I dove into the demo for Probably Stolen yesterday, and it took me quite a while to come up for air. As a shopkeeper running a cramped store on a dystopian space station, the cyberpunk sim lets you deal in just about anything: rat meat, purified water, contraband weapons and drugs, stolen goods, food, household supplies... you name it.
You can upgrade your shop with gadgets, lose inventory in security raids or by thievery, and choose a side in the class war. There's a lot going on, and tons to do in the demo.
I've played over two hours already (in one sitting) and I'm going back in as soon as I'm done writing this. Here are a few things Probably Stolen, which is coming out next month, reminds me of:
- Papers, Please: Your decisions as a shopkeeper have an effect. If you spot someone on the wanted list coming in to your store, you can report them to security for a reward—but keep in mind they may be members of the resistance fighting against the cruel dystopia.
- Dredd: With customers coming in from the poverty-stricken lower levels and the wealthier upper levels, it feels like I'm working a shop in one of those massive towers from the Dredd movie, even though in the game's fiction I'm actually working in a cyberpunk space-station.
- Strange Horticulture: My favorite shopkeeping sim is a fascinating detective game in disguise, and there's a hint of it in Probably Stolen. You can use a magnifying glass to examine items to see if they're counterfeit and as an appraisal tool to judge their value, a bit like how you search for clues to ID plants in Strange Horticulture. Fun!
- Fallout: You can farm rats for their meat, set up water purification systems, scavenge through trash heaps to find scrap to turn into sellable goods... I know I'm on a space station, but it feels a little like I'm trying to earn a buck in the wasteland.
- Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale: You're not just selling, you're buying, and you can haggle over prices, sometimes at the expense of your reputation. Demand in the station can change: if a mining expedition docks, for example, you can expect the prices of metals to plunge as supply explodes. You'll have to be nimble and keep your eye on what's valuable from day to day.
- Cyberpunk 2077: I probably don't need to elaborate on this one, choombatta.
Probably Stolen - Release Date Announcement Trailer - YouTube
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