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59 Great Games Like Papers, Please

Our experts have spent time searching for great games similar to Papers, Please and have found the following:

You play the role of a border-crossing immigration officer in the fictional dystopian Eastern Bloc-like country of Arstotzka. You review each immigrant’s and returning citizens’ passports and paperwork according to an increasing list of changing rules stemming from a volatile political landscape. Each person, whether legitimate or not, has a story about their journey and the personal impact of not being let in. Your choices not only impact the citizens but your own standing and money for your family. You must also decide whether to uphold the government or work with organisations to establish a new one. You play for 31 days and depending on your decisions there are 20 different endings.

Unfortunately, Papers, Please is not available on Android, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One or Xbox Series X|S. However, we recommend the following games that offer a similar experience or theme, and at a lower age rating:

Papers, Please

Game Details

Release Date: 08/08/2013, updated in 2017

Platforms: Mac, PC, PS Vita and iOS

Content Rating: PEGI 16

Players: 1

Genres: Narrative, Puzzle (Point-and-Click and Simulation)

Accessibility: 19 features

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

Developer: Dukope (@Dukope)

Costs: Purchase cost

6 Similar Games Short List

Here are our hand-picked short list of similar games; the perfect thing to play next if you enjoyed Papers, Please. We don't use automatic matching, instead, we hand-pick games that are good to play if you have enjoyed Papers, Please.

The Case of the Golden Idol

Release Date: 13/10/2022

Platforms: PC

Skill Rating: 11+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

The Case of the Golden Idol is a point-and-click adventure set in the 18^th century, where you attempt to solve 12 gruesome deaths. You play by investigating each scene to gather information in the form of words that you piece together to make statements...

Flat Eye

Release Date: 14/11/2022

Platforms: PC

Components: 2D Overhead

Flat Eye is a narrative strategy game where you run a gas station in the near future. Play is a matter of making money from customers by adding products and streamlining efficiency. But what really stands out here is the web of corporate and management...

Photographs - Puzzle Stories

Release Date: 03/04/2019

Platforms: Android, Mac, PC and iOS

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

"Have you ever made a mistake, or hurt people you care about?" Asks the Photographs trailer. It's a puzzle game that aims much higher than to distract you while on the way to work.

Luck Be A Landlord

Release Date: 06/10/2020

Platforms: Mac and PC

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

Luck Be a Landlord is a simulation game where you collect symbols to build the ultimate slot machine, win lots of money, and defeat capitalism. You choose the tokens like deck building games, then have repeated attempts to win money like a rogue-like...

Not For Broadcast

Release Date: 30/01/2020

Platforms: Mac and PC

Components: 2D Side-On

Not For Broadcast is a narrative puzzle game where you control the National Nightly News just as a radical government comes to power. By deciding the angles, adverts, images and censoring in the show you control what the people see and determine...

Change: A Homeless Survival Experience

Release Date: 01/05/2020

Platforms: Mac and PC

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

Change is a survival game where you play a homeless person trying to make it against the odds. It's intentionally hard to do well as you explore an endless city that's different every time you play.

35 Similar Games Long List

Here are our hand-picked long list of similar games; the perfect thing to play next if you enjoyed Papers, Please. We don't use automatic matching, instead, we hand-pick games that are good to play if you have enjoyed Papers, Please.

Among Us

Release Date: 16/11/2018, updated in 2020

Platforms: Android, PC, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and iOS

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Hand-Made

Among Us is a strategy game where crew-mates prepare their spaceship for launch by completing tasks. However, one of the players is an impostor intent on sabotaging the ship and killing the crew. As the game progresses in real-time the impostor...

The Tomorrow Children

Release Date: 06/09/2016, updated in 2022

Platforms: PS4 and PS5

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person, Day and Night, Open World and Weather

The Tomorrow Children is an online strategy game where you collaborate with other players to build, explore and develop communities. Unusually, it uses social economics and a Soviet Union-themed post-apocalyptic dystopia as the setting. You play a...

