- Aesthetica Film Festival: my game made it! - 10 September 2026
Big festival news! I’m very excited to announce that Unemployment Simulator 2018 will be at the 2026 Aesthetica Film Festival! As part of the Official Selection for games, US18 will be featured in the festival’s Games Lab programme and will be competing for the Best Game Award. ASFF is one of the UK’s largest film festivals, and I’ll be there in person to meet filmmakers, gamers, game designers, VFX artists, designers, and all sorts of creative people. See you there in York, November 4-8, 2026!
- Soundtrack Now Available! - 7 August 2026
Indie game connoisseurs and art lovers, Composed by Wilson Tanner Smith, the official soundtrack to Unemployment Simulator 2018 is now available as additional content on Steam! https://store.steampowered.com/app/4362500/Unemployment_Simulator_2018__Original_Soundtrack/ Whether you are an employed fan who wants to support the game a little further, or a refined listener with superb taste for rare gems, you can now get the soundtrack and listen to it everywhere. Don't miss out!
- 50% OFF Unemployment Simulator - 26 June 2026
Listen up everyone! It's the hottest summer ever here in Europe, but it’s also the biggest discount ever on Unemployment Simulator 2018! Don’t miss the opportunity to enjoy the unemployed life from the shade of your beach umbrella (with a Steam Deck in your hands), or from the comfort of your studio apartment’s bathtub. Get the game now and cool yourself down with some ice-cold comedy and surreal horror.
- Steam Deck approved + Baltic Showcase begins! - 15 June 2026
Unemployed people of the world! A new game update is out now, bringing the long awaited Steam Deck compatibility, controller support, and new little in-game secrets. ːsteamthumbsupː It’s no coincidence that this update is coming out today, because today also marks the start of the Steam Baltic Showcase, powered by DevGAMM and Digital Vikings. Let's celebrate.
- Polish, Turkish, and Thai are here! - 5 May 2026
Dear supporters of US18, This quick update is to let you all know that 3 additional languages are now available in the game. From today, more people will be able to experience the otherwise unreachable condition of being unemployed! Specifically, this update is for people in: Poland Turkey Thailand This update also brings some small bug fixes and some improvements to the controller (main menu navigation and text prompts in particular). I'm also trying to solve a Steam+Construct-related issue with the Linux build, which is preventing me from bringing the game to people who've been asking for it. I'm hopeful this will be solved in the coming weeks. Stay tuned, more news on this and other matters will arrive soon. ːsteamhappyː
- 40% OFF for a limited time! - 20 March 2026
Hello all! Unemployment Simulator 2018 is participating in the Spring Sale and is now 40% off. If you were thinking of discovering the secrets of unemployment, grab it now for the price of a beer and fall down the rabbit hole of psychedelia and horror! You might find more than you expect.
- More Languages! (and some fixes) - 13 March 2026
Hi, Hallo, Bonjour, Ciao, Hola, Olá, 你好, こんにちは, 안녕하세요! It’s been a month since the game released, and work on it has never stopped. It’s been great to see all your feedback, comments, and reviews. They’ve been extremely helpful in spotting bugs. With this update, some of the most annoying ones have been fixed, and more will be addressed in the coming weeks. But most importantly, it's now clear that Gorgon is asking for chips! As promised, this update also adds new languages to the game. We’re starting with German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese (BR), Simplified Chinese, Japanese, and Korean! (There’s a chance more languages will be added in the future) These translations have not yet been tested in-game by the translators, so you may run into minor text issues here and there. If you do, please report them, and we’ll promptly fix them. Main fixes: - Gorgon icons - Fixes for bugs pr…
- OUT NOW: Unemployment Simulator 2018 - 3 February 2026
Hello friends, Are you real? Or am I just imagining things right now? I hope you’re real, because I just pressed the release button and US18 is now available on Steam with a 20% discount, lasting for one week! This is a huge achievement for me, and it feels surreal to be able to bring my very first game to the world — a project that started as an art experiment and slowly turned me into a solo dev. I want to thank you all for following me along this journey, as well as all the others who just found my game and decided to buy it. Your support is invaluable! I would also like to point out that my job with the game is not quite done yet, and assure players about a couple of points: Full control support will be added (this is actually 90% complete already) Steam Deck compatibility will be there More languages will be added (I talked about this in my previous news) More achievements will be…
- Game Available in 3 Hours on Steam! - 3 February 2026
For the occasion, a new trailer will drop. Ride to release!
- Release draws near + Languages - 23 January 2026
Friends! We're 12 days away from release! During this final rush, as I frantically add the last touches to the game, I wanted to take a moment to talk about languages and update non-English speakers. Initially, I planned to include several additional languages at launch. However, implementing the localization system requires more study and time than expected — time that would have been taken away from developing the game itself. After careful consideration, I decided to focus on development first, make sure the game is complete, and add languages at a later stage. Today, I want to reassure anyone hoping to play the game in their own language that this will be possible very soon. New languages will be added, hopefully within the first month after release: French German Spanish Italian Japanese Korean Simplified Chinese The game isn’t heavily text-based, so I may add even more languages l…
- 20,000 Wishlists Reached! - 19 December 2025
Hi everyone! 20,000 wishlists unlocked! This is so great, and it really boosts my energy as release day approaches (which is really right around the corner, Feb 3rd!) I wanted to take a minute to thank you for your interest in my game, for supporting the project with a wishlist, and for spreading the word to your friends or anywhere online. It means a lot. And now, back to the lab!
