Award-winning dystopian document thriller game Papers, Please is now available on smartphones nine years after its initial release. You can download the game on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store for $4.99 starting today.
Papers, Please takes place in the fictional communist state of Arstotzka, where you play as a border control agent who is faced with numerous moral dilemmas. The game challenges players to confront their own perceived bias while touching on real-world issues surrounding immigration.
“Your job as immigration inspector is to control the flow of people entering the Arstotzkan side of Grestin from Kolechia,” the game’s description reads. “Among the throngs of immigrants and visitors looking for work are hidden smugglers, spies, and terrorists. Using only the documents provided by travelers and the Ministry of Admission’s primitive inspect, search, and fingerprint systems you must decide who can enter Arstotzka and who will be turned away or arrested.”
Papers, Please was created by indie game developer Lucas Pope and published through his production company 3909 LLC. The game was released in August 2013 for Microsoft Windows and OS X, for Linux in February 2014, for iOS on iPad in December 2014 and the PlayStation Vita in December 2017.
The game was received positively on its release and is seen as a demonstration of video games as an art form. Papers, Please has received BAFTA game awards for the Strategy and Simulation categories, and most recently won the Peabody Award for Digital Storytelling.
Pope tweeted that the smartphone version of the game includes an updated user interface and minor tweaks designed to make the game playable on mobile. If you already own the iPad app, you’ll access to the iPhone app for free, he says.