Return of the Obra Dinn

Release Date: 18/10/2019

Platforms: PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 13+ year-olds

Components: 3D First-Person and Pixels

You play a shipping company agent assessing what happened on board a fictional East India Company ship where all the passengers have all mysteriously died. Exploring the ship, you can revisit the moment of death for each body in order to identify each...

Carrion

Release Date: 23/07/2020

Platforms: Mac, PC, Switch and Xbox One

Components: 2D Side-On

Carrion is a horror game where you play the amorphous alien as well as human protagonists. This reverse-horror scenario puts you in control of an organic tentacled monster to make your way through the facility, stalking and killing humans in your path.

Invisible Inc

Release Date: 12/05/2015, updated in 2020

Platforms: Mac, PC, PS4, Switch and iOS

Components: 2D Overhead and Grid

Invisible Inc is a tactical adventure where you direct espionage agents in covert missions to acquire resources and support to relocate your agency's computer system to a safe haven within a limited amount of time.

Little Misfortune

Release Date: 18/11/2019

Platforms: Android, Mac, PC and iOS

Components: 2D Side-On and Hand-Made

Little Misfortune is a dark adventure where you play a small girl called, Misfortune, who, guided by a voice in her head, seeks the prize of eternal happiness for her mother. It's played side-on and unfolds a narrative about the girl's family as you...

Beyond: Two Souls

Release Date: 08/10/2013, updated in 2019

Platforms: PC, PS3 and PS4

Skill Rating: 12+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

Beyond: Two Souls is from the same developer as Detroit: Become Human and Heavy Rain. Although not a series, they follow a similar style and approach. They provide a filmic interactive experience of a story that branches in substantial ways depending on...

Orwell's Animal Farm

Release Date: 10/12/2020

Platforms: Android, PC and iOS

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Hand-Made

Orwell's Animal Farm is an adventure game with a decent slice of strategy, all brought to life with beautiful hand-drawn storybook art. As the name suggests, the game is based on the 1945 literary classic Animal Farm by George Orwell, which uses a farm...

The Stanley Parable

Release Date: 31/07/2011, updated in 2022

Platforms: Mac, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Components: 3D First-Person

The Stanley Parable is an interactive drama with no combat or action to speak of apart from walking around and interacting with everyday objects. You guide a silent protagonist, Stanley, while a discouraging narration plays in your ear. As you discover...

Through the Darkest of Times

Release Date: 27/05/2020, updated in 2020

Platforms: Android, Mac, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One and iOS

Components: 2D Side-On and Hand-Made

Through the Darkest of Times is a strategy game that conveys the sombre mood of the dark period of history between January 1933 and May 1945. With interactive drama, it tells the story and the struggles of average people living in the 3^rd Reich.

Democratic Socialism Simulator

Release Date: 20/02/2020

Platforms: Android, PC and iOS

Components: 2D Side-On, Hand-Made and Text

Democratic Socialism Simulator is a puzzle game where you run for office and then run a country. It offers a flow of questions with a yes or no response. Each answer has consequences in the minds of the voters and the prosperity of the country. It's an...

Do Not Feed the Monkeys

Release Date: 23/10/2018

Platforms: Android, Mac, PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Components: 2D Side-On

Do Not Feed the Monkeys is an adventure game where you sit at a computer and spy on live video feeds of various events and characters. Your job is to gather information about "the monkeys" while also looking after your character's health and apartment...

Beholder

Beholder (Series)

Release Date: 09/11/2016

Platforms: Android, Mac, PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Components: 2D Side-On

Beholder is a detective game where you spy on tenants in a building, discover their secrets and report violations of laws to the authorities. As the game unfolds and you see more of the controlling totalitarian state, an uneasy tension develops between...

Headliner: NoviNews

Release Date: 05/10/2019

Platforms: Mac, PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Components: 2D Side-On and Text

Headliner: NoviNews is a narrative-driven simulation game where you play as the person in charge of the headlines and stories that are released to the public. Each article you approve from your office has a direct impact on the world outside. Which news...

