Game Recommendation #7: Papers, Please

Welcome to Arstotzka, where you are now a border immigration officer who is trying to survive cold winters while serving your country. You must keep out immigrants who come from countries you do not have open borders with and let the others pass. It sounds like an uninteresting premise, but thrill and puzzlement shine through this addictive dystopian thriller puzzle game.

Gameplay and Story

Papers, please is made by indie game developer Lucas Pope, published through his game company 3909. The game starts out with you receiving your new job, and you must begin immediately. Each round will start out by telling you the regulations. A person will pass through your station and hand you a passport. You are the one responsible for making sure that the person meets the regulations and you decide by either rejecting them or letting them through.

At the end of each round, you will get paid and you have to organize your funds so that you can survive and take care of your family. You get paid every round, but its dependent on how well you did during the round.

The game gets increasingly more difficult with each round, as political conflicts rise with Artstotska and its neighbors. This is the puzzle aspect of the game, as you have to balance your work so you can let as many immigrants in as possible.

Who would I recommend this to? 

The game has decent graphics, and the art style accompanies the dystopian tone underlying the gameplay and story. Even though the game is essentially paperwork, it quickly gets addicting and the ambiance of the story adds to the fun. A good game to check out if you enjoy puzzles,

 the game is priced at $9.99 on Steam. Glory to Atstotska!

New Year Update! Top Games of the Year + New Posts Coming Soon!

It's a new year, meaning that this blog is active once again. To start up the new year, I would first like to state what I consider to be the top three indie games to come out this year. These are games that I already made a recommendation post for so you can check those out if you want to know more about the game.

Top #3: 

-#3: Princess Remedy in a World of Hurt

"Princess Remedy in a World of Hurt (by Ludosity developers) is a fun, challenging RPG (role-playing game), and guess what? It's free! You can find it on Steam for free, and you can get a prequel expansion pack (Princess Remedy in a Heap of Trouble) for $2.99 (I have yet to finish the game so I haven't seen the expansion pack yet)."-Recommendation Post #2 
(add the stuff) 
I feel that Princess Remedy in a World of Hurt deserves to be number 3 in the Top Games of the Year because it has the best value of all the games shown on this blog, being free of course. For that price, it packs plenty of content, characters, and gameplay.

-#2: Stardew Valley

"Stardew Valley (published by Chuckle Fish and developed by Concerned Ape) is one of the most addictingly fun games out there. It uses the elements of Animal Crossing, Facebook games, and phone games, adds depth and complex gameplay, and then creates something new." -Recommendation Post #3
(add stuff) 
Stardew Valley is given the number 2 spot here because it is the game that has taken up the most time in my life. It's highly addicting atmosphere and ambiance makes it a fun way to spend the time, developing your farm and feeling like you're accomplishing something. It was all developed by ONE person, so it's existence is a plea of passion on its own, nevermind all the options and beautiful design that it has. 

-#1: Undertale 

"Now here's one you've probably all have heard about by now. Undertale, developed and published by independent creator toby fox, is one of the most popular indie games in recent years. It gained popularity as YouTubers everywhere began to play it. It's not that hard to understand, though, it has a complex story that changes depending on how you play it, interesting characters and settings, a new take on RPG gameplay, and it was all made by only a handful of people. " -Recommendation Post #4
 (add video/pics) 
Undertale achieves the number one spot here because it was worth its price and has all of the characteristics that a good game should have. It's a story told through battle and quirky characters, and a lot of heart and passion was put into this. Its popularity has already reached its peak, but it's still a worthy game to check out. 

Now that that's settled, I would like to move on to talking about some of the games that I will be making Recommendation Posts later throughout the year.

Recommendation Posts

Hyper Light Drifter

-Hyper Light Drifter is a new indie game that came out last November. It is highly puzzling and addicting and uses a unique fighting RPG style with beautiful graphics.

OxenFree

-OxenFree is a very interactive game with well-developed characters and well made 3-D graphics.

Psychonauts

-Psychonauts is a well made 3-D game with a complex story and characters that has been around for many years now. 

Papers, please

-Papers, please is a simple puzzle game with simple graphics, but its story and atmosphere add to its core gameplay.