All of the endings in Papers, Please and how to get them
- Here's each ending in Papers, Please and what you need to do to get them
- Many are nothing special but you'll need to complete at least one for endless mode
- Glory to Arstotzka!
If there’s any game on mobile you should play at least once, it’s Papers, Please. Rightfully praised for being a beautiful marriage between a grim storyline and tense gameplay, the game lets you take on the role of a border official in the fictional country of Arstotzka during the height of communism.
You’ll be challenged to balance your job, the needs of your family, the demands of the party, the dangers of terrorists and your own ethics. Yes, even though this is quite literally a document-checking simulator, there are also a variety of endings for you to experience. And you might be wondering exactly how you get them, and what they entail. We'll try our best not to spoil too much, but be aware there likely are spoilers throughout!
Not all the endings in Papers, Please are good, and you don’t really get much for them. Instead, you’ll notice in the top right of the day's menu that you can see some grey dots being filled in white. This is, in effect, your "achievement" counter and it fits the very minimalist nature of Papers, Please. You’re encouraged to immerse yourself and think a bit more like you’re actually in the world of Arstotzka and making these difficult decisions.
Let’s get into all the ways to complete Papers, Please and how to achieve every ending screen. Glory to Arstotzka.
1
Bad and Miscellaneous Endings
These endings are achieved by…well, failing, and not in an interesting way. You’ll of course remember one of the challenges is keeping your family safe, warm and fed while not sliding into debt. Generally, all of these result in you losing your position and often your freedom, or worse…
- You run into debt and are arrested (any day) - Having a negative monetary balance at the end of the day.
- Your family dies and you are fired (any day) - You don’t provide enough food, heat or other necessities.
- You have unauthorised wall hangings and are fired - You get one warning for unauthorised wall hangings (any decoration except your plaques) before you are fired. The inspector visits every 10 days so this can only occur on day 30 after you have received your first warning on day 20.
- You are arrested for stealing property - Detaining Dimitri the inspector’s "friend" Shae leads to this ending.
- Shooting an innocent - If you shoot an innocent after the sniper rifle becomes available on day 23, you are arrested and executed.
- Shooting a guard - Similar to the above, except you need to have shot a border guard rather than someone waiting to be admitted.
- Tranquillising an innocent - after the tranquilliser gun is unlocked on day 16, using it on an innocent bystander will have you arrested and sentenced to forced labour.
- Tranquillising a guard - Same as above, except of course the sentence is death instead of forced labour.
2
EZIC Endings
A mysterious organisation that seeks to overthrow the current government. We won’t reveal much more about them, but depending on how many tasks you accomplish in favour of EZIC and what you do during certain events, the outcome will change. These can either be the best or worst endings depending on your actions.
- You are arrested for being too honest - Give the M.O.I. Inspector the EZIC documents you received on days 8, 9 and 10 when he arrives, and on day 12, he'll have you arrested as a traitor.
- You are arrested for bribery - When the EZIC agent brings you money on days 11 and 12, if you fail to destroy them and instead accept them, you are reported. EZIC will send someone to deal with the investigation on day 14, but if you don't allow them entry you are arrested the next day.
- Shooting the Man in Red with the sniper rifle - When given a mission by EZIC to eliminate this target, you can either let him through or carry out their orders. If you do, you are arrested and sentenced to death, but EZIC safely extracts your family.
- Shooting the Man in Red with the tranquilizer gun - Same as the above, except EZIC reports that the man was not killed. Otherwise, your family is extracted and you are still put to death.
- EZIC Wins - When you are told to hold your fire on day 31, if you have completed four out of the five possible EZIC tasks and do not shoot either attacker, the wall is destroyed. After this, you "win" and are promoted to an agent of the New Arstotzka.
- Stopping EZIC - If you have completed four EZIC tasks, but choose to shoot the attackers at the border anyway, you are arrested and put to death when your involvement is discovered. EZIC goes underground and will not take care of your family.
- Betraying EZIC - Similar to the "EZIC wins" ending, if you shoot at least one attacker but the wall is still blown up, then EZIC wins but you are identified as a traitor. It’s unclear what your fate is, only that it’s not good.
- EZIC fails - If you have only completed three tasks then, even if EZIC blows up the wall on day 31, if you shoot at least one attacker, they fail and you are discovered then put to death.
3
Border Assault Endings
These endings occur depending on your actions during the final border checkpoint assault, which occurs regardless. On day 31, two attackers will launch an attack on the checkpoint wall - depending on what you do, the following endings will occur…
- Killing the attacker on the bottom of the screen - If you shoot the lower attacker, the top one will still blow up the wall. You are arrested for failing to protect the checkpoint and put to death (as long as you have accomplished less than four EZIC tasks; otherwise, you are arrested for being a traitor. If you have completed four, refer to the EZIC endings). Shooting the top attacker means you are instantly killed when the other attacker lobs a grenade into the checkpoint.
- Killing both attackers (unlocks endless mode) - As long as you have not accomplished any EZIC tasks at all and are able to instead kill both attackers, you are given a commendation and the checkpoint will reopen. This unlocks the endless mode for the game.
4
Obristan Endings
Certain events will - instead of causing you to be arrested, executed or throwing your lot in with EZIC - allow you to escape to the neutral nation of Obristan. These are the most "neutral" endings, although you may not be able to gather all of your family in order to escape.
- Escaping on your own - Available on day 29, 30 and 31. If you have at least 25 credits, you can escape to Obristan either on your own or with some but not all family members.
- Escaping with your family - You are able to escape Arstotzka with your entire family to Obristan. You will need to have one passport - confiscated from Obristan visitors - and 25 credits per family member before you make your escape.
With all of the Papers, Please endings out of the way, we made a list of games like Papers, Please if you ever get bored of it, or in case you close off every possible ending. We can't promise they'll all be exactly like it, but if you want to branch out from RTS and shooters into stranger and more experimental genres, you'll want to check it out! You can also take a peek at our Games of the Week list for a more varied set to try out.