Hypnospace Outlaw

Release Date: 12/04/2019, updated in 2020

Platforms: Mac, PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 13+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Hand-Made

Hypnospace Outlaw is a puzzle game where you explore a simulation of the internet in the 1990s. Your role is to enforce good behaviour by finding misconduct on the pixelated pages. It's not only a unique piece of historical fiction but because its web...

Beat Cop

Release Date: 27/11/2018, updated in 2019

Platforms: Mac, PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Components: 2D Side-On, Day and Night and Pixels

Beat Cop is a police crime drama where you have been framed for murder. Back on the street, you navigate the pixilated 80’s Miami Vice world to find out who did it. Your approach and decisions matter. Will you go in with the mafia or stay straight?...

Cart Life

Release Date: 25/04/2019

Platforms: PC

Components: 2D Side-On, Pixels and Text

Cart Life is a simulation game where you play one of three street vendors. You attempt to run their shop whilst looking after their health, interests, and families. It has simple visuals, but depicts the realities of the thin-end of life.

Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You

Release Date: 27/10/2016

Platforms: Android, Mac, PC and iOS

Components: 2D Side-On and Text

Orwell is narrative game where you play a fictional research using a surveillance program called Orwell. Through a series of episodes you are tasked with using Orwell to help solve mysteries like the bombing of a public plaza. To do this you trawl...

Bad News

Release Date: 01/12/2019

Platforms: Web

Components: 2D Side-On, Hand-Made and Text

Bad News is a role-play game about building a news media organisation. It's designed to highlight bias in the news by putting you in charge of a series of decisions to build a profitable company. All you do is answer questions, but as you do the...

Spec Ops: The Line

Release Date: 29/06/2012

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Components: 3D Third-Person

Spec Ops: The Line is shooting game played in third-person where you with an emphasis on squad-based tactics, and calling in support technology and firepower. Unusually, the player needs to make moral decisions at certain points during the game that...

Branches of Power

Release Date: 29/05/2020

Platforms: Android, Web and iOS

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Cartoon

Branches of Power is a strategy game where you control all three branches of US government. You run the country with the ability to introduce presidential agendas, write legislation, sign or veto bills, and even judge passed laws. It's a lot to deal...

Immigration Nation

Release Date: 31/07/2018, updated in 2020

Platforms: Android, Web and iOS

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead, Cartoon and Grid

Immigration Nation is a strategy game about guiding newcomers to the country along their path to citizenship. You are in charge of Immigration Bay with an inflow of boats, each with their own story to understand.

Suzerain

Release Date: 04/12/2020

Platforms: Mac and PC

Components: 2D Side-On and Hand-Made

Suzerain is a role-play strategy game where you are the president of the fictional country, Sordland. By choosing conversations and life path you use your skills of persuasion and political values to reform your country after the downfall of a dictator.

We Become What We Behold

Release Date: 20/10/2016

Platforms: Mac, PC and Web

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

We Become What We Behold is a short narrative game where you take pictures of a group of characters going about their everyday life. You play by positioning the camera with your mouse to capture moments of life. It's novel because this seemingly...

Dot's Home

Release Date: 22/10/2021

Platforms: Android, Mac, PC and iOS

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 3D First-Person

Dot's Home is a narrative game where you play a black woman in Detroit exploring the impact of racism in the past and the results of it today. You travel through time and interact with the characters you meet, learning about redlining, gentrification...

Monorail Stories

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Monorail Stories is a narrative adventure where two people's lives are entwined by the journeys they take on the same monorail. You make choices for each character that can impact not only people on your commute but those on the other journey. It's...

Not Tonight

Not Tonight (Series)

Release Date: 17/08/2018, updated in 2020

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Skill Rating: 14+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Pixels

Not Tonight is a tongue-in-cheek role-play adventure where you challenge the political establishment in alternative versions of Post-Brexit Britain (in the first game) or capitalism-run-rampant America (in the sequel). You take on a time pressured...

