IMHO.

Games like Life is Hard

If Life is Hard is your kind of game, the closest matches are King of the Dwarves: Underground City Builder, Power of the Ancients and Banished — picked from the ranked list below. Reviewers single out its great atmosphere and music, hard but rewarding challenge and atmospheric. Each pick is ranked by what players of this game also play, shared genres and tags, and review-mined similarity — not a generic popularity list.

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About Life is Hard: Life is Hard is a godsim town simulator game developed by a two-man-team. Your main aim here is to manage your town. Expand your domain, prevent famine, make war, trade with others, attract new people. Make history!

2021StrategyIndieAdventureSimulation9.99 USDWindows · macOS · Linuxby Pirozhok Studio, Vitaliy Ruzankin
Life is Hard — Steam game cover
Players highlight
Captures classic kingdom building vibesGreat atmosphere and musicHard but rewarding challengeAtmosphericBleakChallenging

Players who liked Life is Hard also play

Steam players who put hours into Life is Hard also tend to own these titles — a signal called collaborative filtering. imho.run cross-references millions of library ownership patterns to surface games whose real audiences overlap, regardless of whether their genre tags match.

  1. King of the Dwarves: Underground City Builder

    WHY THIS

    Top pick for Life is Hard fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Strategy and Indie with Life is Hard.

    Build an epic kingdom inside a mountain in this underground city builder. Mine and build in a vast procedurally generated 3D world. Gather resources, research technology, train warriors and engineers, forge weapons, fight monsters and manage hundreds of units. Become the King of the Dwarves!

    StrategyIndieSimulationSteam ↗
  2. Power of the Ancients

    WHY THIS

    Second-strongest match for Life is Hard fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Strategy and Indie with Life is Hard.

    A mostly peaceful pixely isometric city builder with a bit of magic. Four different people live in the four quadrants of the pyramid. Fishermen, farmers, fire people, magicians. Gather resources, build homes, challenge demons and create a thriving city while preparing for winter.

    2021StrategyIndieSimulation5.99 USDSteam ↗
  3. Banished

    WHY THIS

    Third-strongest match for Life is Hard fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Strategy and Indie with Life is Hard.

    In this city-building strategy game, you control a group of exiled travelers who decide to restart their lives in a new land. They have only the clothes on their backs and a cart filled with supplies from their homeland. The townspeople of Banished are your primary resource.

    2014StrategyIndieSimulation19.99 USDDeck PlayableSteam ↗
  4. A Game of Humans

    WHY THIS

    Shares an atmospheric mood with Life is Hard.

    Ranked #4 for Life is Hard fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Strategy and Indie with Life is Hard.

    A sandbox village simulation fundamentally about people, their thoughts and their needs. Luckily they are not alone in their burden, for you possess divine powers. And you would surely never add to the plight of the common man... Right?

    2020StrategyIndieSimulation11.99 USDSteam ↗
  5. Dwarf Fortress

    WHY THIS

    Shares an atmospheric mood with Life is Hard.

    Ranked #5 for Life is Hard fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Strategy and Indie with Life is Hard.

    Build a fortress and try to help your dwarves survive against a deeply generated world. Keep your dwarves happy, grow their community and beware of digging too deeply. The deepest, most intricate simulation of a world that's ever been created.

    2022StrategyIndieSimulation23.99 USDDeck PlayableSteam ↗
  6. Driftland: The Magic Revival

    WHY THIS

    Shares an atmospheric mood with Life is Hard.

    Ranked #6 for Life is Hard fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Strategy and Indie with Life is Hard.

    After a devastating war between ancient mages, a powerful spell is all that holds together the shattered planet of Driftland. Take on the role of a powerful mage capable of moving and connecting floating lands, develop a mighty empire, and restore Driftland to its former glory!

    2019StrategyIndieSimulation3.99 USDSteam ↗
  7. Majesty Gold HD

    WHY THIS

    Ranked #7 for Life is Hard fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Strategy and Simulation with Life is Hard.

    The High Definition edition of Majesty Gold contains main game, the Northern Expansion Pack as well as 2 new quests and several other graphics and gameplay updates.Majesty is a Real-time strategy game with indirect control – your heroes have a will of their own!

    2009StrategySimulation2.49 USDSteam ↗
  8. Wildlife Park

    WHY THIS

    Ranked #8 for Life is Hard fans by collaborative filtering across millions of Steam libraries. Shares Strategy and Indie with Life is Hard.

    Build and manage your own wildlife compound, determine which animals to feature, how to manage the business while ensuring that all the animals are thriving. • Build a giant animal park from scratch and manage it well • Choose a variety of terrains with different climates and environmental sounds • 45 detailed, seamlessly animated and...

    2015StrategyIndieSimulation6.99 USDSteam ↗

Cheaper alternatives

Games in the same vein priced at least 40% below Life is Hard at current Steam store prices.

  1. Garry's Mod

    WHY THIS

    Priced ~50% under Life is Hard on Steam right now. Shares Indie and Simulation with Life is Hard.

    Garry's Mod is a physics sandbox. There aren't any predefined aims or goals. We give you the tools and leave you to play.

    2006IndieSimulationCasual4.99 USDDeck PlayableSteam ↗
  2. Vampire Survivors

    WHY THIS

    Priced ~50% under Life is Hard on Steam right now. Shares Indie with Life is Hard.

    Mow down thousands of night creatures and survive until dawn! Vampire Survivors is a gothic horror casual game with rogue-lite elements, where your choices can allow you to quickly snowball against the hundreds of monsters that get thrown at you. Be the bullet hell!