- The Next Fest is here. Try my demo! - 13 October 2025
The Next Fest has just begun... And Unemployment Simulator 2018 is part of it! If you haven’t already, I invite you to try the demo this week; the more people play it, the more visible it becomes to those browsing the Next Fest. Help the game get noticed! If you have a friend who’s into very indie, solo-dev projects, consider sharing the demo page. Or maybe share it with someone who can relate to the game’s theme, someone who was or is unemployed. Or even with your workaholic friend. Or your niece. Share it with anyone, really! I’m sure they’ll enjoy the demo.
- Release Date Announcement! - 10 October 2025
Release is upon us, my unemployed friends! It feels surreal, exciting, and a little frightening all at once. The game will launch on February 5th, 2026. I repeat: February 5th, 2026. For the occasion, I’ve crafted a new trailer in the same spirit as my very first one. Also, in a few days Unemployment Simulator 2018 will take part in the Steam Next Fest! That's like the single greatest opportunity a small solo dev could have to showcase their game to the world. It's an event of the utmost importance! For this reason, I'd ask for your support once more on this occasion. If you're reading this, I'm sure you already wishlisted the game, and for that I thank you. Now, if you could share the trailer or Steam page with your friends or anywhere on the internet, that would be great and much appreciated. And, if you feel like it, consider giving the demo another try once the festival starts. It l…
- The most honest survival game I've ever played is this unemployment simulator - 8 August 2025
In real life I'm pretty sure I can't pick up a rock, grab a stick, collect some "plant fiber" (whatever the hell that is), then use those three items to craft an axe that can cut down a few dozen trees. Most likely, my "axe" would break on the first swing and I'd have better luck just punching the tree with my fist... Read more.
- Demo Out Now! Come try Unemployment Simulator 2018 - 7 August 2025
Here's a day to celebrate! With the Tiny Teams Festival kicking off today, the first-ever public demo of Unemployment Simulator 2018 is now available! Play it, leave a review, and share it with your friends if you enjoy it. To report a bug or issue, click the "Report Bugs" button in the main menu, describe the problem in as much detail as possible, and then press Submit. Thank you for your support! https://store.steampowered.com/app/3826360/Unemployment_Simulator_2018_Demo/
- Sorry, WHAT?! 10k wishlists unlocked! - 24 June 2025
Can you believe that?! That's a great milestone I surely wasn't expecting to hit anytime soon, if ever. 10,000 wishlists! To celebrate, let me share a little secret: soon(ish), there’ll be a playable demo for everyone to try! I can't wait to see you all start playing and hear all the feedback and thoughts you might have. Around the same time the demo comes out, I’ll also be able to officially update the release date on the page. That’s a big commitment (that’s why I’m waiting), but all the great reception the game has received is giving me tons of motivation to keep working hard. So keep an eye out, more announcements are coming! For now, back to the lab!
- US18 won a prize + publishing news! - 12 June 2025
Hey unemployed friends! Today I'm sharing a piece of news I'm still digesting, one that made me pinch my arm first and do a victory dance right after. You remember I mentioned Unemployment Simulator 2018 got accepted into the OTK Games Expo? Well, not only did it participate, but it also won a prize! During the live streaming ceremony, US18 won the Chat Choice Award! It's amazing to realize a lot of players watched the new trailer and thought the game was worth voting for. So if you're among them and reading this: thank you! Also, a big American streamer reacted to the trailer, which pulled in even more eyes! For reference, here’s the reaction video I’m talking about: On a different note, but still pretty damn positive, I want to let everybody know that starting from yesterday I'm not completely on my own in this crazy journey they called solo developing! Well technically I'm still deve…
- Join my Discord + OTK Games Expo! - 22 May 2025
Hello everyone! Today I want to share some great news about my dev adventure: Unemployment Simulator 2018 has been selected to be part of the OTK Games Expo! In just two days, you'll get to watch a brand-new gameplay trailer made especially for the occasion. There will also be plenty of other cool indie games to discover, so mark your calendar for May 25th. It’s going to be fun! Also, I’d love to invite you to my Discord! With the help of some friends, we’ll be posting images and other WIP assets there, so you can get a glimpse of what’s cooking, leave comments, share suggestions, and maybe even start some wild speculation. Or, you are welcome to just lurk, whatever you prefer. It's a safe space. Click the banner ːsteamthisː and join the apartment! Until the next update, unemployed friends!
- 2,000 Wishlists Celebration! - 25 March 2025
Between October 2024 and March 2025, there’s been an unprecedented rise in unemployment rates—at least, according to my Steam page. 2,000 of you have wishlisted the game! I honestly didn’t expect this kind of reception. For some, it may not be much—but for me, it’s a big deal. Especially considering the only “marketing” I’ve done is making an Instagram page and dropping a couple of posts on Reddit. Let’s celebrate! (Okay, wild celebration over. Time to regain composure.) So, thank you for supporting me with your wishlist, and don't forget to share the trailer around if you can. We need to get this game in front of as many eyes as possible! In the meantime, I’ll wrap up a brand new mechanic to show you soon...
- Don't mind the mess, have a seat. Welcome to the apartment! - 5 March 2025
Hey everyone, Somewhere between a pile of dirty dishes and a dreaded trip to the supermarket, I’ve been trying to find the time to do this. Finally, I’m writing the first update in what will hopefully be a long series. Before I get too sentimental, please note I'm leaving a portal open (a link) to my brand new Discord server right at the end of this piece. Now. Ever since I published the Steam page, the reception has been quite overwhelming, and way beyond my expectations as a first-time solo developer. This has been a huge confidence boost, pushing me to work harder on the project. I’ve been especially blown away by how many people seemed to instantly get my vision for the game and found it so relatable, regardless of nationality, gender, age—you name it. Which I suppose tells a lot about this day and age. But also affirms that comedy and art are powerful tools to highlight and explore…
