Probably Stolen: Cyberpunk Shopkeeper Sim, from Questing Goose Studio and tinyBuild, is out on Steam as of 28 October 2026. You run a shop on a space station. You buy from customers, sell at a markup, and pay the Landlord rent every week. You win by owning the store. All numbers below are for Mark Up (Normal) unless another mode is named.
Quick answer: Set your difficulty and specialization, earn money by trading, and pay rent to the Landlord every 7 days. Avoid Security; on a rent day, purchase the deed or arrange a mortgage through the Loan Shark.
1. Before you start: Difficulty, specialization and starting perks
There are four difficulty modes. Price Gouge (Cozy) gives a 20% retail markup, and rent goes up 2% each time. Mark Up (Normal) gives 15%, with rent rising 5%. Thin Margins (Hard) gives no markup, with rent rising 10%. Red Ink (Challenge) sits on page 2 of the Difficulty screen and also has no markup and a 10% rent increase, but its deed costs 36,000. The Probably Stolen difficulty modes breakdown covers each mode.
There are 10 specializations to start with. Apprentice is tagged Recommended For New Players. On Mark Up it begins with 550 credits, a Storage Bay, and Household Goods and Food. The other starts are covered in the Probably Stolen specializations rundown.
The perk screen lists 36 starting perks. You get 3 perk points and can take up to 4 perks. Negative perks give you extra points. Starting perks are not available on your very first run. The Probably Stolen starting perks list covers them all.
The Mentor teaches the basics through notes left on the counter; every one is collected in all 18 Mentor’s Notes. If you want to add community mods, see how to install mods.
2. Day 1 and selling in Probably Stolen
Press the green button on the wall to open the shutter. Then press the green button on the counter to call in customers. To buy or sell, drag items onto the Negotiation Counter. Your first customer is The Mentor, who leaves notes. An Apprentice on Mark Up starts Day 1 with 550 credits and can end the day on 598. The full first day is in the Probably Stolen beginner guide.
3. Making money: Wholesale, Dumping Ground, fakes and the Wanted list
Wholesale deals
Some sellers will offer their whole pile at a discount. Offers of 33% and 15% off show up as early as Day 2. For example, a scrap pile bought for 64 credits sold for 92 to the next customer. More on bulk buying is in the Probably Stolen wholesale breakdown.
Scavenging the Dumping Ground
From Day 2, you can scavenge after hours. Close the store, choose Leave the Store, pick a backpack, and head to the Dumping Ground. You get 5 attempts. The chance of getting wounded rises from 5%/1% to 10%/2.25% as you go. The Probably Stolen Dumping Ground page covers each run.
Spotting fakes
Check any item you can inspect with the Magnifying Glass, and compare it with the in-game manuals. Things to check:
- The Hemingway seal
- Food Stamp values
- Immunivax serials
- Ribwich dates
- Ghostwater being sold as Basewater
Each check is shown in detail in how to spot fakes in Probably Stolen. For the clicks themselves, see how to use the Magnifying Glass and confront, and for cigarettes, fake vs real Hemingway cigarettes.
Wanted list bounties
The Wanted list has 9 bounties, each worth between 100 and 1500 credits. When a wanted person walks in, press the alarm button to report them. All nine are listed in the Probably Stolen Wanted list.
Once the basics are working, look up what everything is worth in the items list with base values, learn the Appraisal Guild for valuable items, and start producing your own stock with the crafting recipes, the 3D Printer chips and hydroponics and plant DNA. A Vending Machine keeps selling overnight, and supplier phone numbers let you order stock by courier.
4. Paying rent to the Landlord
The Landlord comes to collect 200 credits every 7 days, on Day 7, Day 14 and so on. The amount goes up each rent day by your difficulty’s percentage. If you refuse to pay and have no Landlord’s grace left, the run ends. Price Gouge and Mark Up start you with one grace. Thin Margins and Red Ink give you none. The Probably Stolen rent page has the full schedule.
5. Staying out of trouble: Inspections, bribes and night robberies
At unpredictable times, Security inspects your shop for contraband. For each stolen item, its heat determines the odds that it will be discovered. The bribe price is 100 + 2 × the day number − 2 × your Security reputation, ranging from 40 to 400 credits. A crime total of 300 to 1,499 credits in your Security case results in arrest. Reaching 1,500+ means execution. For a full breakdown of the formula, see Probably Stolen inspections.
Without insurance, there is a 33% chance of being robbed each night. That chance goes up by 5% for every night you stay uninsured. The Alarm protects you, and so does Joe Wild’s insurance, which is available from Day 4. The Probably Stolen night robbery page covers both.
Your standing with the six factions decides which perks and penalties apply, covered in factions and reputation perks. Joe Wild sells upgrades for favor from day 7; every one is listed in Wild’s network upgrades.
6. Buying the store in Probably Stolen
Check the property’s value on the Calendar. On Mark Up, it is 12,000 credits on Day 1. The Landlord can sell you the deed outright when rent is due. Alternatively, early in a Mark Up run, the Loan Shark offers a mortgage for 2,000 credits upfront, followed by 930 credits each week for 12 weeks. Find instructions for both options in the Probably Stolen store-purchase guide.
7. Probably Stolen endings and achievements
Probably Stolen has 14 endings altogether: two Buyout victories and 12 losses. The losses result from missing rent, repossession, arrest, execution, reaching -100 with a faction (five endings), or one of three perk endings. The Probably Stolen endings guide covers them all.
There are 21 Steam achievements. They include Keys to the Kingdom, Clean Hands, and Prodigious, which you earn by owning the store before day 50. The full set is in the Probably Stolen achievements list.
