Hobo: Tough Life is releasing out of Steam early access on March 30th (urban survival RPG where you play as a homeless person)

[texhnolyze]

Hobo: Tough Life is an urban survival role-playing game where you play as a homeless person. Play alone or team up in online co-op. Explore the streets of Praslav, scavenge for food and supplies, beg, steal, and do whatever else it takes to survive the forthcoming winter.

How far are you willing to go to survive? Steal, burgle, and consort with criminals of all sorts. If necessary, take what you need by force. However, you are not an action hero. Consider your actions carefully, for the consequences are often severe, and benefits rarely outweigh the risks. Most importantly, keep your wits about you. Even if you are not willing to hurt people for personal gain, others are.

Unlike other survival games, Hobo: Tough Life leans heavily on its story content. Experience dozens of storylines inspired by real-life events and people. Solve quests, meet unique NPCs, gain their trust, make allies and enemies, join various factions, and find your place in the streets of Praslav.

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[Einbroch]

This seems...like poor taste.

 

[SlightlyLive]

This seems...like poor taste.

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Clever.

You are right though, this comes across a bit crass and tasteless.

 

[CenturionNami]

Huh there seems to be alot of attention for it on steam has over a thousand reviews.

 

[Buckle]

Interesting.

Putting it on the wish list.

 

[Ryuelli]

This is the only hobo I need.

 

[atomsk]

thought this was a game I got a press email about the other day, but it turns out that was for Garbage: Hobo Prophecy

a bit weird

 

[toilet_sandpaper]

This is one of "those guys stole my idea from 10 years ago" for me.

Of course I can't code shit and will never ship a game so good for them

 

[Bradford]

This seems a bit crass but I am very intrigued by its existence. I want to see what this game is like. It definitely appears to have an atmosphere.

I really wonder what led to this being greenlit. What a fascinating thing.

It is giving me really odd Pathologic 2 vibes, in some ways.

 

[JuicyPlayer]

This seems...like poor taste.

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I was thinking the same thing. Especially with thousands of people going through this.

 

[Tatsu91]

This seems a bit crass but I am very intrigued by its existence. I want to see what this game is like. It definitely appears to have an atmosphere.

I really wonder what led to this being greenlit. What a fascinating thing.

It is giving me really odd Pathologic 2 vibes, in some ways.

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if they can actually deliver a decent message i can see it being something better than it appears to do.

 

[texhnolyze]

I do agree that this is a bit insensitive judging from the surface, but the game doesn't make fun of actual homeless people at all. It has a story, and just like most RPGs, you can choose to become a good or bad hobo. There are factions in the game and you can be the rules at the end.

 

[NCR Ranger]

Not sure if I will play the game, but that title needs work. I guess so does the one mentioned by atomsk as well. Much of the flak this game will get, assuming you know the game isn't making fun of the homeless, will be just based off title alone.

 

[The Boat]

Kinda gross tbh.

 

[mf.luder]

I do agree that this is a bit insensitive judging from the surface, but the game doesn't make fun of actual homeless people at all. It has a story, and just like most RPGs, you can choose to become a good or bad hobo. There are factions in the game and you can be the rules at the end.

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this sounds awful and in bad taste. Why does it have to be a hobo? Aren't these survival games based around the same thing? Finding food, gear, etc. ?

 

[Igniz12]

Tought this died a long time ago, good to see it come back again....? Idk, I guess its all about the execution, it could be a more crass Cart Life but hopefully it does not stray too close to anything problematic.

 

[belairjeff]

Game-ifying the experience of poverty is disgusting.

 

[texhnolyze]

this sounds awful and in bad taste. Why does it have to be a hobo? Aren't these survival games based around the same thing? Finding food, gear, etc. ?

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This is not your regular survival game, it's an actual RPG with story and branching narratives. Excuse me for my ignorance, but what's the difference between this and games or any other media (books/movies) with a minority as the protagonist who are going through bad experiences in their life? Like in Hellblade for example, we're playing as a woman who struggle with psychosis.

 

[wombleac]

I think I saw a scratch off mini-game of some sort, jesus.

 

[RestEerie]

This seems...like poor taste.

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not gonna agree or disagree with you but if games allows you to roleplay a rich person, a king, a superhero, etc........then why is role playing a poor homeless person somehow a taboo?

 

[belairjeff]

This is not your regular survival game, it's an actual RPG with story and branching narratives. Excuse me for my ignorance, but what's the difference between this and games or any other media (books/movies) with a minority as the protagonist who are going through bad experiences in their life? Like in Hellblade for example, we're playing as a woman who struggle with psychosis.

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i think there is a stark difference between telling a story of struggle vs basing the entire game system on struggle.

 

[PinballRJ]

Surprised it's not a fighting game with the bum fights license

 

[SapientWolf]

Game-ifying the experience of poverty is disgusting.

