Papers, Please creator Lucas Pope says ‘it’s a tragedy’ his 2013 immigration sim now feels so on-the-nose: ‘You want your work to be relevant, but at the same time, wow, I really wish it was not that f***ing relevant’

Papers, Please, first released in 2013, was among the vanguard of indie games that felt like they had something to say, turning the simple act of processing paperwork into a pointed commentary on the political brutality of immigration. It was set in a fictional Soviet-esque country in 1982, which creator Lucas Pope used to amplify the painful decisionmaking of who to allow across the border—defy your authoritarian leaders and your family would go hungry; enforce the letter of the law, and you were turning away refugees who were pinning their hopes on a new life on your understanding and grace.

Papers, Please may have represented a specific point in time, but it is the game on my mind at this moment in time, as the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has held a Canadian traveler in a cement cell for days and “violently interrogated” a German man who has his American green card, while also deporting people en masse without due process.