Troleu is perhaps the most specific job simulator game I've played. Inspired (loosely, I assume, but who can say) by developer andrground's experience of Moldovan public transit, it's a frenzy of change-counting, validating trolley passes, and hurling passengers at a demonic ticket inspector so you don't lose your day's wages.
In my time with the , my basic task as a [[link]] trolleybus conductor was taking ticket fare. Sometimes, passengers would pay with card. Some would insist that "credit is for weaklings with internet" and hand me fistfuls of cash, forcing me to dig through the many zippered pouches of my conductor satchel for appropriate change. And others would present their trolley passes, telling me not to "look too closely."
Proper payment and paperwork meant I could award the passenger with a ticket plucked fresh from my ticket roll. If that trolley pass was expired or—as was often the case—showed a picture of an entirely different person, I had only one response available: Planting my boot firmly into the fare-dodger's chest and then whipping their ragdolled body from the moving trolleybus.
The law says that's okay.
During my routes the law would also occasionally say that old men were now banned from trolleys due to an ordinance against pipe-smoking, or that little girls were suddenly forbidden from public transit [[link]] because of their excess giggling. Every rule-breaking passenger on my trolley subtracts from my wages when I arrive at a stop, so sorry, grandma: There's a new law on the books that says no old ladies and you're
getting tossed.
This is how I received not one, not two, but three separate achievements for throwing grandmas from a trolleybus this morning.
The trolley route is an ever-evolving ecosystem of violence and chaos. Some passengers will assault their neighbors with strange odors or loud music from portable speakers. Some will be carrying jarred pickles that they'll drop and shatter when the trolley hits a pothole. Some are instantly, inexplicably irate, forcing me into a boxing minigame at a moment's notice. After landing a few haymakers, sometimes my assailants will drop cigarettes or valuables I can trade with shoplifters who intermittently board the bus.
The shoplifters are the only way I can refill my tickets during a route. They are crucial to this economy.
You might be thinking to yourself, "Wow, this guy's pretty unbothered by inflicting casual violence on these pretend passengers." And I am, because there is a greater evil aboard these trolleybuses: He is the ticket inspector, a hateful juggernaut who'll board the trolley to check whether each passenger has been properly issued a ticket.
If he discovers even one infraction, he'll charge me and throw me from my own trolley by my head, robbing me of all my day's wages. Once he enters kill mode, I've got only one defense: Putting my kicking knowledge to good use and throwing [[link]] hapless passengers at him until he's forced to retreat.
I ultimately failed half the routes I attempted, but I think we've at least established here that I'm making an honest effort.
Troleu doesn't have a release date yet, but you can play the demo now.