Tiny Life is what happens when deep love for the life simulation genre meets cute pixel art and a beyond charming little world. Right from the beginning I got the feeling that this game wasn't quite like the Sims, my (and many others') main experience with life sim games, from the gender-neutral language to the much reduced barriers in the character creation screen, to the bold in-game support for mods and custom content. While the main mechanics are familiar (get a job, take care of needs, meet others, build your dream house), the way emotions, skills, and relationships work are a breath of fresh air.

Tinies, as the characters are called, are silly, diverse, and surprisingly complex in their personality makeup. Personalities have major and minor traits, and skills are a lot more rewarding to level up as you cannot just make your Tiny read a book for 12 hours straight to master a skill. They actually need real experience in the skill! So a Tiny working on their charisma actually needs to talk to others and form connections, a Tiny leveling their cleaning skill (love that this exists!) needs to clean real objects etc. I have played a considerable time and the highest level skill my Tiny has is painting at lvl 7!

The building mode is also really fun and easy to learn, reminiscent of the Sims 1 but with a very different control and camera system. By the time I expanded my first house to have another Tiny move in with mine, I was decently confident in my ability to make a nice home. The recent preview version that introduces multiple storeys has been an amazing addition to the building experience and I am very excited for other new developments on this!

In general, Tiny Life is the most updated Early Access game I own, with bug fixes being lightning fast and new updates coming out in a nicely regular fashion. There is clearly a lot of passion on part of the developer, which is a great sign for the future of this game.

While I did receive the full game for free, I tested the demo completely independently and my feelings remain the same. I highly recommend Tiny Life to any fan of the Sims, other life sim games, and anyone who enjoys a banger soundtrack. At least try out the demo!

Tiny Life is what happens when deep love for the life simulation genre meets cute pixel art and a beyond charming little world. Right from the beginning I got the feeling that this game wasn't quite like the Sims, my (and many others') main experience with life sim games, from the gender-neutral language to the much reduced barriers in the character creation screen, to the bold in-game support for mods and custom content. While the main mechanics are familiar (get a job, take care of needs, meet others, build your dream house), the way emotions, skills, and relationships work are a breath of fresh air. Tinies, as the characters are called, are silly, diverse, and surprisingly complex in their personality makeup. Personalities have major and minor traits, and skills are a lot more rewarding to level up as you cannot just make your Tiny read a book for 12 hours straight to master a skill. They actually need real experience in the skill! So a Tiny working on their charisma actually needs to talk to others and form connections, a Tiny leveling their cleaning skill (love that this exists!) needs to clean real objects etc. I have played a considerable time and the highest level skill my Tiny has is painting at lvl 7! The building mode is also really fun and easy to learn, reminiscent of the Sims 1 but with a very different control and camera system. By the time I expanded my first house to have another Tiny move in with mine, I was decently confident in my ability to make a nice home. The recent preview version that introduces multiple storeys has been an amazing addition to the building experience and I am very excited for other new developments on this! In general, Tiny Life is the most updated Early Access game I own, with bug fixes being lightning fast and new updates coming out in a nicely regular fashion. There is clearly a lot of passion on part of the developer, which is a great sign for the future of this game. While I did receive the full game for free, I tested the demo completely independently and my feelings remain the same. I highly recommend Tiny Life to any fan of the Sims, other life sim games, and anyone who enjoys a banger soundtrack. At least try out the demo!