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You can’t build a new game announcement from tinyBuild, which is another one of my my fave publishers over the past few years, so it’s good news that it’s just announced Probably Stolen, a cyberpunk shopkeeping/pawnshop simulator.
Developed by Questing Goose Studio, Probably Stolen is set aboard a dystopian space station divided by wealth, corruption, and some extremely questionable business practices. Players run a store in the station’s Lower Levels, buying, crafting, trading, and smuggling merchandise that may not have been obtained through entirely legitimate means.
A Steam playtest is available now, giving players an early opportunity to discover whether a life of futuristic retail crime is really for them.
Shopkeeping is only the beginningAt the start of Probably Stolen, players can choose what kind of business they want to operate. Potential career paths include working as a gunsmith, chemist, water merchant, farmer, or fence, although it is also possible to begin with almost nothing and attempt to build an underground retail empire from scratch.
Each product category comes with different equipment requirements, profit margins, and legal complications. Weapons may attract inspections, while dealing in contraband could result in raids. Some businesses require expensive machinery and permits, while others rely on having somewhere secure to hide the evidence.
Players can also tamper with the quality of their merchandise to increase profits, although consistently selling rubbish may attract unwanted attention from security forces, criminal factions, or angry customers.
Just like real retail, then, except most shops do not have to worry about being executed by the mob because the bottled water was slightly disappointing.
The customer is always wrongThe people entering your store are not necessarily ordinary shoppers. A customer may be a security officer searching for evidence, a revolutionary hoping to secure supplies, or a criminal testing whether you can be trusted with more dangerous work.
You must decide whether to approve or refuse transactions, report suspicious activity, or simply pretend you never saw anything. Those decisions can affect relationships with the factions operating across the station, meaning even a small sale could have serious consequences later.
The store’s landlord is another persistent threat. Rent rises over time regardless of how profitable the business has been, potentially forcing players to accept riskier deals simply to remain solvent. A single bad purchase, failed inspection, or illegal bust could be enough to close the shop permanently.
There are also rogue AI-augmented individuals hiding among the station’s population and allegedly kidnapping residents for unknown purposes. Every major faction has apparently agreed that these individuals should be shot on sight, leaving shopkeepers responsible for identifying suspicious customers and reaching for a weapon when necessary.
Probably Stolen doesn’t currently have a confirmed release date but it can be wishlisted on Steam, while the game’s first public playtest is available now.
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