What the choice actually is
The intro is a scripted tutorial: fixed visits, a guided first sale, the Mentor explaining systems. Skipping it does not delete content so much as move the calendar forward, and the fenced-off content is the scripted days themselves.
Four starts always skip the intro — Fence, Rock Bottom, Gunsmith and Chemist — so they begin with the handbook and contacts but lose the scripted sequence. On the other five, it is your choice.
The five things that move
Odin arrives on day 2 instead of day 10. The Appraiser Board offer moves from day 8 to day 5. The Mentor’s single return visit moves from day 14 to day 12. Random market events start on day 1 instead of day 6, and the newspaper, The Bottomline Bulletin, is delivered from day 1 instead of day 8.
The day-1 events matter most: the early economy is where a skipped intro gives you a price spike to sell into before you have rent pressure. It also means you meet the consequences of a bad week sooner.
| Beat | With intro | Skip Intro |
|---|---|---|
| Odin | Day 10 | Day 2 |
| Appraiser Board offer | Day 8 | Day 5 |
| Mentor return visit | Day 14 | Day 12 |
| Random events begin | Day 6 | Day 1 |
| Newspaper begins | Day 8 | Day 1 |
| First Steps achievement | Reachable | Permanently unreachable |
Community-sourced schedule; the achievement consequence follows from the Mentor visit being skipped.
The achievement you lose
First Steps is awarded when the Mentor says goodbye on day 14. Skip the intro and that visit never happens, so the achievement cannot be earned in that run. It is not a bug: the achievement is a record of the tutorial, and you opted out of the tutorial.
If you are chasing 21 of 21, do one guided run. If you are chasing an efficient start, skip it and accept one missing entry.
Endless Mode is the other switch
Endless Mode sits on the difficulty screen as a separate option, not a fifth difficulty. It removes four storylines entirely — Georgio, Officer Lun, Eleanor and Cadet Serpico — which is why it is the cleanest mode for pure shopkeeping.
Use it when you want the economy without the story beats interrupting the queue. Do not use it on a first run if you want to see what the game is about.
Lower Levels Ledger. “Skip Intro vs the tutorial: what actually changes.” Last updated 2026-10-29. https://probablystolen.games/lore/skip-intro/