Spoof Video Imagines What the Current USA Would Look Like as a Papers, Please Game

In 2013, the puzzle simulation game, Papers, Please, launched for PC. Its gameplay involving who to allow into the fictional country of Arstotzka is a critique on the immigration process. Now, a savvy YouTuber has made a short video displaying what a theoretical Papers, Please: USA Edition would look like.

Take a look at the clip below:

The commentary is not exactly subtle. A red hat on a camera, a voice sounding suspiciously like President Trump (who wouldn’t even be remotely involved in the actual immigration process), mentions of DEI and Cybertrucks, and a savage takedown of Detroit all feature. At least there is an homage to the ED-209 to take the sting out of the Michigan joke. All we can do is laugh at the present, after all.

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Although this mockup is great satire on the American immigration system, it is quite telling Papers, Please continues to be relevant more than a decade after its release. It is hard enough to gain legal status in the United States through immigration, and with the way the bad news associated with the current administration keeps rolling in on the daily, some of the scenarios in Papers, Please: USA Edition do not seem that far-fetched.

Truthfully, I have not played Papers, Please. However, I know for a fact I would question the morality of many of the decisions the player has to make in the game. Even if something is technically legal, it does not make it just. I would have a hard time denying people entry into the country, which could often mean the difference between life and death. After watching this parody, I shudder to think what the next four years will look like at our borders.