Steam Game Review] "Hobo: Tough Life," a Czech "homeless game

In this series, Mina Tsujimura, aka SteamMania, a core gamer on Steam, reviews in detail the recommended games available on Steam, a PC game platform that is currently enjoying a lot of popularity. She will introduce you to the fun of the games.

This time, we will introduce "Hobo: Tough Life," a game being developed by Perun Creative, an indie developer in the Czech Republic. The game is a homeless simulation RPG that allows players to become homeless. Players scavenge trash and beg for food and supplies to survive today. In addition, they must build a base of operations and survive the coming winter.

The daily routine of a homeless person is to scavenge for garbage, but in this game, there is random filth in the garbage cans. If you happen to catch one, you may get nauseous or even sick from the accumulation of dirt. At first it is difficult to avoid it, but as you fish through the garbage again and again and level up, you will be able to detect the presence of filth and prevent it before it happens. The game is about growing as a homeless person by collecting experience and raising the level of each skill.

NPC senior homeless people will teach you many things.

As mentioned earlier, in this game, you will procure supplies by begging, scavenging for garbage, and picking. In addition, there are levels set for these activities, and the system allows players to accumulate experience and level up by repeating these activities over and over again.

Furthermore, in addition to the players, there are many NPC homeless people living in this town, and talking to NPC homeless people will help the players by accepting quests or giving them recipes when they pay money. Incidentally, the game also supports multiplayer for up to four players, so you can play with friends.

Too realistically made! Severe status management

In this game, status management is very severe. Moreover, it is made very realistically and faithfully. Not only hunger and temperature, but also the main character's moral awareness, sleepiness, nausea, sickness, bowel movements and smells are set in detail. For example, the bowel movement meter rises when you eat a meal, and when the number accumulates, you must go to the toilet. Of course, if you leave it unattended and it reaches 100%, you will poop in your pants. Furthermore, if you poop your pants, your odor status will reach 100%, and store clerks and NPCs will stop talking to you, and so on in a vicious cycle. Even crueler, the toilets in this town are chargeable.

In addition, the town where the game takes place has various areas, including stores and other homeless centers. The word "store" means many different kinds of stores, such as home centers, general stores, supermarkets, and tobacco shops, and the selection of goods differs from place to place. There are also facilities that are important for managing one's status, such as laundromats that clean your clothes, pay toilets, and churches that restore your morale. Even if you don't know where something is at first, you can rest assured that once you have been there, it will be marked on the MAP. Also, the MAP is usually handwritten and modest, but if you buy a MAP sold at a store, it will be replaced by a more robust one.

I actually tried being homeless.

Now let's actually try playing the game. First, when you create your character, you wake up in a vacant lot on the edge of town. There is nothing in particular in the surrounding area, so let's head toward the town to go scavenging for garbage right away. Basically, the food in the early stages of the game is scrap food that has been thrown away in the trash. You can't buy unclean food yet because you don't have any money.

When you are scavenging through the trash, sometimes you will see "? mark" trash. This is a hit, and if you complete the mini-game (stop at the green or blue frame with the right timing), you will get a good item. Also, the big trash cans often contain good items.

Bottles that can be picked up by garbage scavengers can be bought for 2 yen per bottle.

Winning scratch (lottery) tickets can be redeemed at tobacco shops.

Body odor has become stronger due to scavenging too much garbage. If the smell becomes too strong, you will not be able to talk to NPCs, so buy soap at a gas station. Soap can cut body odor by 10%. Even if you are homeless, cleanliness is important.

Some stores and supermarkets close at night. You can pickpocket and steal into the stores after they close. But this picking is surprisingly difficult!　The pin breaks easily and you fail.

It gets very cold at night. You can warm yourself by putting fuel such as junk into drums randomly placed in back alleys. If you don't have anything to burn, you can go to the homeless hangout in the basement of the bus terminal to warm up for free. Various homeless people live here.

NPC Homeless Houses. It is interesting to see the variations.

It is now noon, so I sleep on a bench at the bus stop. In the homeless world, sleeping at night is suicide.

I got sick from scavenging too much garbage. Since I have no money, I cannot buy any medicine and I die as it is. When you die, you lose all your belongings, what you are wearing, etc., but you do not lose your money. So, in the early stages of the game, it seems to be a good idea to die rapidly to accumulate money and raise your level.

Atmospheric game depicting a bleak concrete jungle

The most realistic aspect of the game is that NPCs always give you a "curious look" when you pass by them. The game is played from a first-person perspective, so you really feel like you are walking around town as a homeless person. I also enjoyed the realism of the "smell" item in the status management, such as the attitude of NPCs changing as your appearance becomes dirty.

Also, since this game is still in development, the long-awaited battle mode (in which you can attack in turn-based mode during begging conversations) was added in an update this November. Other updates are also actively being made, such as the addition of new areas and NPCs.

Languages are supported only in Czech, Chinese, and English. Unfortunately, Japanese is not supported, but survival itself can be fully enjoyed. Furthermore, those who can speak English can enjoy the conversations and stories. If you are tired of ordinary survival games, why not try this title?

Title Information

Hobo: Tough Life (Perun Creative)
Released on July 26, 2017
Price: $1,880 (as of November 28, 2019)
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Author: Suthumu Mana (Mina Tsujimura)

Writer and gamer at Office Mica. Her favorite game genres include sandbox survival games and horror games. Her style of game playing is a text-chatting game player who is afraid of VC players.

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