Apartment Story Review (Johelian)
A day in the life of Arthur:
- Wake up.
- Urinate for approximately 2 seconds.
- Take a shower.
- Prepare cereal on the chopping board (naked, because you forgot to put clothes on).
- Write on the computer.
- Look at explicit content on the computer.
- Do…other stuff at the computer (tissues are there for a reason).
- Smoke a joint with your roommate’s ex.
- Discuss what to do with The Gun.
Apartment Story is a short narrative-driven simulation game. Your character, Arthur, has recently lost his job, is drowning in debt, and struggling to find purpose in life. You must keep Arthur alive by making sure he eats, sleeps, goes to the bathroom, keeps his hygiene in check, and looks after his mental wellness using a sort of Sims-esque system of health bars. If these needs drag Arthur's Life bar down, it’s game over, so keeping them balanced is crucial (though not at all difficult).
You control Arthur in 3rd person as he wanders around the apartment, using a targeting crosshair to highlight things you want him to interact with. Though all of the controls are a bit fiddly (picking multiple items up is particularly clumsy) and there’s a degree of jank to every element of the design, it somehow works with the low-poly aesthetics - plus the sheer volume of interactable “stuff” is impressive. The soundtrack is beautiful, composed of drifting electronic tracks from TRAAPS. There are several scenes of nudity and explicit content which feel somewhat gratuitous to me, but inoffensively so.
At certain points, events will happen: the doorbell will ring, your phone will beep, or your electricity meter will cut out. What will you do? These choices feed the narrative, which is thrilling and completely believable. I swung between laughter and nail-biting tension as situations unfolded, desperate to make the “right” decisions. There are several ways your story can “end”, which makes for some replayability.
All in all, I enjoyed this: it’s not perfect, but it is entertaining!
(Notes: Works fine on Steamdeck. Multiple saves are not supported. Approx 2 hour run time. Well worth the asking price IMO.)