Comic for 2026-09-23
I've played a bunch of the demo for 'Probably Stolen,' and if you enjoy the shopkeeping sim genre at all, I cannot recommend it highly enough. Game comes out in late October, and I'm really excited for it.
However, aside from all of the great mechanics, fun gameplay loop, lovely pixel graphics, there was one moment in the demo that had me sat back in my chair staring at my screen for five minutes.
In the first ten minutes, a security officer (who had up until this point been a regular customer that seemed to be participating in the onboarding tutorial explaining mechanics) presented me with a list of wanted criminals, and said if any of them show up, I should keep them occupied and alert security. And of course, the moment I recognized someone from the poster, I hit my little panic button and the security showed up.
As they're hauling this dude away, he's cursing me to hell, I get notified that I've gained reputation with the government (or whatever) and lost reputation with the revolution; which I had no idea about because I hadn't let this guy get a word in edgewise before bringing the po-po down on him.
And I'm left sitting there, shook, wondering "Wait, is that who I am? Am I the guy who just narcs because the uniformed thugs told me some story about 'scary criminals'? I didn't even question it?" I didn't think that was who I was, but I had just done it. Bit of a real soul-searchy moment, and a great bit of morally-significant gameplay.
But anyway, the game's awesome and you should definitely check out the demo.
Comments (9)
This might not be the case as much with Probably Stolen, but preconceptions we have as experienced gamers also play a big part in this. Someone seeing Mario for the first time might try to look for a way to talk to a Koopa... experienced gamer? We just press the jump button. When we see an RPG, though, we will look for additional options to resolve a situation and might even plan a build from the start that will allow us to finish the game with as little blood on our hands as possible. So, in part, I guess, the problem is that the games that offer a meaningful choice are rare and it's common for these game to advertise it in big letters. I might have tried just pressing "block" in a turn-based RPG battle a long time ago. After many times it didn't matter, though, I gave up trying.
"Are we the baddies?"
I hope the reaction in the last frame is standard when playing this game! A lot of people need to ask themselves that question. 😁 One can only hope…
If that may put your mind at ease, you should read about the Milgram Experiment (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment). When given instructions by authority, we tend to enforce them without even thinking about what we are doing. It may be concerning, but it is how we are wired. I’m pretty sure the devs knew about this experiment and wanted to play on it (and maybe harvest data about players without having the ethics issues of the Milgram Experiment). There is a lot that could be said, like the fact the protocol of the experiment wasn’t always strictly followed, and a lot of ethics issues. But what is important is that you are not a bad person because you narced some guy (ingame or IRL). It is how we are working when confronted with authorities. Some guys do it differently, but in the majority, we conform with authority (if you think about it, that’s why a social species evolved until now). That’s a good thing you learn about how humans are working.
You are right, but I guess the question is more that Tim discovered that he himself indeed would blindly follow the authority without asking himself the question about right or wrong?
You remember the old tutorial in Project Zomboid? Just grab a pillow, use it on your loved one, and you can end her suffering...
I had a slightly similar situation in Skyrim ages ago when an NPC came up in my face and demanded which side I was on in the local noble family drama.
I think you want "fascist" in the last frame, not "facist"
A government that wants to make everything easy, to eliminate all friction, effort, and mild inconvenience from daily life? Sign me up!