I mean, true, you do murder people in CoD, but you're generally supposed to be the Hero fighting the Bad Guys. Papers Please exists in a lot grayer sort of place where you decide, do I let this person with falsified papers through, even if they might be a terrorist, so I can take a bribe and feed my family. That's probably got some educational merit in a moral way, but it's pretty dark tonally. It probably depends on the kid. Plus, I may be in the minority, but I actually found the gameplay pretty tedious. Like, it was an interesting game conceptually, but the actual task of looking over papers to see if they had all the right stamps and numbers and whatever, was kind of boring. I know some people have played it so much they've memorized it all and never even need to consult the in game guide, but after one playthrough I was like well that was an experience, and I never played it again. It might not be the kind of thing a lot of kids have the patience for, though that still depends a lot on the kid and what kind of games they prefer.

Whenever I have parents who don't play games asking me about games, I always just tell them, when in doubt, to watch a few minutes from a few different lets plays on youtube and decide from there.