New Steam Sim Is Basically Cyberpunk 2077 Meets Papers, Please, and It’s a Massive Time Sink

I have to say that when I first sat down to play Papers, Please, I had no idea that what looked like such an incredibly simple concept on the surface could be so engrossing that it would easily eat away an entire afternoon. To this day, it remains one of gaming’s biggest surprises, simply because, looking at it, you’d never think it would be such an addictive experience. However, I think it has finally met its match with what is somehow an even deeper, more addictive sim than Papers, Please could ever hope to be. Perhaps you’ve heard of it, and maybe you haven’t, but after spending way too much time with Probably Stolen‘s demo on Steam, I’m telling you right now that this game was eventually going to be on your radar whether you liked it or not, because it has the kind of promise that indie games dream of.

The best way I can describe Probably Stolen is that it’s basically Cyberpunk 2077 meets Papers, Please, with a bit of a traditional shopkeeping sim thrown into the mix. You have the dystopian cyberpunk setting, the responsibility of carefully inspecting items and customers, and a business to run where the customers try to swindle you and the different factions get very upset when you don’t do things their way. But what makes Probably Stolen so interesting is how all those things work together, and how easily an ordinary day behind the counter can turn into hours—and I do mean multiple, easy hours—of your actual, real life disappearing in an instant. Fortunately, it’s set to arrive on Steam very soon, on October 28, 2026, but you can play its exceedingly generous demo right now.

Probably Stolen Is Much More Than a Cyberpunk Shopkeeping Sim

Check Out the Probably Stolen Demo on Steam

In Probably Stolen, you play as a former scavenger who has managed to secure a storefront on a massive space station, where the divide between the wealthy and the poor is about as clear as it gets. Unfortunately, you’re also dealing with a loan and steadily increasing rent, which means running your little shop isn’t exactly going to be a relaxing experience. Your ultimate goal is to make enough money to buy the place outright, but getting there involves considerably more than just buying merchandise at a low price and selling it for a profit.

For example, one of the first things that immediately had me drawing comparisons to Papers, Please was the process of inspecting items that customers bring in to sell. Rather than simply accepting whatever someone puts on your counter, you can use a magnifying glass to examine merchandise and determine whether it’s actually worth what the customer claims. Some products might be counterfeit, while others might have defects or other issues that affect their value. Of course, you can negotiate with customers as well, which adds another layer to an already surprisingly involved process. And that’s just one part of running the shop.

Depending on the business you want to run, you can also get into things like appraisal, which involves inspecting items customers bring you and assigning a value to them based on the information in your handy-dandy notebook. There are machines to purchase and upgrade, inventory to manage, and production systems that can make your business more profitable if you’re willing to invest in them. The demo even offers three different starting scenarios and a hardcore mode, which gives players different ways to approach the experience. What I find particularly impressive, though, is how much is actually going on in Probably Stolen, how many different mechanics there are to remember, and how I still completely understood what I was doing, as they simply gradually became routine.

Every Customer in Probably Stolen Is Potentially Another Problem

And then there’s the faction system, which is easily one of the most interesting parts of the game for me. You aren’t just dealing with random customers who come into your shop looking to buy or sell something. You’re dealing with people who belong to different parts of a society that is already divided, and the decisions you make can influence how those groups see you. You might decide to cooperate with Security, for example, but doing so could put you at odds with people who aren’t particularly fond of the authorities. Alternatively, you could get involved with the black market and potentially make more money, but that obviously comes with risks of its own.

What’s especially interesting about this is that Probably Stolen doesn’t necessarily encourage you to be a good person. If anything, it gives you plenty of opportunities to take advantage of people, whether that means selling questionable merchandise or making deals you probably shouldn’t be making. You can also encounter people who are wanted by Security, leaving you to decide whether turning them in is worth the reward. Meanwhile, there’s the additional threat of Augs, people who have been taken over by rogue AI chips and need to be identified before they cause trouble. So, even when you’re just trying to make a little money, there’s always something else you need to think about.

Probably Stolen Has Already Mastered the Art of ‘Just One More Day’

Now, I will say that Probably Stolen has a pretty substantial learning curve, at least in the sense that there’s a lot to keep track of. Between inspecting merchandise and managing inventory, it can initially feel like the game expects you to remember a hundred different things at once. And I can absolutely understand why that might turn some players away, especially those who prefer their simulation games to be a little more straightforward. However, I actually think that overwhelming feeling is part of what makes the experience so rewarding once everything starts clicking.

At some point, I stopped feeling like I was constantly trying to remember what I needed to do and started feeling like I was actually running a business. And there was just something about that feeling that gave me that “just one more run” kind of feeling, only here, it’s “just one more day.” Maybe I wanted to make a little more money before closing up shop, or perhaps I was getting close to being able to afford another upgrade. Other times, I simply wanted to see what the next customer might bring in or what new situation I might have to deal with. Whatever the reason, I kept finding excuses to continue. And boy, is it easy to keep going. So easy.

What’s even more impressive is that this is still just a demo. There are additional professions and systems planned for the full game, and some progression objectives aren’t yet fully available. Nevertheless, the amount of content already here is genuinely surprising, especially considering how much freedom it gives players to experiment with different approaches. Some players on Steam have already put over 60 hours into the demo alone. I’m not even close to that kind of mileage, but that should at least say something about the amount of depth hidden in Probably Stolen.

Ultimately, I think what has impressed me most about Probably Stolen is how immersive it becomes without requiring some massive open world to explore. My little shop is essentially the center of everything, but the decisions I’m making there give me a reason to care about the much larger world surrounding it. That’s something I don’t think every simulation game manages to accomplish, and it’s a big part of why I’m looking forward to Probably Stolen launching on October 28, 2026. If the full game can build on what’s already here without losing the satisfying routine that makes the demo so addictive, I can easily see myself sinking an unreasonable number of hours into it. Honestly, considering how difficult it already is to stop after just one more day, I probably should have seen that coming.

Probably Stolen launches on Steam on October 28, 2026.