Dystopicon Launches Late July, Turning TV Watching Into a Full-Time Job

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Spanish indie developer Palitroque has announced that its satirical dystopian life simulation game Dystopicon will launch on Steam on July 27, 2026. The game will be priced at €7.99, with a 15% launch discount available during its first two weeks.

Set in a retro-futuristic society where robots have replaced humans in the workforce, Dystopicon casts players as a second-class citizen assigned a seemingly simple job by the government: watching television to earn a salary. That income is then used to pay for essential services, entertainment and survival, while players gradually uncover the truth behind the oppressive world around them.

The game combines time management and life simulation mechanics with branching narrative choices. Throughout six different scenarios, you must decide whether to remain loyal to the government or challenge the system, with every decision influencing the story. Those choices can ultimately lead to 14 different endings, ranging from becoming a respected government official to joining a rebellion against the regime.

The project began life in 2018 as a small prototype created by developer Juan Felipe Molina, eventually reaching more than 12,000 downloads on Itch.io. After years of positive feedback, Molina left his job in late 2025 to develop the game commercially for Steam.

According to Molina, classic dystopian fiction, particularly the works of Philip K. Dick, played a major role in shaping the game’s premise: “I have always loved dystopian stories and I am a huge fan of the great classics, especially the works of Philip K. Dick. 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.”