The Rise of 2D Games

A review of Among Us and Papers, Please

2D games have mostly been disregarded because of their graphics and their age. But some game developers still put their hope in low graphic games and instead, they crank out a big load of fun gameplay. 'Among Us' and 'Papers Please' are two such games—the sudden popularity of both of these games show that there is still hope for 2D games.

Among Us

Beware if you play this game! You might get trust issues with your friends.

Among Us is a game released by 'Innersloth' in 2018. It is a casual game with a simple 2D flash animation style. You can play the game with 4-10 people—there are 1-3 imposters, and the rest play as crew-mates, so it’s quite a big game with most of your friends. The objective of the crewmen is to complete all the tasks before everyone is dead. The objective of the imposter is to kill everyone in either sabotaging or killing.

For the graphics, I mean come on, it’s a flash game. There is no real need for graphics and instead of graphics, Among Us only has pure gameplay. The gameplay is excellent and also super easy to learn. If your friend is new, then they'll learn how to play in no time. Although, I wish that there were shortcuts for reporting a dead body or tasks, though. When you host a game, you can also make your game mode completely customizable, ranging from player speed to how many tasks a crewman needs to do.

My friends and I play this game the most. It brings back pleasant nostalgia for playing Adobe flash games together. I mostly like the game because I can play it with my friends. It’s the only game my friends are rarely willing to play with me.

Figure 1: Homepage of Among Us

Figure 2: Public server page

Figure 3 : Gameplay in Among Us

Figure 4: Gameplay in Among Us

Figure 5: A typical task in Among Us

Papers, Please

I first watched a gameplay of Papers, Please on Jacksepticeye’s YouTube channel. When I finally started playing it in 2019, I never knew it would be so exciting. The dystopian style world made a connection with the book 1984, which I read when I was in 6th grade. The best thing about the game is that things always change. I loved this game with every minute I played it.

Papers, Please is an 8-bit dystopian document thriller. The main character is a border inspector and has to make a living for the family. Through the story, you will find interesting people and game-changing events that will change the ending of the entire game. The game itself has over ten different endings. There are no bad endings, nor are their good endings, whether it is wrong or right, it will depend on your opinion.

The game has an interesting concept. It also has some funny features such as the little potato man who keeps trying to smuggle stuff into the country. It’s also emotional— ina would-be an event you accept the entrance to the wife of one guard at the border where you see them reuniting, which is pleasant to see. The game progressively gets more challenging each day, and through that, it becomes increasingly harder to keep your family alive.

For the graphic—8-bit graphics have always had a certain look. Like Among Us, most of its strong points are on gameplay, and it’s more than proven that you don’t need good graphics for a good game. The gameplay is quite stressful, l but fun and exciting. The storytelling is one of the best and most emotional I have ever played. It’s so simple but the story is very thought-out and well-paced. Would definitely recommend.