Unmaze

Release Date: 21/06/2021

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Skill Rating: 12+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Day and Night

Unmaze is a mix of puzzle game and graphic novel. Inspired by the myth of the Minotaur, you help Asterion and Theseus to guide them out of the maze. However, you can only help one at a time. Using the phone's camera the game lets you help Asterion when...

Harmony Square

Release Date: 06/11/2020

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Components: 2D Side-On and Text

Harmony Square is a text-based adventure game about fake news. You live in idyllic Harmony Square and are hired as Chief Disinformation Officer whose job is to disturb the square’s peace and quiet by fomenting internal divisions and pitting its...

Karawan

Release Date: 04/10/2021

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Components: 2D Overhead and Grid

Karawan is a meditative puzzle game where you journey to escape a desolate, crumbling world. It requires significant route-planning strategy, as you work to find optimum path to gather resources without running out of food. The novelty is extended by...

NationStates

Release Date: 13/11/2002

Platforms: Web

Skill Rating: 13+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Hand-Made

NationStates is a government simulation game where you manage a virtual country's administration. You do this by responding to issues which affect your nation's political freedom, civil rights, and economy. It is up to you to decide how your country is...

Pentiment

Release Date: 15/11/2022

Platforms: PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Components: 2D Side-On and Text

Pentiment is a historical role-playing game where you explore 16^th century Germany world to solve a murder. Play takes place in the pages of an old book and involves exploring the world, talking to people and discovering new ways the narrative evolves....

Svoboda 1945: Liberation

Release Date: 03/08/2021, updated in 2022

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Skill Rating: 14+ year-olds

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Svoboda 1945: Liberation is a narrative game that uses footage of real actors to tell an interweaving story about the aftermath of the Second World War. As you talk to the villagers, explore locations untouched for years and complete puzzles, you...

Zero Escape

Zero Escape (Series)

Release Date: 10/12/2009, updated in 2016

Platforms: 3DS and 2DS, DS, PC, PS Vita, PS4, Xbox One and iOS

Components: 2D Side-On

Zero Escape, is a series of adventure games that follows a group of nine individuals, who are kidnapped and held captive by a person who goes by the name "Zero", and are forced to play a game of life and death in order to escape.

Goose Goose Duck

Release Date: 03/10/2021

Platforms: Android, Mac, PC and iOS

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

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Goose Goose Duck is a strategy communication game where you work with your fellow geese while completing missions. While you do, try and spot the malicious mallards who have infiltrated your team to stop you. Then, after the task, you get to vote out...

20 Younger Content Rating than Papers, Please

If Papers, Please is not age appropriate for your child, here are similar games ordered by age rating so you can find an age-appropriate alternative that’s also a game they will love.

The Case of the Golden Idol

The Tomorrow Children

Hypnospace Outlaw

Luck Be A Landlord

Unmaze

Orwell: Keeping an Eye On You

Suzerain

Bad News

Headliner: NoviNews

4 Board Game Alternatives to Papers, Please

These are our hand-picked alternatives to Papers, Please. This doesn't use automatic matching, instead, we hand-pick games that are good to play if you have enjoyed Labyrinth. These selections also include games that offer a different experience but address a similar theme or topic.

Cockroach Poker Royal

Sheriff of Nottingham

Fluxx

Imperial

16 Video Games Like Papers, Please Based on Genre

These are games of a similar genre mix to Papers, Please. This includes games from the Puzzle, Narrative, Point-and-Click and Simulation genres. We pick out games of a similar PEGI rating to further hone these generated suggestions.

Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney

Genesis Noir

Her Story

Telling Lies

Oxenfree II: Lost Signals

VA-11 Hall-A

Wayward Strand

Framed

Doki Doki Literature Club

Raptor Boyfriend: A High School Romance

11 Video Games With More Documented Accessibility Features than Papers, Please

If you like the sound of Papers, Please but it doesn’t offer the accessibility you require, the games in this section offer a similar experience but with more Accessibility Features. You can view a full breakdown in our Papers, Please Accessibility Report.

