One of the most traumatic experiences for a young adult is trying to get a job and undergoing those clichéed job interviews comprised of “personality tests”. You know the ones I’m talking about. Those where the HR guy swears “there are no right or wrong answers” or “we just want to find out a bit more about you”, only for you to be presented with a crapton of borderline Kobayashi Maru-esque questions you have to answer in a few seconds, meant for you to fumble and fail. Remember how agonizing those were? What about playing a game comprised entirely of these questions? Then Trolley Problem, Inc. is the game for you.

Trolley Problem, Inc. is basically comprised of a long series of morally challenging questions meant to test your skills in empathy, quick wit, risk assessment and problem solution. They start out pretty tame, with the classic “would you pull a lever to make a train kill one bystander instead of five” conundrum seen in every college philosophy exam, but escalate quickly.

The game likes to mess with your mind and emotional maturity. It likes to give you a lovely introduction to a hypothetical character, like an innocent child, complete with picture and all, and then throw the poor human being into a situation where you have to decide whether or not you want to save them or attempt another outcome. You will be asked if you’d rather rescue a dying dog and have it live its last moments in agony, or kill it with your own hands in order to end its misery. You know, the kind of feel good stuff we all play games for.

To make matters worse, Trolley Problem, Inc. is fully narrated. A lady will not only narrate each case to you, but also give you remarks on your decisions. They will never, ever be light remarks. She will constantly remind you of how horrible a person you are, no matter what answer you choose. At first, this was oddly amusing, but her horrendously condescending delivery irritated the hell out of me after a while. Bear in mind, I am 100% aware this was intentional, so I don’t blame the voice actress at all. If anything, kudos to her.

I wouldn’t call Trolley Problem, Inc. a highly entertaining game in the literal sense of the word, given its subject matter and really simplistic presentation, but I don’t think that was even its point. I didn’t have fun playing it by myself. I was starting to get annoyed, and at times, a bit disgusted. The moment I started having fun with it was when I started showing screenshots of my decisions to the WTMG staff members. It was then that I realized the game’s appeal: it’s a community game first and foremost, a social experiment. The most fun you’ll have with this game is by actually discussing with your friends why you decided to put the dog to sleep instead of saving it so it could suffer for a few more days in excruciating agony. In the end, we’re all monsters, aren’t we?

Trolley Problem, Inc. is a hard sell. At face value, it’s a game that wants to make you feel dirty and disgusted. It’s really not fun to play it by yourself. However, you can get a sizeable amount of entertainment out of it by either playing its co-op mode or just discussing your answers with your friends. I don’t think I will want to replay it to find out different outcomes to my decisions, nor would I recommend it to the faint of heart, but this was an interesting social experiment to partake on. It also made me hate myself. Thanks game!

 

Graphics: 5.0 Pretty simple, as if you were looking at a job interview questionnaire. I wasn’t a big fan of the font or the handful of irritating visual effects at my disposal.	Gameplay: 7.5 Choose between two answers, feel bad about your choice, repeat. The actual gameplay isn’t complex at all; it’s the small time frame you’re given to decide between two awful outcomes that makes the game a lot more tense and engaging than you would expect.
Sound: 7.0 Even though the main voice actress does an excellent job at her role, I eventually got really annoyed at her snarky comments after every single damn question.	Fun Factor: 7.0 Playing the game by yourself is borderline masochism. The “fun” in Trolley Problem, Inc. comes from either discussing your choices with friends or by playing its co-op mode.
Final Verdict: 6.5

Trolley Problem, Inc. is available now on PC.

Reviewed on PC.

A copy of Trolley Problem, Inc. was provided by the publisher.