Cart Life

I really wanted to like this game, because I liked Papers, Please a lot and it is probably the most similar work to Lucas Pope's masterpiece. Sadly, Cart Life turned out to be a janky and frustrating game, which cares more about secondary things like satire and message than about mechanics and player experience.

There is no proper tutorial, you have to learn by trial and error, restarting the whole game many times. It may remind of roguelike principles, but it is not a roguelike - every single time you have to do the same routine, go there, get that item, it is more like an adventure game. Uncomfortable interface (you constantly jump between keyboard and mouse) makes the process worse, and there is no pause button (in the simulation wholly dependent on the timer!). And even when you finally understand how to play this thing, it still won’t allow you to enjoy it, because of constant crashes and bugs.

I see how my complaints can be called irrelevant regarding the nature of this game - "it is supposed to be frustrating and unenjoyable, it is a work simulator", but I don’t believe this kind of design tactics is acceptable. Tension should be created by careful balancing and well-directed gameplay situations (Papers, Please, again, is a good example), not by awkward controls and unfair challenges.

Cart Life has its charm and personality, though. It looks and sounds nice. Ideas behind it are very progressive for the medium. Too bad it is hard to appreciate these things when the game itself is not very playable.