Papers, Please
Worth it · Narrative · 2013
Steam Deck VerifiedThe verdict
BUY IT.
Worth it at $9.99, a BANGER if it drops to $7.49. Typically $4.99 in seasonal sales. The Winter Sale opens Dec 17.
- Cost per hour▼
- $2.00/hr
- ReviewsS
- 97% of 80,876
- Critics
- 85 players 12 higher
- Genre rank
- Top 3% Narrative
Holding it back: Cost per hour
Why
Watch this gameOne alert at $7.49 or less.
Time and effort
- Main story
- 5h
- To 100%
- 16.2h 3.2x the story
- Achievements
- 13
Price and sales
- Sales
- 51 on record
- Typical cut
- 50% off
- Steam low
- $1.99 January 2018
- Sale every
- 89d last August 2026
Players and genre
- Online
- 279 now
- Recent reviews
- 97% 30 days
- Cheaper than
- 30% of its genre
- Better reviewed
- 99% of its genre
Price and player charts
The drop-off
58% start to 7% rarestThis site could not identify an ending achievement for this game, so there is no finish rate. Steam global achievements
The value story
The value story
Across all 51 discounts in the 13 years tracked, the median cut is 50 percent, about 13 weeks apart. Past sales have already crossed the $7.49 BANGER line 49 times.
Its score puts it in the top 3 percent of the games it competes with. It is pricier than 70 percent of its genre, and better reviewed than 99 percent. It outscores the games it most resembles, including Beholder: Conductor ($13.99, scores 72) and Beholder 2 ($17.99, scores 66).
More about Papers, Please
The press gave it 85; the people who bought it give it 97 percent. A 12-point gap in the buyer's favour.
Of the 800 Steam-purchase reviews this site sampled, 26 come from buyers who refunded the game, sampled from reviews written August 2023 to October 2026. That is fewer refunded reviewers than 7 in 10 paid games this site has sampled to the same depth, and among the 1,628 games in its genre sampled this deeply, 959 have a larger share. Inside the two-hour refund window, 87 percent of the 7,267 reviews written there were positive, against 97 percent overall, and those are 10 percent of everything written about it.
Finishing takes 5 hours; clearing it takes 16, which is 3.2 times the campaign.
At 5 hours it is a handheld-sized game, and Valve rates it Deck Verified.
Buy now or wait
Buy now or wait
Discounted in 4 of its last 8 seasonal sales. Last discount ended 81 days ago.
Sources: IsThereAnyDeal, Valve.
What drives the score
Grades: S best, D weakest
S is the best grade and D the weakest, judged as a buyer. ▲ raises the score, ▼ lowers it, ? is an input we do not have, • is a fact this genre's score does not use. How the grades work
What players say
One could write a graduate thesis about the political ramifications this game had on an entire generation. But that same person would not be allowed to cross into fictional Arstotzka with their thesis, and that's the point. This game belongs in a museum, period. Play it while you can.
2 more reviews
It's Papers, Please, you probably have seen a certain Irishman, or maybe even a certain Sweed play it before. I have done a playthrough when I just got the game, around early 2021, had a blast and managed to get 2 endings. Recently (25th of September 2026*) I just finished another playthrough to 100% the game, and it was still fun all the way. By the way, always let Jorji in, he would never do something bad. How do...
Perfectly simulates the constant parinoria of being a border guard. Suprisingly addictive.
Steam reviews, mixed to its ratio and rotated daily. Opinions are theirs.
About the game
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.
Minimum specs
Minimum on the Steam store: 2 GB of memory, OpenGL 1.4 or better, 102 MB of storage. Runs on Windows, macOS, Linux.
Cite this score
Papers, Please scores 79/100 on the BANG Score (worth it) as of Nov 8, 2026. The BANG Score rates what a game is worth for the money. Via Steam BANGERS. https://steambangers.com/game/239030/papers-pleaseReviews set the ceiling, and price against real length moves the BANG Score inside it. How it works, and where it is weak → Steam reviews as of Oct 31, price as of Nov 7. A number here look wrong? Tell me and I will check the inputs.