Donutal Review

Papers, Please, But The Papers Talk Back

Donutal, released September 3, 2026 from developer and publisher Arc System Works, drops you into the year 2206 as a debt-saddled Chief Extraterrestrial Counselor, freshly thawed from a 150-year cryosleep and handed the job of deciding which visiting aliens get to set foot on Earth. It's an unmistakable riff on the immigration-checkpoint interrogation format Papers, Please made famous, except the documents here are conversations: you summon up to two alien visitors into an interview room at once, listen to what they say about themselves and each other, and decide whether they're tourists, potential allies, or an extinction-level threat. Eleven English-language reviews have landed so far, nine positive and two negative, a "Positive" score for a $9.99 visual-novel-adventure hybrid from a studio far better known for fighting games than narrative interrogation sims. That pedigree mismatch is part of what makes the reception interesting: reviewers keep comparing it to a completely different genre's most famous entry, and mostly conclude the comparison flatters Donutal rather than exposing it.

A Lighter, Chattier Papers, Please

Nearly every review reaches for the same reference point, and the ones that dig into specifics agree on what's actually different about it. "Donutal is a game like lighter version of Papers, Please. Instead of checking documents, you interview aliens to understand their true intentions," one reviewer wrote, adding that "it's more of a visual novel than a traditional game, with simple and uncomplicated mechanics." Another pushes the comparison further into its actual mechanical hook: "what makes it much more interesting is that you can interview two aliens at once, and can mix-and-match any species of alien... conversation between them may reveal hidden information." A third reviewer frames the tonal balance as the game's real selling point: "writing are both funny and serious... you can call this 'Papers, please but actually, please talk me and each other!'" One reviewer draws an unexpected second comparison, calling it "a bit of a mix between Papers, Please and a funky little toy from the late 2000s, Cube World," specifically for how much time you spend simply watching two characters interact and trying to read their intentions rather than actively solving a puzzle.

Charming Aliens, A Real Story, And A Genuinely Missable True Route

The alien designs and the writing behind them get consistent, specific praise rather than generic "good art" throwaway lines. "The fun of this game primarily comes from its amazing art, cool/funny/cute alien designs, and interesting dialogue, plus the mystery that is slowly uncovered through playing and getting different endings," one reviewer wrote, while another calls out the range on display: "a lot of them are human scale Star Wars-ish guys, but there's also a lot of cosmic horrors that can instantly end the world if not for your permit rejection." A reviewer engaging with the game's actual subject matter praised its handling directly: "this is a game that explores its subject matter thoroughly, with care, sensitivity and humor... if you want to play a game about immigration, it's up there." That same reviewer flagged a real structural rough edge, though: "it was kind of unintuitive to unlock the true route," since the game's central mechanic, pairing up specific alien combinations to surface hidden information, isn't always clearly telegraphed to the player. A separate reviewer independently corroborates that the multiple-ending structure rewards very specific choice combinations that aren't obvious on a first playthrough.

The Real Complaints: Padding, A Broken Difficulty Curve, And Steam Deck

The negative reviews aren't dismissing the premise, they're pointing at execution problems, and a couple of them corroborate each other on the same points. One extended, generally positive review still lands on real fatigue: "gets somewhat tedious after 3 hours," concluding "too many similar cases and too hard to finish. Still, loved it absolutely," which is a genuinely mixed verdict from someone who ultimately recommends the game anyway. A more critical reviewer goes further on the mechanical side, describing being funneled into a "very narrow path" of correct choices and feeling punished for deviating even slightly, calling the whole thing "a visual novel masquerading as a game." Separately, a purely technical complaint shows up clean and uncontested: "not currently compatible with Steam Deck. The game can't match the screen size, so that you only end up seeing 1/3 of what you are supposed to see," a real accessibility gap for a genre that otherwise fits handheld play well. And on the exploit side, one reviewer flags something worth taking seriously for anyone hoping this scratches a time-pressure itch: "way too easy to cheat, though; you effectively have infinite time to ask questions because quitting and reloading during an interview resets the timer," meaning the tension Papers, Please built its whole identity around is, here, entirely optional.

Verdict

Donutal earns its Positive score by committing fully to the parts of its Papers, Please lineage that are actually transferable, moral ambiguity, a slow-drip mystery, and the specific tension of deciding someone's fate from a conversation rather than a stack of paperwork, while wisely not trying to copy the original's stopwatch-driven bureaucratic pressure. What it delivers instead is a warmer, funnier, more character-focused riff, carried by genuinely well-designed alien cast members and a story that reviewers say handles its immigration-and-trust themes with real care rather than treating them as set dressing. The rough edges are concrete rather than vague: a true-route unlock condition that's easy to miss on a first playthrough, a pacing problem that a few reviewers hit hard around the three-hour mark, an exploitable timer that removes whatever pressure the format is supposed to create, and a currently broken Steam Deck layout that cuts off two-thirds of the screen. None of those are fatal, but a portable-first player or someone specifically chasing Papers, Please's white-knuckle time pressure should adjust expectations accordingly. For anyone who wants that game's moral-judgment core wrapped in a gentler, chattier, more narrative-forward shell, Donutal delivers exactly that, aliens and all.