The life simulation “Growing Up” is currently on sale on Steam for €8.87. MeinMMO author Schuhmann spent six hours with the game yesterday, on June 20, 2024, and was fascinated. He says: If life were really as hard as in that damn game, we would all be total losers.
This is Growing Up:
- In Growing Up, you steer the fate of a newborn until graduation. It is a life simulation.
- You decide which skills you learn and the direction your life takes.
- You encounter classmates in classic RPG scenes and can experience their story.
Cool life simulation with exciting gameplay loop
What fascinates me about the game? I am a fan of life simulations, but there are few offers besides the overwhelming The Sims. I always fondly remember Kudos, where you start as a young adult with your own apartment and where a visit to the dentist is the worst thing that can happen to you.
Growing Up is essentially a kind of thinking game that follows a fixed sequence:
On a “Brain Map,” you have to see in which order to press icons to collect the maximum number of skill points. With that, you unlock skills in different areas that correspond to the skills:
This Brain Map becomes increasingly complex from round to round, with numerous bonus icons that you definitely want to collect. There are ways to earn bonus turns and even move to the “next round,” so you collect more skill points and become more successful in life the better you get at this brain map game. It’s like a puzzle to solve.
In addition, there are other systems through which you acquire skills, shop in the city, work, or engage in leisure activities.
It is a great feeling of constant guided progress. It has something of “The Sims,” as you advance so clearly in life. First, you learn to spell, then to write, and eventually engage with literature. Or you buy a skateboard with your first money to spend your free time and get a bit fitter. You then want to collect enough points to become better at football.
Here’s the catch: “Growing Up” is truly ruthless. Because there are 2 parameters: your own mental health and your parents’ reputation.
If you only work and play too little, you become “Overworked” and nothing works anymore.
But the parents totally hate it when you do anything that even remotely looks like fun. With every time watching TV or even riding a bike, your parents’ reputation decreases.
They then make sometimes absurd demands, like I should perform a completely stupid skill 10 times that brings me nothing – out of sheer whim, because I supposedly “needed to spend more time with my parents.”
When I disappointed my parents twice, they just kicked me out and sent me to military school, even though I was so close to becoming a celebrated sports star.
After playing, you can really understand why teenagers go crazy during puberty. It’s clearly because of the parents.
Reviews on Steam are 88% positive, rave about the game
What do the Steam reviews say? The reviews are 88% positive. Growing Up is seen as a refreshing life simulation that has a lot of originality and is fun to play. Many reviews emphasize that they simply enjoy the game and feel good while playing it. Many also praise the music and the satisfying feeling of understanding the game.
The RPG scenes are criticized – they repeat too much and the dialogues are long.
How is the game doing on Steam? Growing Up was released in October 2021 and for almost 3 years after the launch hardly anyone was interested. Only now in June 2024 do more players seem to be discovering the game. The game is currently experiencing a small renaissance (via steam). This may be due to the sale, which runs until June 27. During this time, Growing Up is 40% cheaper and hopefully finds many more players. The game deserves it, even though the parents are truly cruel tyrants.
Speaking of cruel tyrants and life simulation. In my favorite game on Steam, I am the tyrant and murder my parents when they create stress: Steam: I started as a lonely Viking – 400 years later I have half of Europe, 12,300 descendants, and a problem