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Not inherently. At least in my opinion. It really depends on the message they're trying to bring across.

Homelessness is invisible most of the time, figuratively and literally. A crass game with bad messaging could be a problem, but the fact that mainstream studios don't want anything to do with the subject is a problem too.

 

[CenturionNami]

Game-ifying the experience of poverty is disgusting.

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This War of Mine would disagree.

 

[Einbroch]

not gonna agree or disagree with you but if games allows you to roleplay a rich person, a king, a superhero, etc........then why is role playing a poor homeless person somehow a taboo?

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I think it's because of the type of game it is. This game has "streamer game" written all over it. And I can see people role playing "crazy hobos" or whatever.

 

[Burt]

This is one of "those guys stole my idea from 10 years ago" for me.

Of course I can't code shit and will never ship a game so good for them

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Yeah but you must have stolen it from me first

I probably shouldn't even be diving into this when I really don't want to spend the night going back and forth on it, but the trailer is way too earnest for me to be interested in the game, because at the baseline..

Game-ifying the experience of poverty is disgusting.

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So, if you're not making a deeply empathetic narrative experience about the plight of a particular individual within an unjust society, and you're also not going in super hard via South Park's "Night of the Living Homeless"-style to highlight the utter wretchedness of... every society, everywhere, you're sort of just blandly exploiting the whole thing. I'm even trying to avoid the word 'exploit' as I write this because it's innately adversarial, but I can't think of anything that could satisfactorily take its place. And I could be wrong, but honestly, that overlay font alone inspires negative confidence.



I may or may not have storyboarded a trailer for a game about homelessness with Hotline Miami-style visuals to the opening song from It's Always Sunny, which happens to be royalty free

 

[Snagret]

Game-ifying the experience of poverty is disgusting.

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I mean, it depends on the context. Paper's Please has a large element of gamefying poverty but it's also incredibly effective at conveying what a harrowing experience that can be.

I agree though, something about this game really rubs me the wrong way and I'm having a hard time articulating why this bothers me, but it just seems in poor taste.

 

[Fawz]

Not the first game to put you in the shoes of a Homeless person, but this one seems gamey and not particularily in good taste

More interestingly was CHANGE: A Homeless Survival Experience which was more of a social commentary

CHANGE: A Homeless Survival Experience on Steam

CHANGE is an award nominated homeless survival experience set in a randomly created city with rogue-like elements. Explore, survive, earn perks, find items & kindness to develop your character & escape to a new life. Over 7 years of development & over 200 updates so far!

store.steampowered.com

 

[Wolf]

I feel like this is the kind of game I would expect to be non-profit and donate revenue to homeless shelters.

Trying to turn a profit on a game like this is just gross. Capitalism at it's finest I guess...

 

[texhnolyze]

i think there is a stark difference between telling a story of struggle vs basing the entire game system on struggle.

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I see. I'm starting to get the whole picture now.

 

[EatChildren]

Whether or not it successfully gamifies the experience of homelessness as a way to appropriately connect with and communicate this experience to an audience that may otherwise not understand it will depend a lot on its contextualised framing and writing. I think interactive stories have immense potential to communicate lived experiences and context in a way that can resonate profoundly with an audience, but all run the risk of fetishising or romanticising said experiences and transitioning more towards guady and exploitive over evocative and relevant.

As the saying goes; punch up, not down. I've worked with the homeless and poor for years. Sensitivity and consideration for the reality and gravity of homelessness seems like it might be predictably lost, although some facets of the description don't appear to be offensively romantic or embellished for entertainment's purpose. Instead the representative here seems more as a kitschy, vapid, unintentionally offensive but nevertheless misguided take on homelessness.

 

[skeezx]

looks more like a spin on survival sim than "lol u r hobo"... in spite of the on-the-nose title

lotto ticket thing is kind of pushing it though

 

[purseowner]

Game-ifying the experience of poverty is disgusting.

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If you and the game both view games as art rather than purely entertainment, then it isn't necessarily disgusting.

The title is absolutely horrendous, mind.

 

[Vamphuntr]

looks more like a spin on survival sim than "lol u r hobo"... in spite of the on-the-nose title

lotto ticket thing is kind of pushing it though

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In the trailer you see hobos fighting each others, lockpicking doors, stealing food but you can be a "good hobo" too whatever it means. The lotto ticket is probably the worst part of it.

 

[J-Soul]

This thread REALLY reminds me of the 6 Days In Fallujah coverage by Fox News. The arguments are almost word for word.

"Its disrespectful to turn this subject into a childish video game"
"You're trying to profit off of the horrifying lived experiences of these people"
"You aren't approaching this with the right level of decorum"

I wonder how 6 Days In Fallujah would be recieved today.

 

[ManNR]

What are y'all gonna say about the game "This War of Mine"? That it "gamifies" a horrible war experience? No. The game was praised for its depiction.

