The boss makes a dollar, I make a dime, that’s why I poop on company time. This statement has become a worn-out mantra of the working man, but a recent indie game challenges its wisdom. Please leave me alone, I have to poop is a game about balancing biological needs with the demands of the workplace, but it takes fast-paced WarioWare-style minigames to meet both pressing needs.
Please leave me alone, I have to poop begins with the player character’s boss calling and giving him notes for an important presentation. Unfortunately, this coincides with the main character’s need to dump. This introduces a very important question: Do you hear your boss so that you arrive prepared and ready for the presentation (unfortunately in more ways than one)? Or do you hang up and sprint straight to the can?
To pass the presentation without shitting your pants, the player must navigate a series of mini-games. Clearing the toilet seat, keeping an eye on local perverts looking between the cracks in the toilet, and punching coworkers who dare to block your way to the bathroom are some of the mini-games on the menu.
Image: CoproTech Enterprise Solutions
Simply emptying your bowels isn’t enough to win this game; you also need to remember all the important details from your boss’s phone call to make the presentation a success. If you want to convince everyone of the benefits of collecting the city’s baby teeth for your boss’s cool Uncle Steve (one of many possible presentation topics), you need to choose the right conversation options.
Please leave me alone, I have to poop has Kendrick Reinsch, who contributed Red Dead Redemption 2, which the main character voices. Luke Humphrey, who recently worked on Priscillagives the boss character a certain appeal.
This is one of those games that is incredibly stupid, and every frame or line is filled with at least one joke. References to anime, internet culture, and more are included in each playthrough. One run only takes a few minutes, but unlocking all the mini-games and mastering all the presentations will require multiple playthroughs. Please go away is a ridiculous visual novel, punctuated by silly mini-games, but also captures the modern struggle for work-life balance in a very evocative way. Is it particularly elitist? No, absolutely not – but with a title like Please leave me alone, I have to poopit’s unlikely anyone expected that.