|
You'll never actually drown your enemies in a swimming pool, flip real estate, build a charming farm, or clean your house. That's why you play life sims. What are we talking about? Stardew Valley, Slime Rancher, Powerwash Simulator, House Flipper, and of course The Sims. Games that, one way and another, let you create tiny worlds with tiny stories. Games that let you fix communities, or destroy them in interesting ways. Some current examples: Animal Crossing (all versions). Invite animals to your tiny town/island, build them houses, plant gardens, and pay off your mortgage. The smash hit of the pandemic years. If you didn't play it, you felt like you had, because all your friends wouldn't shut up about it. Has its own thread. House Flipper. Buy trashed houses, clean, paint, and furnish them, and sell them on to the next sucker. All the satisfaction of cleaning up, none of the responsibility for rising house prices. Mr. Prepper. The apocalypse finally happened, and you're just trying to get by in your underground bunker. Be ready for regular visits from the secret police. My Time at Portia. Farm, fight, and fabricate. Unbelievably beautiful; I've stopped whatever quest I was on just to watch the sun set. Sequel My Time at Sandrock is in Early Access as of August 2022. Powerwash Simulator. See something dirty? Hit it with a hose and it'll get clean. Ridiculously satisfying. The Sims. Build houses, decorate them, build characters, decorate them, and then watch them set each other on fire. First released in 2000; according to the Guinness World Records of 2017, the best-selling PC game series of all time. The Sims 4 has its own thread. Story of Seasons/Harvest Moon/Rune Factory. The grandmamma of the farming sim; has changed names and devs several times. Thread here. Slime Rancher. Capture adorably squishy wild animals, farm them for poop, sell the poop, buy supplies. Sequel Slime Rancher II will enter Early Access in Fall 2022. Stardew Valley. Build a farm, fight monsters in caves, and provide unpaid therapy to a whole bunch of town residents. Make friends, marry them, divorce them, and turn your children into birds. I'm (gulp) almost 1700 hours in. Has its own thread. Stardew-adjacent Haunted Chocolatier is in development, but will, per ConcernedApe, be "more of an action RPG". This genre has a significant overlap with management sims, which focus on building economies: games like Banished or Rimworld can fit in either category, depending on who's drawing the lines. One way to draw the line is that management games are sims, but with a focus on production efficiency. The Management Games Megathread is over here, but it's fine if a game is discussed both places. Arsenic Lupin fucked around with this message at 21:00 on Aug 30, 2022 |
#
¿
Aug 29, 2022 23:41
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 21, 2024 18:04 |
|
|
Reserved for expansion.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 29, 2022 23:42
|
|
|
HopperUK posted:I keep buying all of these that come out and then just playing Stardew Valley again. I am making a rule that I'm not allowed to touch my modlist now until at least winter of year 1 so that I don't add yet another 'played for 14 days, discovered new mod, started over' save to the pile.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 30, 2022 01:24
|
|
|
That looks like a lot of experience in the genre to me.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 30, 2022 05:10
|
|
|
lordfrikk posted:How is Powerwashing Simulator a life sim? I can kinda see House Flipper, but I thought in PWS you just spray water at things in various levels?
