While you wait
Second Chance isn’t out yet, and it would be daft to pretend it is the only game about ordinary British life, or the only one that lets you go wrong. These are the ones worth your time while you wait. Some are out, some are coming, and a couple are after the same crowd we are. Go and wishlist them. We’ll still be here.
NoahsArkGames
The closest thing to us on this list, and we mean that kindly. A first-person open-world life sim set in the real Burntwood in 2011: you’re eighteen, you move in above your grandad’s struggling pub, and you rebuild it room by room while you fix up your first car. Grandad is voiced by the developer’s actual grandad. Coming to Steam Early Access.
Minskworks, published by Yogscast Games
Take out a dodgy loan, do up a house in the murky Midlands of the 1980s, move some tenants in and celebrate with a pint. First-person, open-world, and properly British about it. Out now.
.GRAVITY
A cosy 2D life sim set in Little London: do up your home, meet the locals, build a routine and live at your own pace. Out now.
Swanworth
Build a working village in the Edwardian British countryside, run its production, take up painting and fishing, and get to know sixteen villagers. In Early Access.
Failbetter Games
A folklore-soaked English village life sim: you’re the last of a line of sorcerer-gardeners, growing magical gardens, foraging, fishing and getting to know the village of Chandley. Coming to Steam Early Access.
Coal Supper, published by Panic
A hand-drawn comedy “slapformer” set in Barnsworth, a gloriously strange Northern town, where a travelling salesman gets roped into ever dafter jobs by the locals. If our sense of humour works for you, this one will. Out now.
Amistech Games
Build a car from hundreds of loose parts, keep yourself alive and get by in the 1990s Finnish countryside. Not British, but it is the patron saint of mundane first-person life sims, and its sequel My Winter Car is in Early Access.
Hovgaard Games
Start in a small flat with your first job and graft your way up to a business empire that takes over New York. Out now.
TVGS
The big one. Turn up in Hyland Point as a small-time dealer and build production and distribution into an empire, on your own or in co-op. In Early Access, with a free demo.
Byterunners, published by Movie Games
First-person dealing on the island of Isla Sombra in the early 2000s: make contacts, cook and sell, and climb from dealer to cartel boss, on your own or in co-op. Out now.