Cart Life is a simulator game developed by Richard Hofmeier, with a focus on narrative, offering a commentary on lower to middle class american society. This is done through three characters that you choose from: Vinny: a twenty-something who operates a bagel cart, Andrus: an elderly Ukrainian man who buys a newspaper stand, and Melanie: who sells coffee. Cart Life seeks to emulate not only the mind-numbing repetition that comes from running a “cart,” but more-so the soul-crushing monotony that comes from trying to make a living in middle America, and even the dreary nature of daily life as a whole.
I found myself thinking of ‘Papers, Please’ a number of times as I played Cart Life, finding it’s structure and tone fairly similar. Both games focus on the tough decisions people have to make to survive-- and although you could argue the stakes are slightly higher in ‘Papers, Please,’ they feel just as high in Cart Life.
The story is fantastic structured, with each character having not only a totally unique background and goals, but also carrying a different outlook on life and how best to live it. The small elements you find in their commentary and dialogue really bring life to their plight. Especially the fact that they all have their various vices, such as Vinny’s dependency on coffee and Andrus’ on cigarettes. All the characters feel like different people not only in their depictions and dialogue but in the moments like going to bed and getting hungry or tired.
One aspect that really surprised me was the dream sequences, which help you get a better feeling for what’s going on in your character's mind. Vinny’s dreams weren’t as revealing for the time I played, but Andrus’ revealed the depth and complexity of his life, and made me attach to his struggle to find meaning in a life where the only person who depends on him is his elderly cat: Mr. Glembovski.
It’s the little things in Cart Life that impressed me the most, such as going to the courthouse to get a permit, and talking with a cop, who told me that the book he was reading was “incredibly unrealistic.” Before he left he gave me that book-- the book happening to be George Orwell’s ‘1984.’ The subtle (or sometimes not-so-subtle) commentary found in these mundane events helps make the world you explore feel bigger than it is, and makes interactions incredibly worthwhile.
The art design is perfect for the tone and style of the game, with the slightly more realistic and dreary art during the sleep sections being very fitting for the breakdown of your finances, as you stress over what the next day will entail. The music is good, and fits the style of the game perfectly-- but lacks an overall structure or mood and is occasionally unfitting to the gameplay or tone of the moment-- which makes sense when you see that it’s all done by various artists.
Now, even though I have praised nearly every element of the game’s story, characters, and style-- that isn’t to say it’s perfect, or that it automatically gets a recommendation. Cart Life has problems, and they’re the worst kind of problems for a story-driven game to have.
Cart Life isn’t supposed to be fun, because life isn’t really supposed to be fun (as the game makes clear fairly quickly.) However, as a game it still needs to be engaging. This is where I feel Cart Life drops the ball. All the cart operations are done through two mini-games: typing and basic math. I was hoping that when I stopped playing as Vinny, that Andrus would play differently, seeing as so much else about him is different. But, I was disappointed that it was more of the same as far as the mini-games went: typing, math, typing, math, typing, math. I would be okay with a monotonous kind of gameplay, but I wanted something to change between characters, and I thought I would be getting loaded with new tasks that carried new mini-games.
I feel in that sense ‘Papers, Please’ is the quicker recommendation, since every couple of days you’re given a new constraint on what you have to do, which increases the difficulty and challenges your skill. Cart Life needed something akin to that, where different items have different tasks assigned to them-- not having selling a bagel being the same as selling a can of soda. I thought that at least the new styles of bagel would have that-- but they didn’t. That’s what made me stop playing eventually, I was just getting bored (which you could argue was the point,) of doing the same thing over and over again.
The game has an intense learning curve, and it doesn’t hold your hand-- nearly to a fault. I had to restart nearly five times as Vinny, just because I was trying to figure out how to play, and what I could do in the overworld. The amount of money I was making was so minuscule, that I couldn’t dream of having enough extra to upgrade my cart to any reasonable degree.
I also felt that the time scaling was a bit intense, as time keeps moving whether you’re talking, buying, or even in a menu. This led to me wasting an entire day reading item descriptions in the grocery store and having to re-load. Even if you’re fairly quick, it can still take up to two hours out of your day to shop or talk to someone. I felt that if it just took a certain amount (fifteen minutes for talking, half-an-hour for shopping,) it would’ve been easier to not waste time during these essential gameplay moments. I also found myself wishing I could fast-forward time (as we all do) as I sat in my cart/stand waiting for the next influx of customers.
Another problem is that the game is full of bugs, with most of them being very annoying, and some even game-locking or crash inducing. I was playing as Vinny and having a great day, when a dialogue locked up, and I couldn’t exit it-- forcing me to restart the day and lose all my progress. I also encountered quite a few bugs in the mini-games where it wouldn’t load the customer’s payment, eventually leading them to get “impatient,” and leave.
Again, I want to emphasize that I love Cart Life-- I think the story is one of the best I’ve seen in this format, and the protagonists are incredibly deep (especially since there’s three of them.) I love the style and tone of the game, and I feel it perfectly gets across what it wants to say. I think that the fact that this game is free is even more remarkable.
I just couldn’t handle playing it for more than a couple hours at a time, it just drained me. That’s what’s so frustrating about Cart Life, you want to enjoy this incredibly deep world and characters, learn about what makes the town tick and what keeps the characters going in life. And yet, there’s a lot that tries to drive you away for exploring. I can see myself picking up the game again, and taking the time to eventually reach the end of Cart Life, but I can’t imagine doing it as all three characters-- it’s just too much.
I would warn those who try the game that this isn’t a passive game. You can’t just play it, and expect a casual story experience. Every moment of time requires purpose, which makes the game a draining experience. The repetition of typing and basic math is tiring and dull. Yet, in many ways that’s the point of Cart Life-- that life is often draining and monotonous. I just wish it could drive that point in a more engaging way.
However, despite all my gripes about it-- I can easily recommend that people play Cart Life. You’ll find some of the best story, characters, and world-building that I’ve seen in an indie game for quite some time.
Cart Life is avaible for free (yes, totally free) at: http://www.richardhofmeier.com/cartlife/
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