Home / Games / Papers, Please
Papers, Please
Congratulations. The October labor lottery is complete. Your name was pulled. For immediate placement, report to the Ministry of Admission at Grestin Border Checkpoint. An apartment will be provided for you and your family in East Grestin. Expect a Class-8 dwelling.
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Data as of 2026-05-20.
What reviewers agree on
55 of the 102 reviews raise this.
“Minimum wage simulator, reccomended if you do not have a job and want to experience one”
“[h1][b] TLDR: A unique, but tiring experience. Stamping documents feels like actual work, but the moral weight of every decision and branching endings make it unlike anything else. [/b] [/h1] [h1]PROS: [/h1]…”
“It's tough to describe how fun and interesting this game is. It's essentially a job simulator. But it rises well above that, using its medium to tell a particular story of political intrigue. The player can make…”
35 of the 102 reviews raise this.
“[h1][b] TLDR: A unique, but tiring experience. Stamping documents feels like actual work, but the moral weight of every decision and branching endings make it unlike anything else. [/b] [/h1] [h1]PROS: [/h1]…”
“It's tough to describe how fun and interesting this game is. It's essentially a job simulator. But it rises well above that, using its medium to tell a particular story of political intrigue. The player can make…”
“Papers, Please — отличная и во многом образцовая игра инди-жанра. Она удивительным образом превращает, казалось бы, унылый бюрократический процесс проверки документов в увлекательный игровой опыт. Антиутопический…”
12 of the 102 reviews raise this.
“This game is a good game with a good Challenge if you like games to Relax this is not for you but if you like a Challenge this is a good game for you And Glory To Arstotzka! HELP ME IM IN A DARK ROOM WITH RAT THE…”
“A simple, fun game that quickly gets complex and challenging, in very interesting ways. I've played through several times and enjoy the various endings to the game. Love the level of detail and highly recommend.”
“Absolutely amazing setting, memorable characters, solid story. I truly love how we're constantly put into a situation where we have to wager how much human empathy can we afford without endangering our family. Add on…”
12 of the 102 reviews raise this.
“[h1][b] TLDR: A unique, but tiring experience. Stamping documents feels like actual work, but the moral weight of every decision and branching endings make it unlike anything else. [/b] [/h1] [h1]PROS: [/h1]…”
“It's tough to describe how fun and interesting this game is. It's essentially a job simulator. But it rises well above that, using its medium to tell a particular story of political intrigue. The player can make…”
“A simple, fun game that quickly gets complex and challenging, in very interesting ways. I've played through several times and enjoy the various endings to the game. Love the level of detail and highly recommend.”
5 of the 102 reviews raise this.
“in primul rand consider ca e cel ami bun indie game de pana acum,cat de bine e planificata joaca si cat de bine se leaga tot.Iubesc art style-ul si povestea acesteia. Am 6 ore si am putut facec doar 4 endinguri(in total…”
“A rather retro indie game that caught my attention was this small game that made ripples across the internet, and for its aesthetic and things I heard in the game about it, I decided to give it a try. This game takes…”
“10/10 Neat story, great gameplay, peak art style.”
9 of the 102 reviews raise this · 7 of them still recommend the game.
“[h1][b] TLDR: A unique, but tiring experience. Stamping documents feels like actual work, but the moral weight of every decision and branching endings make it unlike anything else. [/b] [/h1] [h1]PROS: [/h1]…”
“It's tough to describe how fun and interesting this game is. It's essentially a job simulator. But it rises well above that, using its medium to tell a particular story of political intrigue. The player can make…”
“it is hard and often feels like a paper and desk managing nightmare the more you are progressing but the game loop and feel is quite unique and in the end its somehow worth”
4 of the 102 reviews raise this · 3 of them still recommend the game.
“[h1][b] TLDR: A unique, but tiring experience. Stamping documents feels like actual work, but the moral weight of every decision and branching endings make it unlike anything else. [/b] [/h1] [h1]PROS: [/h1]…”
“Papers, Please really clicked with the part of my brain that enjoys organizing things and double-checking details. I had a lot of fun with it, but I think you should really consider if that kind of gameplay is for you.…”
“[h3]This is already a must-play classic![/h3] Papers, Please has one of the most boring ideas for a game you can imagine. All you do is perform monotonous manual work: read documents, check rules, and repeat the same…”
Counted across 102 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 97.3% positive rating · as of 2026-05-20
“[h1]8.5/10 [/h1] The story keeps you playing, game loop is very good. Looks easy gets difficult towards the end. Really good game that doesn't need perfect graphics to be good. The game doesn't overstay.”
— a player, Steam review · 7 hrs played“As a Mexican, I am a Mexican. Anyways this game is pretty fun so uh. Yeah”
— a player, Steam review · 6 hrs played“First you think it's a dystopian thriller. Then you remember that you also live in a dystopia. This game shows you how easily the system can ruin your life - there is a myriad of reasons why it can happen.”
— a player, Steam review · 5 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live count fetched 2026-07-11 11:14 UTC · history via SteamCharts.
Achievement stats
Global completion rates across all Steam players — a data view of how far people actually get. Source: Steam official stats · as of 2026-07-25.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-07-24). Relative comparison only.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
10 Years!
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 sal
Update 1.4.11
Taking 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 vs
Games like Papers, Please
From our knowledge graph — ranked by shared traits, not a black box. Each card says why it's here.
Not Tonight
83.2% · 1,753 reviews
shares Addictive, Political, Dystopian, Replay Value
Beholder: Conductor
86.5% · 556 reviews
shares Political, Dystopian, Multiple Endings, Point Click
Beholder 2
81.2% · 1,249 reviews
shares Addictive, Political, Dystopian, Multiple Endings
Beholder
81.8% · 4,262 reviews
shares Political, Dystopian, Great Soundtrack, Multiple Endings
Don't Escape: 4 Days to Survive
97.9% · 1,927 reviews
shares Replay Value, Great Soundtrack, Point Click, Retro
Death and Taxes
86.2% · 4,290 reviews
shares Replay Value, Multiple Endings, Point Click, Story Rich
Orwell: Ignorance is Strength
75.1% · 1,365 reviews
shares Political, Dystopian, Great Soundtrack, Multiple Endings
Mind Scanners
79.3% · 730 reviews
shares Political, Dystopian, Multiple Endings, Retro
Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-20.
| Genres | Adventure, Indie |
| Player tags | Indie · Political · Simulation · Point & Click · Singleplayer · Pixel Graphics · Dystopian · Multiple Endings · Puzzle · Story Rich · Retro · Atmospheric (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Steam Achievements · Steam Trading Cards · Steam Cloud · Stats · Steam Leaderboards · Remote Play on Phone · Remote Play on Tablet |
| Languages | English, French, German, Spanish - Spain, Portuguese - Brazil, Russian, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Ukrainian, Czech, Simplified Chinese, Turkish, Basque, Korean |
| Achievements | 13 |
| Estimated owners | 2,000,000 – 5,000,000 (SteamSpy) |
| Official site | http://papersplea.se |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS *: Windows XP or later Processor: 1.5 GHz Core2Duo Memory: 2 GB RAM Graphics: OpenGL 1.4 or better Storage: 100 MB available space Additional Notes: Minimum 1280x720 screen resolution