Are you the type of friend to cause chaos when things are just starting to slow down? Do you enjoy ragebaiting teammates, destroying their hopes and dreams that they’ll ever make it out of this hellhole alive? Do you make them wish they didn’t invite you after all? If so, watch out—the Shopkeeper is about.
Patience is wearing thin, not only for semibots sick of your nonsense, but the recently-added Shopkeeper has been hired to specifically keep you in check. If you were wondering who exactly this Cosmetics Update fiend is and what he’s doing in Roy’s, you’ve come to the right place. Here’s everything you should know about the Shopkeeper in R.E.P.O.
What is the Shopkeeper in R.E.P.O.?
The Shopkeeper is an automaton-like NPC added to Roy’s (the Service Station) as the newly appointed security guard. Hospitality and customer service aren’t really in this keeper’s job description. Rather, it is the keeper of peace. Instead of battling it out against a rogue semibot looking to make shopping more painful than doing it in real life, the Shopkeeper will actively destroy anyone who acts out of turn. This includes attacking a teammate with one of the items, or smashing up the place like a looter during Cloverfield. Now is not the place or time, and the Shopkeeper wants you to know that.
If you’re caught misbehaving or attempting to attack either your friend or the Shopkeeper, it will blast you into oblivion, killing you instantly. Death Heads can, of course, be revived at the Truck, but you’re going to need some healing items after “handling” this guy. Alternatively, you can just leave him disabled whenever you visit a Service Station. There is a button on the side of the counter that looks like an eye. Curiosity and a history of having bells installed at hotel front desks demand you press this (because we just can’t help ourselves), but doing so activates the Shopkeeper. If you’re the type to keep to yourself and don’t have the urge to damage property (or your friends), then you can leave the Shopkeeper dormant.
R.E.P.O. Shopkeeper lore and purpose
Lore-wise, there isn’t much information about the Shopkeeper outside of its single command: Keep the shop in check. The Shopkeeper is an employee of Roy’s, the name for the Service Station. It is always there and can be activated with a simple click of a button. Aside from occasionally wearing a Roy’s employee cap, there’s not much to know about this new addition to R.E.P.O. It doesn’t appear that the Taxman employed him, but perhaps Roy’s is all a guise for the Taxman. It is a robot after all, and we’ve only ever seen skeletons as evidence of civilization. It’s likely “Roy” is long gone, so who hired the Shopkeeper?
With more posters, secret shops, graffiti, and an actual landscape you can peer at from the Service Station windows, we can only hope that there will be more lore in future updates regarding the Shopkeeper; where it came from and whether it has ulterior motives as it takes photos of any misbehaving semibots.
