About mid-way through the game, I chose to buy my son the crayon kit for his birthday. I didn't expect much from it, considering the way the game handles the family life aspects, so I was pleasantly surprised when I received a cute drawing from him to hang up on the wall I face for 99% of the game. I hung it up the second I could, but just as I did, an inspector came in and chastised me for putting up such a thing, and I instantly received a fine. This moment, in my eyes, embodies Papers, Please working at its best, where the gameplay, characters, and individual storylines come together to build a somber world filled with bad actors, hard decisions, and a general sense of hopelessness. Given the depressing vibe permeating throughout the entire game, I only could handle playing the game for ~1 hour sessions at a time, considering the gameplay wasn't necessarily invigorating either. While the monotony of checking passport after passport for inconsistencies adds to the overall tone of the experience, it makes replaying the game to get the rest of the endings a much less appealing prospect than it should be. Most of the compelling moments sit in the last 10-15 days, and to ensure you get certain endings you'll need to start from scratch on day 1, which I do not have the energy for as of right now. The family/expense paying phase at the end of each day also could have been more compelling in my eyes. Throughout my playthrough I felt utterly detached from my family outside of the aforementioned drawing I received from my son, and I thought even being able to see the faces of the family members I was feeding, housing, and caring for would have gone a long way in both breaking up the monotony and making decisions that much harder. Overall, while Papers, Please isn't exactly a jolly ol' time, it is undoubtedly a cleverly crafted misery simulator with a lot of character that I will be revisiting, in time.