Game: Moving Through Life
Genre: Casual, Indie, Simulation
System: Steam (Windows)
Developer|Publisher: Challenging Games
Controller Support: No
Price: UK £4.99 | US $5.99 | EU € 5.89
Release Date: August 15th 2023
Review code used with many thanks to Challenging Games.
Moving Through Life is a 2023 simulation game developed and released by Challenging Games.
Premise
Moving Through Life is a relaxing 3D game about arranging furniture and items in different living spaces as we grow. Some decisions are to be made, affecting our earthly possessions and the game ending in subtle ways. Starting from the heroine’s childhood in the 1990s, in each of the game’s chapters, we can decide whether she will pursue a career in art or writing, if she’ll focus on her career or creating a family, if she will volunteer, etc.
Gameplay
While heavily influenced by Unpacking, the two games have a significant difference. In Unpacking, we have no control over the story. We are the audience, so to speak. In Moving Through Life, we make the choices that ultimately affect the ending.
We start with an empty childhood bedroom in the 1990s and move on from there. The objects are generated using the left mouse button and positioned with the right mouse button. There is no chance of confusion since the controls are always shown on screen. You can’t change them, though.
The camera moves again with the mouse. It rotates the room; for me, it was the scroll button, and it did feel a little finicky. You can also zoom in and out of the room.
Each room has its objects to place; you can’t generate an object in, let’s say, the bathroom and then move it into the living room. I didn’t like that you have no idea how many things you will generate; there is no countdown. Usually, that wouldn’t be much of an issue, but in Moving Through Life, once you place the final object, which you don’t know is the last, the room is finished and locked, and you can’t change anything.
Another thing to note, which can be negative or positive, depending on your viewpoint, is that objects have no set place in the room. You can generate everything and leave it lying around, and the game will still consider the room completed. That was disappointing because I expected the game to have some puzzle element.
While you can place everything where you want, some limitations remain. Objects like wall paintings, mirrors and scones can only be put on the wall, pillows only on beds and sofas, and so on.
The choices mentioned above are made by choosing one of two items at the end of each chapter; for example, we choose between a photo or diploma, a volunteer badge or a baby toy, and so on.
Side Notes
Moving Through Life has no difficulty settings, no Steam achievements, and no trading cards. Unfortunately, it also doesn’t have a manual save function, which means that if you need to exit the game midplay, you will lose the progress you’ve made in the chapter.
The soundtrack and art style of the game heavily remind me of the few productivity apps I’ve seen recently – we have a 3D isometric space to decorate with relaxing lo-fi background music.
The style for all the furniture is decisively modern; hopefully, more choices will be added further on. Also, a nice idea is to include photos of the character at the end of the game, during the credits. We are arranging said photos throughout the game anyway.
Conclusion
Moving Through Life is a short game with huge potential. For now, we have no choice in objects and furniture and no choice to change colour palettes or even different furniture styles, but that may change in the future. For now, the game feels a little bit empty. Also, the fact that when you finish the game, you start from the beginning with no chance to replay a specific chapter hurts the replay value of the game. Still, it’s a solid try, and just for that, I wholeheartedly recommend it.
Final Verdict: I Like it a Lot. 