We Steal From Old People: How to Play

Sources reviewed: 2026-11-12

Hit, dash, build, leave. The keys below come from the store screenshots and the one Steam guide that actually explains a click.

Controls that are on screen

Zyphon’s 11 Nov guide says to walk up and hit them with left click. Shift is the dash prompt on several store shots. F and Q sit on the bottom-right prompts. The crescent is the fourth skill. The store says full controller support, including Steam Input, DualShock, and DualSense, but no page prints the pad layout, so that row stays empty.

The four pillars

• Steal. Find an old person on the map and take bricks. The HUD shows a red brick count and a white brick count.
• Survive. A timer runs as mm:ss:cs. Health sits under the portrait. A blue bar is the stamina or energy strip.
• Hire. Goon Pieces and Goon Balls lead to five goon types. The store names Karen Managers and Corrupt Cops.
• Build. Recipes live on the PLAYMAT. Builds can be sold or stored in a safe, and the store says they earn passive income.

PLAYMAT keys

Screenshot of the build screen labels R Instructions, Space Assemble, I Info, B Blocks, F Upgrade, C Clear, and Esc Pause. Q and E turn the page. That is the whole published keymap for building.

A first loop, from public notes

The guide’s opening is title screen, file select, find an old person, left click. A heist also watches the “Next consignment safe” bar. When it fills, an alert says a new safe is marked. Another alert says old-people numbers went up and the Weirdos got stronger. The getaway truck is the leave point: the 10 Nov patch made the truck honk so you can hear it. Cops siren when they move in to detain.

What players say goes wrong

• Ordinary hits do not stagger the crowd, and the player does get staggered. That is from a discussion post by MKTw0, not a tutorial.
• DeathSpectrum calls ground pound the only way they found to stun a mob, and says the game does not spell that out.
• The same thread says flying dirt tracks you, and that the fight outscales you in about two minutes.
• The 11 Nov patch says early-game difficulty can be too difficult, and that the team is still working on it.
• Against ordinary Weirdos, Zyphon’s tip is one hit, then step back.