Return of the Obra Dinn

The Stanley Parable

Beyond: Two Souls

Do Not Feed the Monkeys

Papers, Please is in These Lists

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Curated lists:
Game genre:
Style of Play:
Components:

How long to play:
User-generated content:	No
Accessibility features:	Yes

Controls
Gamepad:
Mouse And Keyboard:
Touchscreen:
Motion:	Motion Aiming Motion Pointing Motion Tilting Motion Gesture Motion Camera
Remap Controls:
Button Combinations:	Holding Down Buttons Optional Rapid Repeated Pressing Optional No Simultaneous Buttons
Controller Vibration:
Sensitivity:

Getting Started
Onboarding Before Play:
Assistance Getting Starting:	Tutorials Practice Area View Control Mapping Assistance With Controls Reaction-Time Not Critical Low Pressure Adjust Speed No Jump Scares
Assistance For Progressing:	Guaranteed Progress With God Mode Bank Progress With Frequent Checkpoints Assisted Progress With Boosts Assisted Progress With Hints Assisted Recall for Characters Assisted Recall for Narrative and Dialogue Save Progress Anytime

Reading
Reading Level:
Text Visibility:	Large Clear Text High Contrast Text
Subtitles:
Captions:
Voice Acted:

Navigation
Clarity:
Head-Up Display:
Menu Navigation:

Visual
Contrast:
Interactive Elements:
Visual Distractions:
Audio Cues for Visual Events:
Narration for Visual Elements:
	Motion Sickness Friendly
Colour Options:
Play Without Sight:
Violence:

Audio
	Balance Audio Levels
Audio Events:
	Play Without Hearing

Communication
Player-to-Player Online Communication:
Online Communication Assistance:

Difficulty
Difficulty Options:	Simple and Full Version No Memorisation Advantage No Hidden Information No Deceit Advantage No Colour Advantage No Mathematics Advantage No Weighing Decisions

Getting Started
Assistance Getting Started:	Clear Manual Electronic Version of Manual Electronic Version of Manual for Screen Readers Getting Started Video Digital Version Reference Aid
Assistance Progressing:	Play Order Tokens (Or play order doesn’t change) Reaction-Time Not Critical Low Pressure Low Impact Catch Up Rule

Reading
Reading Level:
Necessary Text Visibility:	Large Clear Text on Board (Or no text required) Large Clear Text on Cards (Or no text required) High Contrast Text (Or no text required) QR Code For Text (Or no text required) Primary and Secondary Text Distinguishable (Or no text required) Information Orientation Clear Icons

Physical
Pieces:	Components are Distinguishable by Touch Components are Replaceable No Non-Standard Dice (Or No Dice) No Tiny Pieces No Paper Money No Sprawl
Cards:	Large Card Size Standard Card Shape Limited Hand Management No Excessive Card Shuffling No Right-Handed Advantage
Placement:	No Unbound Placement Player Components Not Shared No Fiddly Placement Easily Verbalised Actions

Visual
Printed Visibility:	Colour Blind Friendly Design Double-Coding Colour High Contrast Colours
Component Identifiability:	Outline Key Elements No Busy Backgrounds Easily Verbalised Game State No Close Inspection Disadvantage Playable Without Sight

Audio
Communication:	Audio Cues Mirrored Visually (Or no critical audio signals) No Pressured Reveals No Pressured Communication Playable Without Hearing

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59 Great Games Like Papers, Please

Game Details

6 Similar Games Short List

35 Similar Games Long List

20 Younger Content Rating than Papers, Please

4 Board Game Alternatives to Papers, Please

16 Video Games Like Papers, Please Based on Genre

11 Video Games With More Documented Accessibility Features than Papers, Please

Papers, Please is in These Lists

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