Dreadwoods Gatekeeper Brings a 3D Papers, Please Twist to Steam

A new indie title is putting a fully three-dimensional spin on the bureaucratic dread of Papers, Please, and it comes with monsters. According to Rock Paper Shotgun, developer Raw Take Games has revealed Dreadwoods Gatekeeper, a checkpoint simulator that drops players into a solitary outpost surrounded by fog, forgery and things that go bump in the night.

Stamping Papers in a 3D Outpost

Where most games inspired by Lucas Pope’s 2013 classic Papers, Please have stuck to flat, pixel-art presentation, Dreadwoods Gatekeeper breaks from that mould with a fully realised 3D booth and surrounding wilderness. Rock Paper Shotgun notes that this genre almost always stays 2D, partly because it’s simpler to build and partly because derivative works rarely stray far from their source material.

Set in the game’s titular Dreadwoods region, players take on the role of a lone gatekeeper stationed at an outpost where, as Rock Paper Shotgun puts it, “things aren’t quite right.” An official gameplay trailer shared by Raw Take Games shows the day-to-day grind of checking travel permits, spotting forged stamps and deciding whether to enforce the rules or look the other way.

Bribes, Contraband and Tax-Dodging Chickens

The bureaucratic busywork at the heart of Dreadwoods Gatekeeper leans heavily on the moral compromises that made Papers, Please so memorable. Rock Paper Shotgun describes scenarios such as travellers offering bribes to hide illegal weapons stashed in a wagon, or a supposed vegetable shipment turning out to be a crate of chickens that then need to be confiscated and taxed.

Beyond processing paperwork, the gatekeeper is also responsible for the upkeep of the outpost itself, including cleaning and repairs to the building attached to the gate. It’s a job description that sounds mundane on paper, but Rock Paper Shotgun makes clear that the daily grind is only half the story.

When Night Falls on the Dreadwoods

Once the sun goes down, Dreadwoods Gatekeeper reportedly shifts into something far more unsettling. According to Rock Paper Shotgun’s preview, the night sections bring in thick fog, unexplained blood and even a warning message scrawled on the outpost wall reading “leave,” hinting at horrors beyond routine paperwork violations.

Exactly what stalks the Dreadwoods after dark remains unclear, but the ability to arm the gatekeeper with a spear suggests these encounters won’t be resolved with a rubber stamp. It’s this blend of methodical daytime bureaucracy and creeping nighttime horror that sets the game apart from other checkpoint-inspection titles on Steam.

No Release Date Yet, But Wishlisting Is Open

Raw Take Games has not announced a release date for Dreadwoods Gatekeeper, but Rock Paper Shotgun confirms the game is already available to wishlist on Steam. For fans of narrow-scope simulation games with a horror edge, this is one worth keeping an eye on as more details, and hopefully a launch window, emerge.

The indie horror-sim space has been busy lately, with plenty of small studios experimenting with unusual premises rather than chasing blockbuster budgets. Dreadwoods Gatekeeper’s mix of Papers, Please-style moral dilemmas and folk-horror atmosphere positions it as a distinctive entry for players in New Zealand and Australia hunting for something different in their Steam wishlists this year.

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