A Game You Can Afford In This Economy

The concept behind this game is excellent and I was pretty pumped to play. But the actual gameplay is clunky and unpleasant. Clicking on an object will bring up the same, frequently lengthy description/ narration, which means a lot of repetition. When there are multiple clickable items within a few pixels that gets boring really quick. Directions on certain items are misleading for example [spoiler] The ramen says to add water and heat. Spent time trying to get water, and having to repeat the two sink stories, but not actually necessary [/spoiler]. One mistake ended the game for me, without giving any other possible paths that would have been available in reality, despite being sort of a "choices matter" game. [spoiler] Heating the ramen burns down the building. So you give up and die homeless. Because there's never any sort of help for fire victims in real life apparently. [/spoiler] So much potential here, but the actual gameplay needs smoothing out. I fully intend to check back in a few months and see if there has been any updates.

Oh boo hoo, this game isn't fun? Well LIFE isn't fun, bucko! Seriously, this is an intentionally punishing but well-written game that's all about the knife-edge of life under late-stage capitalism. Your only goal is to survive but the slightest setback can mean game over. It's pessimistic, it's cruel, and it's unfair, but it's also short and pointed. The point isn't to give you a rich, fulfilling adventure. The point is to piss you off about the state of the world. And it definitely succeeds in that. Maybe it feels overly sour but I can't fault where it's coming from.

Honestly, great social commentary. Got our whole stream talking about our pasts, the current economic situation, and ways we could provide mutual aid. Gameplay does get repetitive without a way to skip scenes we'd already been through, but it was worth it to see all the different endings (just might be something to consider adding in a patch.) Absolutely love the generated art in this, especially as the character expressions change and take on that all-too-familiar AI over-exaggeration. Some bugs do persist, we found: -If you choose to create a video game with the laptop, we didn't get an ending for it and had no way to back out from the laptop. -went through the conversation with the couple at the gas station three times before the sussy hoodie baka showed up with the laptop -sometimes the menu would get stuck open on screen if it was opened before dialogue happened Otherwise, great game! Really impressed with the commentary it offered and would definitely enjoy other titles if the dev ever makes another game. Thanks for making this, Nick!

I like how the game displays reality for those who are down on their luck and the struggles one must endure to get through life. I would recommend this game simply because the price is right and I appreciate the replay-ability.

I think this game has a pretty clear statement about what it is like to live in terminal poverty -- how one small slip-up ends up being devastating. Once I realized I had to be over-cautious about everything, I played very carefully. I followed the rules, made it to all my shifts, etc. Interestingly, (what I believe to be) the best ending involves you having to break a few of the rules. I find this to be a powerful statement in that the system, as it exists, is not designed to help those who need it the most, and that people often need to end up resorting to some degree of civil disobedience (or even just have some luck) in order to make it through. Great message, great story. It unfortunately reminds me of too many of my friends trying to survive in the USA right now. I hope that others end up checking it out. My only issue is that there were a few small glitches (spoilers below): [spoiler] 1. The "create a video game" ending had no ending for me 2. When I accepted the 20 dollars for beer, I found out I could do that over and over again, seemingly having an infinite money glitch. That said, it obviously didn't matter in the end. [/spoiler] The only recommendation I would make is to allow you to skip the credits sequence. It seems that some endings let me skip through them once I got them once, but after a while I just ended up closing the game and re-opening it after to avoid the credits sequence.

good game, very depressing but a good commentary on the world today, and how easy it is for one bad day to slip into a bad life, like forgetting to lock your bike up when going to work, leads to our character losing their jobs and house because they cant get to work, and dying under a bridge, sad, but realistic

Well damn, this felt... accurate. A game I believe that everyone should need to play through to understand what being broke is really like, and how people can get to that point.

I mean it's ok, it could use a more friendly UI for playing I'd say get it on sale not at full price

Good idea & atmosphere - I thought mechanically this would be similar to some old titles such as Heart Of China, but unfortunately the UI is too clunky & off putting pixel hunt that it prevented me from enjoying the game.