The Trolley Problem. Something that philosophers and the like have been discussing for ages. Essentially, it is a series of situations where a trolley cart is speeding down a track with no way to stop and it is up to you to choose what happens, usually a decision between sacrificing one individual to save several others or letting the group die while the individual gets to live.
The Potato Problem basically takes this concept and turns it into a fun strategy game. Your objectives are to save as many people as you can by manipulating the environment to ensure that only the specified amount of people die to save the rest. This is one of those ‘One button reset games’ so trial and error is your one and only tool. The type of items you can interact with range from the cover of a manhole to the street lights that control traffic to a burger stand which will draw all people to it. Using each of these will determine who will take the bullet for everyone else. Or, in this case, who will take the truck filled with highly flammable material for everyone else.
The game looks nice and smooth, the music is whimsical and enjoyable to listen to. Although there is no tutorial or any real instructions on what affects what, once you play around with the environment for a try or two something clicks. Like finding that piece of the puzzle that you were missing. Once you find one, then you need to find the next one and then the next one and so on until you have the desired result. It is a lot of trial and error, but it is very satisfying once you have fit all the pieces together and complete the level and move on to see what other insane scenario is laid before you.
Download the prototype on itch.
Played it? We’d love to know what you thought about it.
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Footage via Randomise User
