Kudos 2 is a fun casual life simulation game developed and published by Positech Games with a stat heavy focus that will see you balancing a wide range of numbers that tie closely into how you live your virtual life and the relationships you explore. It’s a fully fledged life adventure that gives players control over a variety of situations and blends nicely with the level of depth and customisation built into the Kudos 2 experience.
The game has the same premise as the original Kudos title released in 2006 with the sequel offering refreshed visual and audio alongside a range of added mechanics to make the Kudos 2 universe feel more like a realistic life sim.
Your primary objective in Kudos 2 is mostly up to the player who can opt to pursue love, money or fulfilment amongst other life objectives. Creating a character, customising them and dealing with the challenges of day to day life is a stable constant in Kudos 2 though as you guide your sim through a virtual life lasting for 10 years (age 20-30). Kudos 2 gives you full control over those 10 years one day at a time during arguably one of the most fluctuating and exciting times of any lifespan.
Given the focus on this age 20-30 period activities are reflective of that with a focus on social events, dating, education and shopping in contrast to the more standard options such as housework and taking care of basic life needs. Not content with a surface level experience though Kudos 2 offers an extra granular level of gameplay from choosing the specific menu item (and price) at a restaurant to enrolling in career supporting courses that will allow you to excel in the several hundred different jobs across popular fields such as information technology, marketing, health and law.
Thanks to this impressive depth Kudos 2 is intended as a game you’ll replay and revisit constantly. You might opt to play an entire game as a party loving sales director who is always going out on dates, hitting the club and spending their large salary. Alternatively, maybe you’ll play an actor who socialises but also shops heavily in the book department and ignores dating all together. The world of Kudos 2 is truly your oyster as you opt to replicate your own life or something completely foreign. This is the true strength of Kudos 2 and makes it easy to look past the more basic interface that the game offers as it hides a surprising amount of depth.
Stats are central to this depth with every action impacting several of these in various ways. Wanting to splurge on that filet mignon at the restaurant? Not only will it cost you some serious cash but it will reduce your health, increase your weight but provide a large happiness boost when compared to something like Chinese tea that provides health and relaxation benefits.
In total there are over a dozen stats to manage being happiness, excitement, loneliness, confidence, kudos, IQ, culture, relaxation, energy, cleanliness, sobriety, health and weight. From ticking the right boxes from a job application to relationship and general living you’ll generally find yourself needing to achieve high stat values in a few key stats while balancing that against the negative effects due to lack of the other stats.
For The Sims fan who wants to drill down into more stat based gameplay and a more realistic life simulation experience Kudos 2 is an excellent option with a free demo also available through the official website offering a surface level taste. It’s design also makes it ideal for laptops or lower end systems that might not be able to handle the 3D graphics of more modern life simulation games.
Summary:
- Huge amount of depth and replay value driven by over a dozen character stats to improve and manage through various activities.
- Free to play demo available that lets you experience Kudos 2 to determine if it is the life simulation game for you.
- Huge range of realistic jobs across sectors such as law enforcement, health and business.
- Make key decisions from ages 20 to 30 across career, relationships and pets.
- Turn based gameplay allows you to carefully weigh up every decision against your objectives and desired lifestyle.
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Review Platform: PC