Papers, Please Goes Mobile on August 5th

Lucas Pope, the sole developer of the hit indie game Papers, Please, has announced that the game will be released on iOS and Android mobile devices on August 5th, 2022.

Making the announcement on Twitter, Lucas Pope also took the time to answer questions from fans about the latest edition of Papers, Please, and what this new version will bring.

The main thing to know is that the content won’t change dramatically. By and large, it’s the same game it has always been, except the user interface has been adapted for smartphones and tablets, so it will only be playable in portrait mode. If you’re on a modern flip phone, such as the Galaxy Fold, Pope jokingly notes that Papers, Please has not been tested on foldable devices and he is “certain it will break in some charming way.”

Gameplay-wise, not much has changed, except that the booth upgrades are now limited to rulebook tabs. The in-game economy also remains mostly untouched with the only change being that entrants processed after the 6PM cut-off are actually paid out. Yay for fair overtime!

Other than these minor tweaks, Papers, Please for mobile will essentially be the same game that released back in 2013 for PC, and later for iPad and PS Vita. It’s also worth noting that if you already own the iPad version of Papers, Please, you’ll automatically get access to the new iPhone version at no extra cost.

Papers, Please puts players in the border control booth of the fictional East European country of Arstotzka and tasks them with processing visitors as they cross the border. It may not sound like a thrill-a-minute, but with the ever-increasing tweaks to the immigration rules and some tough moral decisions thrown up by the story, it’s a far deeper game than it first appears. And, what with the current geopolitical climate, it’s sadly more relevant than ever.