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777. 1Upsmanship: Papers, Please
🕑 Added 2024-10-11 13:01:01 +0000 UTC
Adam and Michael cover the 2013 indie hit Papers, Please. The player takes on the role of a border-crossing immigration officer in the fictional dystopian communist country of Arstotzka, complete with quests that make you question your own morality and sympathies in order to win a video game. Do we put a green stamp on this one and give it passage on the Celestial Hard Drive?
Michael Swaim: https://twitter.com/SWAIM_CORP
Adam Ganser: https://twitter.com/therealganz
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Comments
Ryan (Kanserus Bone Saw) Bowdish
Also he just recently developed a game called Mars After Midnight which centers around the idea of running a community of aliens on Mars. Since you guys really like Lucas Pope I would definitely recommend checking these out!
Ryan (Kanserus Bone Saw) Bowdish
I was inspired by this podcast to check out Lucas Pope's life, and Papers Please actually sold enough copies for him to be financially stable as he worked on Return of Obra Dinn. So yeah, he likely isn't rich as hell, but his game development has made him comfortable, which is good to know.
drunkencoyote
Man was this an amazing ride. I had a moment wherein I was worried where Adam landed. THIS episode goes on the secondary drive for the best game observations about artistic importance. And because of that I bought ten of the as of yet unnamed product mentioned in the commercial breaks.
Steven R Walsh
Loved Papers Please, but was really bad at it: kept not making enough cash, losing family members, and getting dragged off to the Gulag. I’ll have to try it again sometime. I think a few other games (like the main mini-game in Beholder 2) have copied the paper-stamping mechanics and oppressive authoritarian atmosphere since, but probably not with the same depth. For what it’s worth, the history/video game podcast History Respawned did an interview with a historian on how Arstotzka compares to actual former Warsaw Pact countries. Funnily enough, it seems that the only thing that those countries managed to do well towards the end was decent free healthcare, so paying for it out of pocket in the game just seems like an extra layer of cruelty.
Nicholas Burnham
Turns out it was
Adam Ganser
We have and we did! It was on the iHeart season.
Hey_Blinkin
Thank you so much for covering this game. I can’t remember if you have already covered Obra Dinn, but if not, please add it to the Celestial hard drive. I beg you! The Aliens need it!
Maladapted
Stopped at 27:45. Downloading it after my shift. This thing sounds incredible
