Indie favorite ‘Papers, Please’ has sold 5 million copies

The surprisingly emotional and strangely addictive “dystopian document thriller” Papers, Please just turned ten years old and has officially sold five million copies across multiple platforms throughout the past decade. To celebrate the milestone, developer Lucas Pope and his company 3909 LLC released a web game called LCD, Please that allows players to go through certain aspects of the original title.

Just like the real game, LCD, Please tasks you with approving or denying passport and transit requests. As the name suggests, the graphics style emulates those LCD portable devices of yesteryear, like Nintendo’s Game & Watch series. The sound is monotone, the controls are simple and the gameplay is addictive, making it a great way to accidentally waste a few minutes during the work day.

The web game isn’t the only way the developer is celebrating the success of Papers, Please. There’s also an official soundtrack, available now on Spotify and Apple Music, a developer’s log with insider information chronicling the game’s original pitch and a store selling related merchandise. To the latter, you can pick up posters, shirts, stickers and more.

Since the game’s initial release in 2013, Papers, Please has gone on to launch on over 40 platforms, according to the developer. Most recently, the title was released for Android and iOS devices last year. The game’s success also inspired a short film, which was well-received and lauded for capturing the spirit of the source material. Since making Papers, Please, developer Lucas Pope has gone on to create the seafaring whodunnitReturn of the Obra Dinn.