This game may (or may not) shed more light on what it means to suffer homelessness and poverty.

Games, like all art, are an expression of the human experience and being homeless, starving, hopeless, afraid, desperate, heartless, cruel, kind...all of these are part of the human experience. All are fair game for art to explore.

Judge it afterwards. Don't judge it now before you know what it is.

 

[8byte]

There's something inherently wrong about spending money to play a game on your (likely) expensive PC to fantasy role play a homeless person struggling to survive, while we're in the dead of winter.

 

[Giga Man]

There's something inherently wrong about spending money to play a game on your (likely) expensive PC to fantasy role play a homeless person struggling to survive, while we're in the dead of winter.

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Might as well hand a real hobo that cash instead of spending it on a hobo simulator.

 

[John Rabbit]

Super weird people are getting hung up on the scratcher game when literally the second before it's showing off some kind of home designer/base builder a'la Fallout 4 which is...extremely insane to me in a way I can't accurately describe.

This looks bad in just about every sense of the word.

Also some of y'all need to learn what it means to "punch up" versus "punch down".

 

[Necromanti]

What are y'all gonna say about the game "This War of Mine"? That it "gamifies" a horrible war experience? No. The game was praised for its depiction.

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I've player neither of the two games, but from what I can tell, the way the central focus is framed and depicted is the issue here. As far as I'm aware, TWOM didn't lean on stereotypes or a slogan like, "Can you survive?"

 

[Glabados]

Lots of good points in here, but there's a much simpler way of looking at something like this, which is just: Would you be embarrassed to explain what you're playing to a friend or family member? This War of Mine and Papers, Please: Not embarrassing. This: Embarrassing.

 

[TrueSloth]

What are y'all gonna say about the game "This War of Mine"? That it "gamifies" a horrible war experience? No. The game was praised for its depiction.

This game may (or may not) shed more light on what it means to suffer homelessness and poverty.

Games, like all art, are an expression of the human experience and being homeless, starving, hopeless, afraid, desperate, heartless, cruel, kind...all of these are part of the human experience. All are fair game for art to explore.

Judge it afterwards. Don't judge it now before you know what it is.

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This War of Mine doesn't glorify war. It's pretty explicit in it's messaging that it's an anti-war game. This hobo game isn't really clear on it's messaging about homelessness.

 

[Mr. Snuffleupagus]

If I wanted to play a homeless person RPG, I'd play Yakuza 7....which is what I am doing.

 

[Tobor]

Whether or not it successfully gamifies the experience of homelessness as a way to appropriately connect with and communicate this experience to an audience that may otherwise not understand it will depend a lot on its contextualised framing and writing. I think interactive stories have immense potential to communicate lived experiences and context in a way that can resonate profoundly with an audience, but all run the risk of fetishising or romanticising said experiences and transitioning more towards guady and exploitive over evocative and relevant.

As the saying goes; punch up, not down. I've worked with the homeless and poor for years. Sensitivity and consideration for the reality and gravity of homelessness seems like it might be predictably lost, although some facets of the description don't appear to be offensively romantic or embellished for entertainment's purpose. Instead the representative here seems more as a kitschy, vapid, unintentionally offensive but nevertheless misguided take on homelessness.

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The title alone isn't inspiring a lot of confidence in their ability to show sensitivity and consideration.

 

[EatChildren]

The title alone isn't inspiring a lot of confindence in their ability to show sensitivity and consideration.

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I agree with that. The basis in of itself, given that it's a survival streamer game more or less, also implies as much.

 

[Okii]

Wish it was multiplayer. Either way I might check this out seems like a unique concept.

 

[belairjeff]

The title alone isn't inspiring a lot of confidence in their ability to show sensitivity and consideration.

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agreed. Presentation and intent is extremely important when dealing with topics of poverty and homelessness.

 

[DailyCalmSpirit]

Honestly, the description is what puts me off the most.

"Are you going to STEAL or CHEAT or consort with all sorts of criminals?"

Like, I'm aware that's a reality for many homeless, but, if that's how you *start* your pitch, I'm not convinced you're coming from the right place.

 

[Wein Cruz]

This is not art or a game with a message. Just watch the trailer for fucks sake.

The title, the description, everything points to this being in poor taste.

 

[OmegaDL50]

I wonder if this game addresses the challenging cleaning up somewhat at homeless shelter / community center, getting a hobbled together suit from salvation army and trying very, very hard to apply for job through placement centers , let alone letting a bank allow you to open an account for direct deposit so you can slowly scrounge up some kind of income with the end goal of hoping, barely hoping a housing authority or rental center for cheap one bedroom apartment will actually grant you a fucking lease without some sort of background check, no photo ID, no social security card, etc.

The fact this so called "game" already puts a homeless situation in a negative slant resort to being a criminal doesn't sit well with me.