Didn’t see a thread on this already. I picked this game up the other day when it went on sale (to the low low price of $6 from its usual price of $10), thinking I’d just play half an hour or so before bed, and wound up spending four hours on it.
The graphics look like something from a 1990s-era Carmen Sandiego game, but the gameplay is surprisingly enjoyable. You play a border agent in Arztotska, some kind of Eastern European dictatorship or the like. As visitors and immigrants come through your checkpoint, you examine their papers for discrepancies. If everything is OK, you green-stamp them through. If not, you give them the red stamp and keep them out.
Meanwhile, you have the option to accept bribes and other nefarious sources of income, which are important to keep your family warm and fed.
It’s really a very simple game, but there’s quite a bit of storytelling in it, and I’ve been having a lot of fun with it and wanted to throw out a recommendation.
I tried it and keep dying in the first few rounds mainly because it takes me too long to fiddle with the input that you need to document why you are rejecting people. In other words the games is stupid and ugly because I am not good at it.
I’m kindof annoyed that I missed the sale, because I’m kinda on the fence about whether I should pick up something that I may never play/enjoy for $10.
I was intrigued when it first came out, but was hesitant even when it went on sale because while it still looked interesting I wasn’t sure I would enjoy it.
But I picked it up during the sale and while it is challenging, I found it to be quite fun, after figuring out what I was supposed to do; there’s not really very much instruction, but I suppose that kind of adds to the early-80s-Eastern-Bloc atmosphere of the game. It certainly helps if you already think inspecting and comparing minute details is fun (which I do; I’m weird like that).
Actually, during the first few days you don’t need to document shit. In fact, since you’re paid by the stamp trying to be thorough is costing you time and money, as you’ve figured out ! If you notice a discrepancy, stop everything and hit the big red stamp, NEXT.
Things change later once you start getting kickbacks for arrests.
At that point, you should absolutely document some of the rejections when you see an opportunity to try and get somebody shot - but not all : for example, people who mention the wrong duration for a visit compared to what’s on their visa paper will 99% of the time correct themselves if you investigate, and that just wastes time. Out, NEXT ! Same about people with the wrong name on their passports/documents : 99% of the time they’ll say “oh yeah, btw, I have two names”, at which point you have to fingerprint them, maybe get an arrest but most often they really do have two names and you’ve just wasted a bunch of time. Better to just kick them out quick, NEXT !
It’s only on day 18 or so that you’ll get directives saying you can’t just deny people willy nilly. But by then you’ll also have bought booth upgrades to speed up the work, as well as gotten used to many of the game’s tricks, memorized the list of countries and cities, and so forth.
Finally, you can save a lot of money by being a terrible father and husband : your family only needs heat or food on alternating days (so heat day 1, food day 2 etc…). Depriving your kid of heat will make him sick the next day, but buying medicine is still cheaper than heat (at least early on).
I picked this up earlier this week and have been…engaged. I don’t enjoy it, per se, but it is engaging. It sucks up way more time than I would expect, as I’m compelled to follow the narrative and try to “win” but I don’t find the actual gameplay enjoyable so much as stressful.
Apparently there’s twenty “endings.” I’ve only gotten the one previously mentioned (fail state) where:
my entire family died and I was fired for not having a family, as Arztotska boarder officials need to have families for PR reasons.
This time, I’m trying to be as good as possible. Playing mostly by the book, but trying to help people who make a convincing case. Not accepting bribes, keeping my family fed and heated. I’m in early December now, but I’m sure that it’s going to get much, much harder to look out for the family while still being a “good” person.
I thought you only got the option to detain if they did something overtly wrong, like had contraband or something. I didn’t think the detain option came up for simple document or story inconsistencies. Also, when you say “kick them out” are you referring to detaining them or just giving the red stamp? If you deny someone who is cleared for entry, you get a citation.
On that topic, how does payment work? Do you get paid by total number of applicants processed or number of green stamps? Do you get paid for interrogating someone and citing a rule? Do you get cited for detaining someone who is cleared for entry (if that’s even possible)?
Do you get paid for someone you incorrectly green stamp? That would make green stamping a few “wrong” people a viable strategy as long as you didn’t do so many that you got fined.
You only get paid for correct processions, be it approval or denial. You don’t get extra if there is extra work involved. I don’t think it’s possible to detain someone if they have no discrepancies. You get 2 free citations a day.
Depends on the specific problem with the document. If they have the wrong name, say they have multiple aliases but only their first name pops out when you fingerprint them, you can arrest them because they probably stole the visa they’re using. Also if they have forged documents (i.e. their papers lack the official seals or bear seals that aren’t on the list), that’s an instant trip to the happy friendly re-adjustment camp.
I meant Big Red Stamp.
Yes, you get a citation for denying people who should have gotten in, but if they aren’t cleared for entry, and until you’ve gotten the directives to explain why you just BRS’d their visa, you can deny them willy nilly.
If you investigate something relatively innocuous and give them the opportunity to correct themselves (or to produce a document they forgot to give you), then you can’t kick them out any more - you do have to green them. But you wasted time investigating that you could have spent denying them earlier in the conversation when you still had a reason to, and called for someone else. So go ahead and be an intransigent jerk, it pays better :D.
Huh. I’d always figured the all-knowing citation machine would punish me if I missed a correctable discrepancy. Now I’m wondering if it’s better to just give people who weigh more than their ID says the red stamp - it takes time to run the x-ray machine and an arrest doesn’t pay as much as an extra applicant.
I rather liked the game but spoiled it for myself by getting perfectionist and restarting days too often. I’m not interested in the story and it seems like, with $300 in the bank, that I can just coast along to the end. Of course, I don’t know that for a fact. It could be that the game changes quite a lot later on.
I thoroughly investigate each person, incidentally.
