Life is Hard Demo

City sims may not sound like the most exciting genre out there, but if you manage to get the formula right, then you can make a ton of money and have millions of fans overnight. This was the scenario with SimCity, because although it didn’t originally start as a game, the series managed to become a major bestseller, especially since it led to so many other things as well.

Life is Hard is a 2D town simulation game in which your goal is quite simple, in theory: build and manage a village for a tribe of people. You have to manage almost everything yourself, on the other hand, including resource gathering and diplomatic relationships when various situations arise. Thus, the game gets pretty complex after a while, especially if you aim to do a good job and create a prosperous town.

Since the game is designed in two dimensions, it can be pretty disorienting to manage your town at first, but it becomes second nature after a while. It may not be the most intuitive system out there, but it doesn’t take long to get accustomed to it. Hence, you start with a few people and a couple of resources, and the goal is to expand your town as much as possible, while also dealing with special events that come around every now and again.

Religion is a big part of the game as well, because you get to choose a game in the beginning, and you have to pay attention to his demands over the course of the adventure, otherwise bad things start to happen. You’ll also receive unwanted visitors that may ask tribute of you, and you can even go to battle and conquer more land, so it’s a pretty open world with many options at your disposal.

The freedom can be a tad disorienting, on the other hand, because you’ll also have to base your decisions on a bit of luck sometimes. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, you can end up in situations that are decided with a roll of the dice. Moreover, the fact that the game is still in early access means that you’ll probably stumble into a lot of bugs as well.

Even if it has its weaknesses at the moment, Life is Hard is more than capable to take everyone by surprise once the complete version hits the market. Hence, if you enjoy city sims, this is a pretty casual approach to the genre everyone can have fun with.