Trust the System
Trust the System is an intriguing incremental game where you mindlessly stamp papers.
Again and again.
Until you decide it is time for you to explore the System's restricted corridors.
STAMP. EXPLORE. UPGRADE.
Stamp papers to earn good points and coins. Spend your earnings to venture beyond your desk into forbidden corridors. Along the way, discover valuable items, unlock stamping upgrades, and piece together the dark reality behind your job.
Standard runtime: 40min
KEY FEATURES
- STAMP YOUR WAY OUT Experience the immensely mind-emptying stamping mechanics. Spend your hard-earned coins to upgrade your tools and optimize your workflow. Get promoted to boost your desk efficiency.
- VENTURE BEYOND YOUR DESK Your work doesn't end at your workstation. Break protocol to explore the System's restricted corridors. Climb the floors, uncover hidden items and piece together the mysteries of your job.
- MEET THE WORKFORCE Interact with your fellow lifetime employees. They don't talk much, but they say a lot. Some of them will turn out to be allies, others won't...
- AN ODDLY SATISFYING TERMINAL Unlock and operate an old-school computer system that stamps for you. Find chips and get help from the IT to upgrade it.
- CRAFTED WITH PASSION
- 100% Hand-Drawn Pixel Art: No generative AI, every pixel is crafted by hand (mine).
- Atmospheric Sound Design. I tried my best, enjoy a total bureaucratic immersion.
TIME TO WORK
So, will you trust the System?
incrementaldb_verification: tabouret
Also available on
Development log
- Small patch & Thank you!7 hours ago
- Demo release!2 days ago
Comments
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THIS IS HYPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
THAT WAS THE FIRST WHAT?!
Honestly i almost never review games in here but this one change my mind. The frustration I felt with the repetitiveness of the task that became increasingly harder each minute(or should i say step?-not in a bad, i want to give up kind of way though-) has put me into a philosophical spiral. When I stamp I feel this hopelessness that I do all of this for nothing. But at the same time I felt adrenaline that didn't allow me to stop. The numbers getting up. The money going to another angry fight with the russian elevator man(i don't know if he is russian it's my headcanon).
And after another loss, I had to go back. Back to the same routine so I can afford to have freedom... Unfortunately I feel like the adult world and the system that we take place in puts us in exactly this position. Monitoring, and limiting our knowledge. What are we doing? Are we better than the person next to us, or most importantly ourselves, because we feel superior to a disgustingly simplistic task? I think in reality we like feeling smarter, as our only way of control in a life where everything is unsure and we are forced to trust the machine that causes this feeling in the first place. I don't want to interfere nor misundrestand your own idea of your game and story. It is just that, for me the game felt like the lies we tell ourselves, participating in the system and the time we lose, our precious time for a dose of freedom? Differentiality? Anything but another meaningless fucking stamp. That ironically this stamp IS our freedom.
As someone that does a kind of repetitive task in my job (that i don’t want to) it hits differently i don’t know..
Can’t wait to play the rest of the chapters!
Loved this, it game me a "Severance" vibe! Good work! Very addicting!
Sometimes when collecting files from the computer the symbols stay as questions marks.. Still gives rewards tho, so just a visual bug. I honestly have no clue what the numbers mean tho, if anything, some explanation would be nice.
Ah I see, will check how to fix it, thanks! For now, the higher the numbers, the higher the rewards. I plan to add slot machine mechanics in future updates
fun game! The mechanics are good and the story is intriguing. Mild bug: sometimes when you finish stamping and stapling then click on the shop and click back to stamping, the stapling meter shows up but can't be clicked on. It goes away if I go to the shop again and go back to stamping again.
Thanks, working on a fix!
I don't know about this one, HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE GROUND!!! Good game though.
haha thanks!!
Good game! Played the whole thing and really liked it! Cant wait for the next chapter. Keep it up!
Thanks, working on it!
in the upgrading system it says "make your punchs stronger"1/5 game
also room 3 the first reply says crual instead of cruel
Oopsie, thanks I will fix that in the next update!
Really love the atmosphere for this, and really unique for an incremental.
My only advice would be that a little bit of extra dialogue with the NPCs would go a long way, otherwise, wishlisted! I'm excited for the full release.
Got it, thank you!
