Start at 18 with a name, a little money, and no plan. Tiny Lives is a life sim you play one day at a time — and the people in it have minds of their own.

People who push back

Your partner has a say. Ask about having a baby, moving across the country, or spending your shared savings on a boat, and they might say yes, say "fine" through their teeth, or flatly refuse. Friends turn down invitations when they're busy. Your kids remember how you treated them. Coworkers become friends — or take credit for your work.

A whole life, and the next one:

• Find work, ace (or bomb) interviews, negotiate raises, start a business, and eventually retire — if you saved enough.

• Date, get engaged, plan the wedding together, and decide whose last name you'll use.

• Raise children, help with homework, pay for college, and care for your parents as they get older.

• Buy homes and cars, invest in the stock market, and watch your retirement savings grow — or not.

• When your character dies, the story doesn't end. Play on as your spouse or your child, carry the family name forward, and see how many generations you can go.

Go your own way

Take a job with a crime family and work your way up from keeping watch to running the big jobs. Or spend your money and your weekends doing good. Your reputation follows you either way, and redemption doesn't come cheap.

Weird things in the woods

Not everything out there is ordinary. Face strange creatures in fights where reading their next move matters, call a friend for backup, and fill in a bestiary of everything you've survived — or let the beaten ones go.

More than menus

Sail a dinghy through rough water

Cook dinner for your partner

Bluff your way through card night

Win (or lose) pub trivia

Haggle over cars, houses, and souvenirs

Take trips where every day brings a new choice