Black Border 2 is a sequel to a great border control simulator where we meticulously verify the documents of drivers who transport various cargo across the border of a small transit region. It’s a series heavily inspired by the indie hit “Papers, Please!”.

Standing at a checkpoint, our job is to verify the documents of truck drivers and reject their entry if there are discrepancies such as expired dates, wrong genders, or inconsistencies in the transport declarations.

Each 5-minute-long mission tasks us with filling a quota of correctly denying and permitting entry into our country. Correct decisions earn us money, while mistakes lead to fines.

True to the canons of the genre, we can accept bribes from people and abuse our authority - but doing so too recklessly may lead to us failing our quota and having to restart the mission.

In between missions, we spend money on upgrading our checkpoint, which includes chopping trees and cleaning up to make space for everything from a kitchen and a dog kennel to an air hangar and a tank factory.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any real purpose behind improving our checkpoint. Aside from a couple of upgrades, like cargo weights and an x-ray scanner that introduce new gameplay elements, the rest of the structures are purely cosmetic.

I was truly disappointed with the game's lack of meaningful story and difficult moral decisions. And since the gameplay isn’t challenging and lacks variety, it quickly becomes boring. The predecessor was much more engaging in this regard. In addition, there are visual bugs and glitches that diminish the experience even further.

Black Border 2 is a $2.99 premium game without ads or iAPs.

In its current state, it doesn’t seem like a finished product and I don’t feel enticed to play it. Hopefully, the situation will improve with additional updates.