Prettyyy interesting take on incrementals. Feels original, yet familiar! Severance meets Backrooms. Good mix of 2d and 3d. Music was the only thing that felt not fitting that great. Although music in soundtrack is good, so maybe I'm just tired >.<
Nice, thank you so much! Too bad about the music, what felt off to you?
Just saw indie game joe posted about your game! Congrats.
The atmosphere was unsettling, yet exciting. The graphics, the music, the dialogues, everything made me wanting to know more about the System !!
And I have not yet talked about gameplay, but it is great. Incremental game, but also exploration game, the two are well fused together, looking forward to see more of the game !!
And don't forget, (don't) trust the system !
Also, I met the R&D department and it did not show ; and I don't remember meeting the "monitoring" department ...
Also, also, I just discovered you could click on the tabs directly, didn't know that lol
Super gentil, merci !! Je vais regarder pour le bug du R&D.
Tu aperçois le monitoring department au loin à la fin de la démo, mais il faudra attendre le jeu final pour les dialogues. C'était juste un indice sur la suite :)
I trust the system.
Sure you do, thanks.
I was curious about what was beyond the elevator, so I skipped a door and went straight for it. But I can't seem to go back to a previous floor or am I missing something?
Yes, unfortunately the "choose your floor" feature doesn't exist yet BUT you can access cheats in the settings! There you can change floor
Thank you
Wow!
This is a really refreshing play. I am a papers please fan, admittedly, but I don't normally play games where you go clicklcikclikclik.
Ironically enough, I kind of click click clicked onto this game by random, and so the enjoyability and intuitive progression were a pleasant surprise.
The way that you have to buy movement, but it's not like super hard to get where you need to go if you are being aware of yourself. The game teaches this quickly but without being punishing, which made the whole thing feel like a little world i was getting to visit.
I really liked your game, and I can't wait to see it progress, whatever that may look like!
Thank you so much for you clicklkciking, you're making my day here!
Cool game, here are my thoughts:
The incremental genre is really oversaturated at the moment with games that don't innovate much, or at all, so it's nice to see what's being done here. The incremental part of the gameplay is fine, I do like that it's not run-based like others, and there's just enough variety with the upgrades and computer to keep it interesting. It getting monotonous seems to be the point, but I'd definitely take care to add more ways to keep it fresh.
The exploration is definitely a highlight, it weaves well with the other half of the gameplay. I wasn't sure about the buying steps thing with the price scaling, but it didn't feel too restrictive. I was rather efficient with my steps though, I do worry that if too many are wasted it could make progress difficult, even if you can go back and upgrade. The fight sequences were fine, it was a fine shakeup for the gameplay, but they were identical, and I don't see how you could innovate much with the current system. I almost feel like a turn-based system would suit the strategic nature of the other gameplay better, but I did like the active feel of it. I am worried about missed rooms on floors, doors weren't hard to spot until the last floor. I'm not sure if progress for that is tracked by individual door, or simply binding discoverable locations to the order the rooms are found in, but it still feels possible to be set back by missing one.
The dialogue and worldbuilding need a bit of work. Gameplay is obviously the most important thing, but a little can go a long way here. Here's some basic story questions that could be answered:
What's restricting me from moving in the halls as I please? Is returning once I am out of steps simply out of moral obligation? If so, why do I find it acceptable to fight the guards? Why am I allowed to buy steps in the first place? Why do the elevators only run between two floors apiece? Why are the guards always waiting inside them? Am I the only stamper, or are there others? What do the other departments do when they aren't helping me? What exactly is the currency I am generating?
There's the clear Severance inspiration, I wish this game did more to establish itself. The characters don't have enough dialogue to differentiate themselves, and they all sort of had the same personality, and not much else is established besides a vague dictator-like entity. Again, gameplay is always first, but just a bit more effort here would help a great deal.
Overall, not a bad title. I'll look forward to future development updates.
Wow thank you so much for your time and for all thise valuable feedback!
Regarding the fight sequences, I plan to add consumables you can use during them. (Like pepper spray to stun the guy, or first aid kit to heal yourself). However, I'm going to digest the demo's feedback and adjust my plans, and a turn-based system might actually be a better option
I was surprised by this game; it looks simple but has so much to it.
Nice, thanks!
Excellent game. Well done!!
Thank you!!
Trust the system
yes, you should