game, players have to process up to 5 documents for a single entrant: a passport, an entry permit, an identity supplement, a work permit, and an vaccination certificate. After clicking and dragging each of these five documents onto the processing space, the player than has to rearrange them in a way that all information can be effectively read, difficult to do given the small size of the screen relative to the size of the documents. After confirming the (in)authenticity of the documents, likely clicking and dragging them around several times while doing so, the player then has to locate the passport, activate the stamps, and drag the passport under the appropriate stamp before clicking to stamp it. After the "Reason for Denial" stamp is added to the game, the player must do this twice. Then, after the player has finally stamped the passport, they must individually click and drag each document back to the entrant.
Generally, I expect that game systems are designed to make the game more enjoyable for the player, either by making it easier for the player to interact with the game or creating a rewarding challenge that the player can overcome with skill. Many of the mechanics in Papers, Please seem to be designed with neither of these in mind. To be fair, the game's central mechanic of identifying patterns and discrepancies in documents is quite enjoyable: it creates a decent challenge for the player that can be surpassed by learning the intricacies of Arstotzkan documentation and applying some basic logic. But all that comes from the mental work that player does in their head; actually interacting with the game is a seemingly deliberate chore.
The fact that you can buy certain "upgrades" to your booth that improve the game's interface only adds insult to injury. It's like the game is teasing you, that it knows how clunky its interface is, and is enticing you to buy in in the hopes that it will eventually all be fixed. First, you unlock a shortcut for inspection. Then, for activating your stamps. I was almost convinced that the final upgrade would be a shortcut to return all documents, that the game would finally give me a reprieve from the constant click-and-drag. If only.
Similar to the three previous comments, I do believe that the (sometimes frustratingly) clunky interface and overwhelming flow of paperwork is meant to emulate a sense of boredom and the level of precision needed to parse a vast flow of information. Though upgrades to the interface may certainly be enticing, with the sheer inflow of documentation it becomes necessary to complete each screening efficiently (that is, if you care enough about the salary needed for your family). That said, I found some other difficulties as well, such as scrutinizing my screen to make sure I was really reading the heights and weights of the entry applicants correctly. However, I do think that not only this enhances the tedium of a…
I want to echo what the previous two commenters have said. I felt like the cramped space and unwieldy controls that the player was forced to work around were an important part of my feeling like the inspector. I did start to develop some tricks, only moving two documents into the work space at a time for example, to keep things organized, but under the constant time pressure it was hard for me to not grow flustered and frustrated. I think that this was part of why I was so quick to work against Arstotzka when given the chance. I actually felt angry at the Arstotzkan government for giving me this tedious and mind-numbing job. Looking back and being a…
Similarly to Samantha, I also found that the immense amount of tedious work served to further the "immersive" aspect of the game. I found myself sympathizing with many past TSA and customs officers that have checked my papers at airports, tasked with verifying all the data on the boarding pass and passport/id (and the contents of luggage for customs officials). I think the immense pressure to perform well in a timely manner coupled with the large number of relatively brainless tasks required to complete a single document examination helps put us into the shoes of a real life bureaucrat who often doesn't have time to put up with bizarre excuses and cries of personal strife.
I think part of the point of Papers, Please's cluttered design and occasional feeling of monotony is to create a sense of boredom and realism that lets the player put themselves in the Inspector's shoes. If the document interface's design was too easy to navigate or spacious I would almost feel like the game wouldn't correctly capture the experience of being an Inspector, having to navigate all these confusing rules and documents on a cluttered desk. In the beginning it feels stressful and almost impossible to pay attention to/organize everything, but as the game goes on the player gets better at managing their space and remembering what to look at...although it's never exactly enjoyable to have to go through the…