There’s a joke we heard at work that somehow stuck with us. A driver’s brakes completely fail. He has two options: swerve left and hit a group of ten people, or swerve right and hit one guy. He ends up hitting all eleven. Later at the police station, the officer asks, “How on earth did you hit everyone?!” The driver replies, “Look, I chose the single guy! But as soon as I hit him, he ran across the street into the crowd!”
While playing The Trolley Solution, we kept thinking about this joke and how it perverts the whole trolley problem. It’s one of those classic philosophical questions that sounds simple enough until you have to make the decision yourself: would you divert a runaway trolley to save five people if doing so meant killing one person on another track? The Trolley Solution takes this familiar thought experiment and turns it into a collection of minigames, strange situations, and absurd jokes. We didn’t solve any great philosophical mysteries here, but we did have a hell of a good time trying.
Developed by DanDan and published by Bueno Interactive, The Trolley Solution features the original dilemma alongside 20 variations and 20 minigames inspired by them. It’s important to note that you aren’t sitting around pondering the ethics of every decision—far from it. The game uses its premise to explore some increasingly ridiculous scenarios. The results can be silly, unexpected, and occasionally downright bizarre, which is exactly the sort of territory this kind of comedy needs.
Take the virtual-pet-style minigame, for example, where we’re responsible for keeping a trolley alive, much like a Tamagotchi. We realize how ridiculous that sounds when reading it like this, but that’s pretty much the point. Another challenge turns into a visual-novel-style romance involving a schoolgirl who falls in love with a trolley. Yep, we played through that too, wondering about the exact developer conversations that brought these ideas to life. Nevertheless, the willingness to commit to such strange scenarios is what gives this unique title so much personality. It would be crazy to expect every joke to land equally well, but that could also be because our humor leans a bit too far into the darker side. We also felt that certain sequences drag on a little long after the initial punchline, but it’s more hit than miss in our book.
The shopping-cart challenge takes a clever approach to everyday morality by turning the mundane act of returning a cart into a surprisingly fun minigame that fits the overall tone. The game even features philosopher trading cards, which serve as a nice nod to the original thought experiment. Thanks to these collectible cards, the developers maintain a slight connection to the philosophical premise, even when the rest of the game is busy making fun of it.
Again, please don’t expect a serious examination of ethics; you will most likely be disappointed. The philosophical dilemmas are largely a springboard for comedy, and the experience depends on how much enjoyment you get from the jokes and the unusual situations built around them. We found plenty to enjoy, even if not every idea succeeds in equal measure.
The Trolley Solution is an enjoyable little diversion. We feel it makes great use of an unusual premise, especially with its mix of moral dilemmas, oddball minigames, and unexpected genre parodies. They ensure the experience stands out from a more conventional collection of casual challenges.
- Title: The Trolley Solution
- Developer: byDanDans
- Publisher: The Bueno Interactive
- Platform reviewed: PC (Steam)
- Release date: September 12, 2025
- Genre: Casual, comedy, minigames
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