|
|
#
¿
Aug 30, 2022 15:23
|
|
|
I would love if we had a broad-church view of this thread: if somebody wants to discuss a game here, knock yourself out.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 31, 2022 05:12
|
|
|
It interests me to hear people saying Portia is ugly. I don't much care for the character design, but the landscapes take my breath away.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 31, 2022 15:11
|
|
|
HopperUK posted:Oh it's totally a matter of taste! I'm going to give Sandrock another try when it's closer to 1.0. I can usually get around aesthetic stuff and like you guys are saying, the landscapes are gorgeous.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 31, 2022 15:56
|
|
|
yegods posted:Yeah, often I wish someone would mod in an "undo" button. I'm currently playing with the Wabbajack Stardew Valley modpack... it's pretty great, but a bit overwhelming with all the people and stuff to do.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 31, 2022 22:17
|
|
|
Thank you to the people who recommended "I Was A Teenage Exocolonist". It's a jewel. The background art is beautiful, the characters are interesting, and the moral decisions are hard. I haven't finished my first run, but I'm obviously going to get killed off either by the fascists or the hot alien; my bet's on the hot alien or their friends. I also appreciated the Murderbot reference. e: I got a good ending first try! Botanist. I thwarted the genocide, talked to the leader about collaborating with the Gardeners, got nowhere, got my mack on with the alien, eventually drifted apart. Key point, though: neither the Gardeners nor the humans got wiped out. Mom, Dad, and other kid: bit it. Arsenic Lupin fucked around with this message at 02:04 on Sep 3, 2022 |
|
#
¿
Sep 2, 2022 20:27
|
|
|
Next time, I'm putting a LOT more effort into Persuasion.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 3, 2022 16:38
|
|
|
I was so drat pissed off that after all the sobbing I'd done it all turned out to be a hallucination in a hospital ward. I was invested, dammit.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 4, 2022 00:26
|
|
|
Hihohe posted:Thats where youre wrong fucko! Im playing all these loving Farm games!  Also, AFAIK there is no release date for Haunted Chocolatier.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 13, 2022 19:20
|
|
|
Moonlighter is on sale till September 28th for $4. Half the time you dungeon crawl, half the time you sell the stuff you stole. Buying it, will advise. https://store.steampowered.com/app/606150/Moonlighter/
|
|
#
¿
Sep 22, 2022 00:15
|
|
|
Jack B Nimble posted:So, which Life Sim games have the most combat and adversity? These games are definitely overlapping with a lot of things I like but I'm looking for something with a hostile environment. Go play Don't Starve right now.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 22, 2022 21:48
|
|
|
Jack B Nimble posted:These are all good suggestions; I've played them all though a few, like don't starve and Subnautica, I didn't finish and should probably return to. If you haven't played Rimworld, you should try it. You're building a colony out of shipwrecked survivors, and boy howdy does a lot of poo poo go on. Soon you'll look up and ask yourself "Why do I have 100 mods?"
|
|
#
¿
Sep 22, 2022 22:01
|
|
|
ARK: Survival Evolved is free on the Epic Games Store. I have no idea if it's any good.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 23, 2022 16:28
|
|
|
Four hours into Wandering Village, and I'm pretty meh about it. It's so sloooow. You only get villagers by random events (either running across them on the road or sending out scavenging parties), so you're constantly resource-constrained. I think a lot of my complaints would be resolved if there were a speed 4, moving more briskly down the road. There's just not much to do. Farm, mine, cut trees, research, wait until you can research enough to do something more interesting than that. Four hours in, I still can't forge or make glass or do anything with advanced materials. The control over which workers do which isn't fine-grained enough for me; you have individual buildings that control what the workers in that building do, so to tune how many farmers, miners, carriers you want, you have to build a [worker-controller] (forget the exact name) to control each one separately. I'm pretty bored. I'll come back in a few weeks to see what's new.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 25, 2022 21:30
|
|
|
Is anybody following Paralives? Apparently it's a Sims-alike that's currently a Patreon. That is all I know .
|
|
#
¿
Oct 21, 2022 04:27
|
|
|
Are any of you interested in setting up a Don't Starve Together server? We could ignore all the dumb Twitch drops.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 28, 2022 20:02
|
|
|
Is anybody here in the Paralives Patreon?
|
|
#
¿
Nov 2, 2022 15:56
|
|
|
I've never been good at rerunning games to get all the endings. I did one playthrough all the way and got a pretty good ending, started again, saved Tammy and my parents and prevented the breach in the walls and kind of lost interest. I would like to see the overthrew the invading fascists branch, but am not invested enough to do the whole thing again.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 19, 2022 17:38
|
|
|
I am really really enjoying Against The Storm. Don't be put off by EA if you're on the fence; it's not at all janky, I've never had a crash, the visuals are polished, and the campaign is really long and interesting.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 27, 2022 19:22
|
|
|
Jack Trades posted:How much metaprogression is there? I'm not quite sure what you mean, could you explain more?
