One Hour One Life is a real-time survival humanity simulator created by Jason Rohrer. In the game, you start as a baby; much like the real thing, you are helpless and reliant on your parents, who are also players. This only lasts for a few minutes, though, as each minute of real-time that passes signify a whole year in this crafting sandbox. That means you have one hour to live your best life. What would you do?
The game aims to advance and develop a society in just sixty minutes. When your time is up (if you’re not killed first!), you respawn as another baby, to new parents, in a different place in the game. But the game is built on a persistent server. Anything you make is permanent, so your legacy can live on long after you’re gone.
It’s an exciting concept from Rohrer, maker of The Castle Doctrine, Cordial Minuet, and Sleep is Death. It works on the premise that all players in the game will be motivated to nurture, create and develop. When you spawn as a baby, you’re at the mercy of your fellow players whose job is to care for you for a precious few minutes until you’re old enough to do it yourself.
When you play, it’s not for the graphics, which are simplistic but aesthetically pleasing. You should be coming for how the possibilities within the game and where you find yourself in sixty short minutes. As you explore whatever landscape you find yourself spawned in, you have the opportunity to craft items from objects you find all around you. Items can be broken down and used to create new, valuable things that will see you on your journey through life.
It’s a relief to find that due to the intense time pressure on you to make a difference, controls are straightforward. All you need to do to navigate anywhere is tap where you want to go. Similarly, to pick something up, tap. As for combining objects to create new ones, tap on and hold any item to see what it can be combined with. It is that easy.
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Communication with other players is another interesting concept that does go a long way to adding to the richness of the game. Art imitates life, and in this, when you are a child, your vocabulary is limited to just a few characters. As you age, your vocabulary gets more extensive and complex – much like life, which we have not seen in games previously. In this way, it’s impossible to position yourself as an in-game Stewie Griffin, telling fellow players your master plan.
Whilst I am sure Rohrer’s vision was one of a vast society working together to get stuff done, there is a sort of Lord of the Flies element that detracts somewhat from this ambition. Like any new game, there’s a learning curve here that will take a few lives to get the hang of. Not only that, but you’re contending with a whole world of other players whose intentions you have no idea of. But is that not all part of the fun?
One Hour One Life is a profound and ambitious multiplayer survival game that will keep you on your toes. And while there may be a few players just in it to slay (literally!) overall, it is an immersive, time-sensitive gaming experience where your options are limitless – for one hour at least! It’s a challenge to make the most significant impact possible on your little corner of the world without knowing what you might be stepping into.