Icelandic studio Porcelain Fortress began life as a VR gaming company back in 2016, but its first real hit wouldn’t come until 2019’sNo Time to Relax. A fast-paced 4-player life sim,No Time to Relaxtasked players with maintaining their avatar’s physical needs and income, while also completing enough life events to earn them a higher score than their fellow players. After a few years of making browser games and board game companion apps,Porcelain Fortressis getting ready to return to the life sim genre withWalk of Life.
Intended to be the “dream version” of its competitive life sim formula (according to Porcelain Fortress founder Björn Elíeser Jónsson),Walk of Lifetakes the general framework of its 2019 spiritual predecessor and improves upon every conceivable aspect, from art style to UI to gameplay features. Game Rant got to see many of these improvements first hand, and even after just 30 minutes with the game, it’s clear there’s something special in the works here.
Walk of Life’s Loop Is Frantic But Surprisingly Strategic
Walk of Lifeis best described as a sort oflife sim/board gamehybrid in which up to four players attempt to live the greatest life they possibly can within just 10 turns. Players are thrown onto a map that contains a wealth of buildings that range from banks to stores to apartments, gyms, and more. Each location has a set of unique activities inside.
During a turn, players will need to visit a variety of locations and complete activities that will improve their overall score or help to maintain their avatar’s four gauges: health, hygiene, happiness, and stress. Completing an activity will advance the player’s timer forward, and eventually end their turn. While there are certain things the player needs to do every turn, such as eating food in order to avoid a severe time penalty on the next go, most of their turn is free to be spent however they’d like. Players can get a job and earn money, go shopping, further their education, feed the birds at the park, and a plethora of other seemingly mundane everyday activities.
Once everyone’s finished their final turn, scores will be awarded based on key factors like the player’s stress level, their education, their living conditions, and any specific quests they’ve been able to complete along the way. Generally speaking,Walk of Life’s gameplay loopis fairly simple, and that simplicity should make the game incredibly accessible.Walk of Life’s pacing is also a key strength, with turns lasting only a maximum of a few minutes.
But despiteWalk of Life’s frantic pace, there’s a surprising amount of strategy at play in a given turn. Moving around the map also takes time away from the player, so they’re encouraged to plan out the most important steps of their turn in advance. This time-based movement can also lead to some nail-biting moments of tension where players just barely make it to their desired location by the end of their turn.
Walk of Life’s Irreverent Style Is Its Shining Feature
Taking just one glance atWalk of Life’s traileror key art reveals the irreverent aesthetic and tone that the game wholeheartedly embraces at every turn. Every character avatar and portrait, every location backdrop, even every menu logo and font choice oozes with a vibrant cartoony freneticism.
This energetic art style goes hand in hand withWalk of Life’s tongue-in-cheek humor. Inspired by classic British shows likeBlackadderandMonty Python,Walk of Lifeleans all the way into the absurdity of mundane everyday life, and pokes fun at the senseless nature of the daily rat race.Walk of Life’s frantic competitive gameplay, killer sense of humor, and unapologetically vibrant art style come together to create an experience that’s already worth playing with friends. And with a few more months left to go before its projected Q3 2025 early access release date, there’s plenty of time for it to become an even more well-rounded and polished game.
Game Rant was provided with travel and lodging.
