82 games · every one verified from its listing · updated Aug 12, 2026
InstLife started it and has since faded from the stores; AltLife carried it on — the life sim as a stack of choices, stats and random events, no graphics between you and the story. These are the text-first life simulators in our catalogue: born, schooled, hired, married, gone, all in menus. Monetisation is verified on every card, because a text game has no excuse for a loot box.
Closest match: chronalife (★4.6 from 34 ratings). No forced ads: Poor to Rich: Rags to Riches. Solo-built: Rapper Life Simulator.
It quietly left the stores; AltLife is its closest living descendant and is on this list. If you came from either, every entry here plays the same instrument.
Same family, narrower bar: BitLife alternatives include graphical life sims, while this list keeps to text-first games — menus, stats and random events doing all the work.