|
|
#
¿
Nov 27, 2022 21:56
|
|
|
I am very invested in Against The Storm, but I am also going to drop it like a radioactive dildo the moment Dwarf Fortress drops.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 3, 2022 06:55
|
|
|
Disappointing Pie posted:I need some cozy games for Steam Deck if anyone has suggestions! Unpacking. You're, as the title suggests, in the viewpoint character's various houses and apartments, unpacking their belongings and putting them away neatly. The changes in possessions over the years tell the story of the viewpoint character's life. It's pretty, has amazing foley work, something like 14K different sounds, and is very satisfying to play.
|
|
#
¿
Jan 21, 2023 02:37
|
|
|
Kitfox just released a teaser for their forthcoming (published by them, not written by) Mossfield Origins. It's a builder intentionally designed to be chill: no deadlines, nobody starving to death. I've wishlisted it. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1836400/Mossfield_Origins/
|
|
#
¿
Feb 27, 2023 19:49
|
|
|
Honestly, charm is a much harder target to hit than CPU utilization.
|
|
#
¿
Mar 18, 2023 05:03
|
|
|
I loved Sunless Sea; is Dredge likely to scratch that itch, or is it mostly about fishing?
|
|
#
¿
Apr 6, 2023 17:14
|
|
|
I loved Spiritfarer up until my most-hated narrative technique: It was all a hallucination. It also gets very grindy in the late game.
|
|
#
¿
May 11, 2023 04:03
|
|
|
Graveyard Keeper was very annoying when I played it -- it may have changed since -- in that there were many events that could only happen on one day, and it was easy to miss them. I was also personally squicked when I was required by the plot to torture somebody.
|
|
#
¿
May 11, 2023 16:09
|
|
|
Has Roots of Pacha been pulled from Steam? Even the official link from their page doesn't work. https://rootsofpacha.com/ Also, what was the name of the sinister fishing game everybody was raving about last month?
|
|
#
¿
May 23, 2023 23:22
|
|
|
Oh, damnit re Roots of Pacha. Off to buy Dredge, and thanks. E: Three hours later, wow. Arsenic Lupin fucked around with this message at 02:29 on May 24, 2023 |
|
#
¿
May 23, 2023 23:33
|
|
|
I'm 36 hours into Roots of Pacha and finding it very grindy; I spend most of the day gardening and tending to the animals, then it's off to the caves to mine. I really wish there were more interesting minigames. Furthermore, the mechanic of having to search for seeds or make $$$ in contributions annoys me. If seeds were lower-priced I'd be happier.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 12, 2023 18:17
|
|
|
Spiritfarer has two serious flaws. 1. It gets really grindy toward the end. 2. It was all a dream. After crying over several deaths, I was extremely pissed off at the reveal. Didn't finish the game.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 28, 2023 05:54
|
|
|
Megazver posted:I've played it and I didn't love it, but I think that spoiler is less damning than it seems. It's a game about dying and the reveal is that you're dying and you're basically reflecting on your life and the actual relationships you've had in a somewhat dream-like environment and learning how to move on. I'd say it works just fine here, it's on theme, other issues the game might have aside.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 7, 2023 19:19
|
|
|
Sylphosaurus posted:I really wanted to like Graveyard Keeper but I bounced off hardcore on the writing and general feel of the game.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 12, 2023 19:39
|
|
|
Megazver posted:The witch burnings, I imagine. Yup.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 13, 2023 22:31
|
|
|
SexyBlindfold posted:Anyone tried Wylde Flowers, Coral Island and/or Cozy Grove? I know WF's got a demo out, but
|
|
#
¿
Sep 15, 2023 01:06
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 21, 2024 18:04 |
|
|
Bremen posted:Does anyone have any farming sims with 
|
|
#
¿
Sep 15, 2023 21:48
|
|