    2022ActionIndieRPG4.99 USDDeck VerifiedSteam ↗
  3. Cookie Clicker

    WHY THIS

    Priced ~50% under Life is Hard on Steam right now. Shares Strategy and Indie with Life is Hard.

    An idle game about making cookies! Originally released in 2013 on the web, and actively developed since then. This is the official version for Steam.

    2021StrategyIndieSimulation4.99 USDDeck PlayableSteam ↗
  4. WEBFISHING

    WHY THIS

    Priced ~50% under Life is Hard on Steam right now. Shares Indie with Life is Hard.

    WEBFISHING a multiplayer chatroom-focused fishing game! Relax and fish (on the web!)

    2024IndieMassively MultiplayerCasual4.99 USDSteam ↗
  5. POSTAL 2

    WHY THIS

    Priced ~90% under Life is Hard on Steam right now. Shares Indie and Adventure with Life is Hard.

    Live a week in the life of "The POSTAL Dude"; a hapless everyman just trying to check off some chores. Buying milk, returning an overdue library book, getting Gary Coleman's autograph, what could possibly go wrong?

    2012ActionIndieAdventure0.99 USDDeck VerifiedSteam ↗
  6. Plants vs. Zombies GOTY Edition

    WHY THIS

    Priced ~50% under Life is Hard on Steam right now. Shares Strategy with Life is Hard.

    Zombies are invading your home, and the only defense is your arsenal of plants! Armed with an alien nursery-worth of zombie-zapping plants like peashooters and cherry bombs, you'll need to think fast and plant faster to stop dozens of types of zombies dead in their tracks.

    2009Strategy4.99 USDDeck PlayableSteam ↗
  7. Buckshot Roulette

    WHY THIS

    Priced ~70% under Life is Hard on Steam right now. Shares Indie and Simulation with Life is Hard.

    Play Russian roulette with a 12-gauge shotgun. Four enter. One leaves. Roll the dice with your life. Good luck!

    2024ActionIndieSimulation2.99 USDDeck PlayableSteam ↗
  8. Brotato

    WHY THIS

    Priced ~50% under Life is Hard on Steam right now. Shares Indie with Life is Hard.

    Brotato is a top-down arena shooter roguelite where you play a potato wielding up to 6 weapons at a time to fight off hordes of aliens. Choose from a variety of traits and items to create unique builds and survive until help arrives.

    2023ActionIndieRPG4.99 USDDeck VerifiedSteam ↗

Free alternatives

Free-to-play games that recommended players of this title also tend to enjoy.

  1. Ultimate Custom Night

    WHY THIS

    Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie with Life is Hard.

    Welcome to the ultimate FNAF mashup, featuring 50 selectable characters and custom difficulties!

    2018ActionIndieFree To PlayFreeSteam ↗
  2. Grimm's Hollow

    WHY THIS

    Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie and Adventure with Life is Hard.

    A spooky, freeware RPG where you search the afterlife for your brother. Reap ghosts with your scythe, explore haunted caves, and eat ghostly treats on your journey through death.

    2019IndieAdventureRPGFreeDeck PlayableSteam ↗
  3. The Expendabros

    WHY THIS

    Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie and Adventure with Life is Hard.

    The Expendabros have assembled and set their sights on the forces of ruthless arms dealer Conrad Stonebanks in the forests of Eastern Europe.

    2014ActionIndieAdventureFreeDeck VerifiedSteam ↗
  4. Star Fetchers

    WHY THIS

    Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie and Adventure with Life is Hard.

    The introduction to a wild ride with gangsters and deep state conspiracy theories

    2020ActionIndieAdventureFreeDeck PlayableSteam ↗
  5. Magic Archery

    WHY THIS

    Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie and Simulation with Life is Hard.

    Train a commoner to become the greatest archer in this short incremental game! Increase your stats, gather wealth from quests, buy upgrades, and infuse your arrows with magic.

    2024IndieSimulationRPGFreeDeck PlayableSteam ↗
  6. Coloring Pixels

    WHY THIS

    Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie with Life is Hard.

    A relaxing coloring by numbers game. Enjoy completing a variety of images with differing themes, complexity, and sizes.

    2018IndieFree To PlayCasualFreeSteam ↗
  7. There Is No Game: Jam Edition 2015

    WHY THIS

    Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie and Adventure with Life is Hard.

    A little game that’s not a game, winner of an old game jam that nobody’s ever heard of. So DON'T INSTALL IT!

    2020IndieAdventureFree To PlayFreeDeck VerifiedSteam ↗
  8. Paper Lily - Chapter 1

    WHY THIS

    Free-to-play pick from the same recommendation pool — no purchase to try it. Shares Indie and Adventure with Life is Hard.

    Paper Lily is an RPG horror game in which you can solve puzzles in different ways. Explore a hidden world, meet strange characters, and guide Lacie as she attempts to find answers about her unusual condition.

    2024IndieAdventureRPGFreeDeck VerifiedSteam ↗

Frequently asked about Life is Hard

How much does Life is Hard cost?
Life is Hard is listed on Steam at 9.99 USD (current store price; Steam sales may reduce this temporarily).
What games are most similar to Life is Hard?
Based on Steam play patterns and shared genres/tags, the games most often recommended alongside Life is Hard are King of the Dwarves: Underground City Builder, Power of the Ancients, Banished.
Who developed Life is Hard?
Life is Hard was developed by Pirozhok Studio, Vitaliy Ruzankin and published by Pirozhok Studio.

imho.run ranks Steam game alternatives using a mix of collaborative filtering (ALS / iALS / EASE / LightGCN), content scoring over genres, categories, Steam tags, developers, and publishers, plus AI-extracted vibes mined from review text. The page above is generated in seed mode anchored on Life is Hard.

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