Contraband Police asks: What if Papers, Please gave you a gun?

I am a loyal border agent in Smuggling Police, and I serve as the last line of defense between the great nation of Acaristan and nefarious smugglers and arms dealers. I am given a few simple tools, such as a folder full of regulations, a flashlight, a clipboard, and perhaps most useful of all, a gun. It’s a lot like indie honey Papers, pleaseexcept that I occasionally have to leave my post to lay down the law and shoot criminals.

Smuggling Police is a bit janky but very immersive, and the game is a surprise hit on Steam. It’s the 1980s and I’m starting my new job as a border agent in a Soviet-style totalitarian state. My corrupt predecessor was fired, and my new colleagues are pretty much worthless. I have to open the trunk and hood of a car, look for cigarettes in the grille and discover ceramic chickens full of drugs. Meanwhile, my colleagues enjoy a nice smoke break.

It’s the kind of game where it’s easy to fall into a fugue state. I wake up in my tiny RV to find a line of cars waiting to enter the border. I call them in one by one and check the driver’s papers to see if they meet the regulations. The game likes to throw curveballs at me when I’m most comfortable – a guy can pass the border post and drive into Acaristan, and I have to sprint to my official work truck and chase them down. Or a band of rebels can ambush my mail, and my colleagues finally come in handy when the border crossing becomes a battlefield.

That’s why I have the most powerful administrative tool of all: a gun. I start with a basic service pistol, but I can upgrade to shotguns, submachine guns, and sniper rifles over the course of the campaign. This ends up getting a bit moot, as I find that the real art of border enforcement, at least for a professional gamer, is to run up to a man and aggressively poke him with a pitchfork or shovel until he quietly collapses.

Smuggling Police also occasionally takes me away from my post. My superiors may enlist me to help with an urgent matter, and I must chase a known rebel through the gloomy woods or investigate a local murder. Sometimes I have to drag all the smugglers I caught to the local labor camp, where they can atone for their crime of having a bottle in their car by mining free ore. This all seems very moral and normal!

The game’s shooting and driving mechanics are very floaty, and as long as you duck into cover every now and then you’ll rarely lose a conflict. But it’s not the real meat of the game either; it’s a side dish to the main course of some frontier stops.

Sometimes when I’m processing a man’s documents, he might tell me a sad story. “Oh no, my love is in Arcaristan, and they are in mortal danger!” or “If you don’t let me through, a bunch of kids will die in a terrible mining accident!” Do I let them through and get fined by my superiors? It will make me feel warm and cozy, but I also have to pay all the bills here, and my Soviet superiors don’t want me to go into debt.

Image: Crazy Rocks/PlayWay SA

I also have to pay to upgrade all my stuff, and I don’t exactly earn a competitive wage. That’s why I’m encouraged to really look over everyone’s vehicles with a fine comb. It’s strangely soothing to scan a man’s car and look for hidden treats, like cigarettes or cocaine. Sometimes people offer me bribes, which I don’t take – it’s way too easy to get caught and punished. But nobody cares if I trade contraband with other drivers. I have a nice side job, because it is important to diversify income streams. With enough work, I can convert my small RV into a lovely home with a tin tub to bathe in and a few state-approved posters!

The game currently has a campaign that takes place over the course of a month in the game, and the player is regularly presented with choices: will they remain loyal to the glorious Acaristan, or will they throw off their shackles and choose to become a . become an insider for the uprising? Developer Crazy Rocks is working on an endless mode with more paperwork and police ranks, which I’m looking forward to. The campaign can be completed in a few sessions and is interrupted by some fun picks, but I’m hungry to keep checking for contraband.

Smuggling Police is available on Steam for $16.99 (marked down from $19.99). Since then, the game has received over 4,000 reviews, averaging “Very Positive” and has sold over 250,000 copies.