Probably Stolen Game Wiki: Where New Shopkeepers Should Start

The official Steam description calls it a cyberpunk shopkeeping simulator where you craft, trade and smuggle goods, navigate faction loyalties, and stop a rampant AI by dealing with the people it controls. Questing Goose Studio develops the game and tinyBuild publishes it. According to the developer's announcement, it began as a solo project by developer Bei Ning Pan, who was later joined by a team of four artists and three audio developers.

The developer named Space Station 13 as the biggest inspiration, with a bit of Papers, Please. That comparison is useful for setting expectations. Much of your day is spent behind a counter, reading documents and inspecting items, and deciding whether a deal is worth the risk.

There are two separate Steam products. The free Demo launched on September 14, 2026 and is what you can play today. The full game, version 1.0, is planned for October 28, 2026 on Windows PC.

Keep the two apart when you read guides. The Demo does not contain all nine launch starting scenarios, and some features described on this wiki are announced for 1.0 rather than playable now. The developer has said Demo saves are compatible with 1.0 but recommends starting a new game, and that the Demo will be removed once 1.0 is out.

Treat your first days as practice in reading the shop, not as a race to expand. Learn how a customer interaction works, how to inspect an item before you pay for it, and how much cash you need to keep back for rent. Buying goods you cannot identify is the fastest way to lose money.

Once you can trade reliably, add one production system. Water, animals and farming each have their own equipment and upkeep, and they are easier to learn one at a time. Expansion makes sense only when the next rent payment is already covered.

The developer recommends Apprentice for beginners: a generalist start where you upgrade as you go and learn the game at your own pace. Other starts focus on a single system. Water Merchant centres on testing, purifying and labeling water, and Rat Wrangler begins with animal husbandry.

Rock Bottom starts you with nothing and is described as maximum difficulty, so it is a poor first run. The full 1.0 roster also adds Hydroponic Farmer, Gunsmith, Chemist and Aquafarmer, plus Fence. Our tier list explains how to choose without relying on unmeasured rankings.

Rising rent is the core pressure in Probably Stolen. Revenue is not the same as profit: purchase costs, production inputs and upkeep all come out before you can reinvest. A sensible habit is to split your cash into a rent reserve, replacement stock and optional upgrades.

Rent amounts and schedules depend on your scenario, difficulty and perks, so we do not quote a universal figure. Read the calendar and lease in your own run. The money and rent guide walks through a budgeting routine you can apply in any start.

Inspection is a core skill. In-game guides describe what genuine items should look like, and tools such as the magnifier help you check labels, serial numbers and condition. Authentic and usable are separate questions: a genuine item can still be damaged, expired or recalled.

Our item pages cover the checks players search for most. See the plasma cartridge condition guide for the appraisal formula and the Immunivax guide for injector serials and recalls.

Water is the most common first production system. You obtain water, test it, treat the contamination you actually find and label the result honestly. The water guide covers the full workflow, and the HydraTech purifier page explains what that portable tool can and cannot do.

Animal systems need more upkeep. The October 19 Demo update added aquaculture, which the developer describes as slower-paced, lower-maintenance and more beginner friendly than rat ranching. Read the aquaculture guide or the rat guide before you buy equipment.

Not every customer is who they seem. Augs are people controlled through rogue AI implants, and the game gives you an identification guide to spot them. The Augs guide lists the documented clues and explains how the consequences differ on Hard Mode.

Your choices also move reputation with station factions such as Security and the Black Market. Reputation changes which encounters and services you get. The station factions guide separates the six reputation tracks from ordinary customer groups.

The developer's October 21 preview lists what 1.0 adds. That includes the ending where you buy and own the store, four difficulty options after choosing a scenario, Steam Workshop support with a modding API, 21 Steam achievements, a UI overhaul and vending machines that sell overnight. It also promises completed storylines for several NPCs and full localization.

More is planned after launch: Organ Trader, Junker and Street Food Vendor starts, a main storyline expansion and expeditions. None of these are in the Demo. We will update guides once the release build can be checked directly.

Is Probably Stolen multiplayer? No. Steam lists it as a single-player game.

Is Probably Stolen out yet? The full game releases on October 28, 2026. The free Demo is available now.

What should I play first? Start with Apprentice, the developer's beginner recommendation, and focus on trading and rent before adding production.

Each guide starts with a direct answer, then explains the reasoning and the limits of what is confirmed. We separate official information, community references and Demo observations. Where a value has not been verified, we say so instead of guessing.

Use the release date, Demo and download pages for access questions. If something here is out of date after a patch, the contact page explains how to send a correction.