General Circumstances
- The majority of the struggles depicted in the game are very grounded in reality, and there's always at least one homeless person who's experienced the things that happen in game.
- The game gradually becomes harder as city events provide debuffs to your varying playstyles. While many are out of people's control (Pests, Price Inflation) and are just unintended consequences of good ideas (Waste Disposal Programs), there's many that are just outright cruel or sadistic, like Anti-Homeless Measures (benches become unusable, and places like Arcades and Restaurants will turn you away), Tabloid Slurs (The media prints lies about the homeless, prompting people to treat you worse), and Police Funding (which makes cops crack down on you more and more).
- Some of the things people say to you when you beg for money are incredibly callous and cruel. Some will tell you to get a job, some will laugh at you. Some will chastise you, saying you brought your problems on yourself. Some will deride your smell. And this can all happen even in spite of you being visibly malnourished, sickly and haggard.
Your Fellow Homeless People
- Joe and Maggie's relationship troubles. While Maggie doesn't outwardly show any indication of wanting to leave him, she conspicuously stays in shelters without him there.
- Joe's busking song, while a delightful, melancholic grunge piece, is implied to be about his relationship troubles.
- Joe will, at some point, disappear from the game after an event in which he gets into trouble.
- If you steal from any homeless people, Bill will permanently despise you.
Night Events
- If you go to sleep while your dog is hungry, you're treated to this lovely event:The dog seems anxious tonight as you lay with him to rest. You give his ear a scratch and he looks at you in a half-loving, half-pleading kinda way, before turning three times and wearily laying next to you as usual. Then you drift to sleep. In the night you wake for a moment, a little before dawn. You reach and feel for the dog's fur... but there's no warmth. It's hard to take care of something when things are this way, but still, you cry harder than you have in a long time at the loss of your one remaining companion. Then the sky turns blue and people begin to fill the streets again. It's a new day.
- You encounter children somewhat frequently when staying at shelters or on the street. One event has you having to contemplate giving your bunk at the shelter to a child. The child gives you a sandwich if you do, betraying a degree of developmental disabilities, causing your character to wonder how frequently-occurring a problem this is...
