So I Tried... Streamer Life Simulator

Each edition of So I Tried… I will try a game that I have never played before. Will I find something new to love? Will I find something new to despise? I'll take a full half hour, no matter how bad it gets or how badly I do, to see if this is the game for me. This time, I played Streamer Life Simulator.

Well, technically, we played Streamer Life Simulator. Recently, I and a few others in the GrinCast streamed ourselves streaming ourselves.

What I Thought It Was

Well, the name’s somewhat self-explanatory, right? It’s a simulator for streaming. Technically, it’s a simulator for a streamer’s life, but I was fairly certain Streamer Life Simulator was going to involve a somewhat gamified take on streaming videogames. I pictured being able to set a schedule and select different games for my streamer character to play, as well as networking with other streamers and managing the chat. Whether it was going to lean toward a more realistic or more streamlined approach, I wasn’t sure, but I was quite sure there would be streaming involved.

What It Actually Is

It certainly is more of a life simulator than I was expecting! You have to drive around, manage your hunger and energy levels, “make the toilet”, set up your living space, build your PC, and explore a detailed web of computer apps and websites… It is also dreadfully boring and frustrating in equal measure.

The “life” elements are oddly balanced, where it seems as though the game’s UI is constantly begging you to eat, sleep, shower, and “make the toilet”, but the only thing that actually happens when you’re low on any of these stats is that you stop streaming when you’re sleepy (a fact that is particularly annoying because streaming drains energy incredibly quickly). I lasted several days with no food because I’d accidentally bought a fridge when I didn’t need to, and there was no consequence for starving myself.

The worst part, though, is that I didn’t really end up doing a whole lot of streaming. I’m told the little games you can play on stream are silly and slightly more fun than expected (once again, I bought an unnecessary fridge and only had $3 to my name afterwards), and the chat had this really nice Reigns-style choice system where you had to manage different stats with how you reacted to your viewers, but streaming took up so little of my playtime that I never really got into it. Perhaps not having any food led to energy draining faster, and maybe not buying a fridge would’ve made Streamer Life Simulator more fun, but here’s the thing: I didn’t have fun at any point in the lead-up to that point either.

Also, I lied. The actual worst part is that nearly every time I sat down at my in-game desk, my monitor, PC, keyboard, mouse, and microphone all flew off the desk. That should not happen.

Will I Keep Playing?

That’s a big resounding no from me. Streamer Life Simulator is not fun, plain and simple. It’s decently silly and could be an enjoyable “so bad it’s good” type game, but that’s the sort of thing that I’d rather watch a Let’s Play for, not something I’d want to play myself.