Even though we were unable to attend Gamescom this year, we did manage to get our hands on a copy of a game shown off there: Living Room. Whilst still an early build at present, due to the game releasing later this year, we were still able to spend quite a fair bit of time with the game and experience a lot of what it had to offer.

As always with our early impressions, keep in mind that this game is still a work in progress and will no doubt undergo various changes before its final release.

Many thanks to Thoughtfish for this early preview opportunity.

THE GOD OF YOUR LIVING ROOM
Living Room, despite having a name that makes it impossible to google, is actually quite a fitting title for this mixed reality God Simulator. The goal is to create and maintain islands full of life, but the twist is that they’re built upon your own real-life furniture. Using the Meta Quest’s in-built space setup, the game can identify tables and allow you to easily craft islands upon them.

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After quickly positioning your notice-board and bookshelf to a convenient position, the game will prompt you to make your first island. This is easily done with the game’s paint gun, as spraying the table’s surface will cover it in sand and the perimeter will automatically form the island’s coast. It’s super easy to do, and it feels satisfying seeing your table transformed into a natural habitat.

The game’s dig tool will allow you to shape your island and create some additional water sources, although unfortunately it doesn’t quite act as intuitively as you might expect. Despite resembling a trowel, a digging motion won’t actually get you very far. How it works is that you simply need to move downwards to carve out water and upwards to create mountains. It took me a while for this to click, and I think that the game probably could have explained it a little better considering that the tool doesn’t work the same as its real-life counterpart.

Of course, the most exciting part about any God Sim is creating life, and I rather like Living Room‘s approach to it. As you complete objectives, you’ll gain both happy points (essentially the game’s currency) and experience to level up. Levelling up typically gives you a choice to make in your species book, allowing you to choose from one of two new environments, animals, or plants. It’s a clever system that feeds new elements gradually to you and helps make your islands feel a lot more personal. Do you want a desert, or a forest? Wolves or bears? It’s entirely up to you.

Placing unlocked creatures and plants in the game is as straightforward as picking them up from your book and placing them onto the island. Animals have their own basic needs in order to survive (food and water), and being healthy and happy will allow them to procreate. Whilst they will eventually die of old age, this system can also result in your island being overrun by zebras and the like if you’re not careful… which is where the lion and other predators come in. These animals work largely the same as their vegetarian counterparts, but they’ll hunt and kill other animals for food – making them suddenly turn into a big slab of beef. It’s all done in a very cute way and lacks any semblance of violence, which helps to make it perfect for adults and youngsters alike.

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This is essentially the main gameplay loop, but the game does throw in other elements to keep you interested: there are day and night cycles that change animal behavior, a pet creator that makes a huge version of one of the animals for you to play around with as you create, a breeding ground for quick and easy mating, and much more. It’s also worth noting that the game does allow you to place floating islands in your living room too, so you’re not just limited to the furniture you have.

It all works really well and I’m quite surprised by how much is on offer at this early state. In addition to the normal mode, there are even unlockable bonus modes for you to tackle – of particular note is the challenge mode that puts you in pre-made scenarios. It’s certainly a nice addition for people wanting something a little bit more focused and challenging when compared to the more relaxed standard game modes.

As for issues with the game, I didn’t really notice many bugs during my time with the game other than the odd animal with glitchy behaviour now and then. Whilst it is unfortunate having an animal starve to death by not eating the food right in front of its nose, it also didn’t concern me much either considering it’s quite easy to hit the island’s level cap. and that lost animal would probably soon be replaced by another soon enough anyway.

Whilst this animal limit seems fine given the size of each island, I do wish there were a few more available things for the islands themselves. Each of the seven biomes have three animals and three plants to choose from at present, which seems fine but this will also no doubt limit the amount of replayability the game has. For an early version, there’s certainly enough to keep you busy – especially with the decorations you can add – but if the game wants to keep you hooked for a long time then it will probably need a bit more. Still, this is an early build so no doubt there will be more available in the final version. And, with the game’s fantastic unlock system, that would add an increased level of replayability too!

VERDICT
I loved my time with the current build of Living Room. I’m a big fan of God Sims, and this manages to capture that essence in VR whilst merging it with your actual real-life living room. Hopefully the full release will have more things to place on your islands to help personalise them a little bit more, but otherwise this is shaping up to a great little mixed reality title!