July 1st, 2026, Cartagena, Spain | The Spanish independent studio Palitroque is happy to announce that their satirical dystopian time management life-sim Dystopicon will release on Steam this July 27 at a price of 7.99 USD with a 15% off during the first 2 weeks. The game is set in a retro futuristic world where robots replaced humans at work. You are a Class-2 citizen who gets a new home from the government and assigned to do a simple job: watch TV to earn your salary, and with it, buy the services you find convenient to survive and stay entertained. Would you choose to be a loyal citizen or a rebel against the system as you progress in different scenarios uncovering more about how the world works? Keep in mind that your actions will have consequences, and they will lead you to 14 possible endings.
FEATURES
6 Different Scenarios:
- Start the story mode as a Second-Class Citizen, living in a room provided by the government. Progress until you become a Party Citizen or end up in the re-education camp, across 5 different scenarios and an additional secret one.
- Each scenario reveals new information about this dystopian world and forces the player to rethink their strategy by introducing new mechanics and situations.
- Will you be able to discover what lies beyond the four walls of your home?
Challenge Mode:
- Your objective is to save enough money to leave that room. Do you dare to try?
- No daily news, no distractions—just you against yourself.
14 Possible Endings:
- You may survive however you choose:
- Remain an obedient citizen or rebel, but keep in mind that your actions will have consequences.
- Become a state bureaucrat or get involved in a terrorist attack. Follow the instructions to the letter or hack the system to deceive it.
- Anything can happen—who knows? You might even win the lottery… [insert canned Laughter]
About the Developer:
The motivations and story behind Dystopicon
The project started in 2018 in a very modest way by Juan Felipe Molina, with a prototype on Itch.io and third party assets from the Unity Asset Store. Over the course of about 12 months, he expanded the story and gameplay loop, testing what worked and what didn’t. That first version achieved the mark of 12.000 downloads.
For many years he received very positive feedback about the game, and it seemed that people enjoyed it, but he didn’t have the time to dedicate to it professionally. In November 2025, Juan Felipe left his job and decided to professionally release Dystopicon on Steam.
“I have always loved dystopian stories and I am a huge fan of the great classics, especially the works of Philip K. Dick. In his novel Ubik, the protagonist has to insert a coin into different household devices in order to use them, and I really liked that idea.
I needed another mechanic to justify why the player would earn money, and I started thinking about TV and social media, and how they keep people glued to screens. What could be the next step? Getting paid for doing exactly that!Once I had those two elements (being paid to watch TV and using that money to buy services), I started building the rest of the game.I eventually finished the prototype with a 28-day gameplay loop where the player had to survive by watching TV and reading daily reports sent by the government.Then the pandemic arrived, and people found themselves locked at home, watching screens, and in many cases receiving government support to help them deal with the situation.” - Juan Felipe Molina (Game Director and Lead Developer)
The mechanics had already been thoroughly tested, the story worked, but the 3D models lacked personality. That’s why Juan Felipe hired Xenia Almela, a 3D artist who gave the game the visual identity and personality it has today. In addition, Mario Alba, a 2D artist who had created a series of comics for the original game, agreed to create many more for the final version.
Thanks to all of that, Dystopicon was born and will be released as a commercial product.
Article by: Susan N.
