Once you're finally running your Cart Life stand, filling orders is often complicated. If you're lucky, customers order plain coffee, so you just need to pick the item they ordered and then type a simple phrase. But if they want more complicated Espresso-based drinks, you must go through a repetitive series of steps including grinding the coffee, filling the portafilter, sweeping the excess, tamping the coffee and so on. Each step has its own keystrokes, and you can't just mash buttons: If you overdo a step, you must start again from the top, and the customer may lose their patience and leave. If you do well, you may get a tip.

You set the price for each item in your stand, and this is a science in itself: Price things too cheaply and you don't make enough profit, but if you price expensively, customers will vocally refuse to buy your wares.

Cart Life's user interface is brilliant. The game intentionally makes you switch between the mouse and keyboard in an annoying way, so there's a learning curve. You can only save the game when you wake up every morning, so if you just quit midday, you will lose your progress for that day. Hofmeier doesn't set out to make Cart Life a fun game: It is equal parts stressful, sad, and touching, and those are all good reasons to play it. To me, it feels closer to an art project than a regular game. Highly recommended.

Note: The Download button takes you to the vendor's site, where you can download the latest version of the software. Some scenes in Cart Life feature stylized male or female nudity, in a non-sexual context.