Passpartout: The Starving Artist Steam Key Instant

Passpartout: The Struggling Artist [official site] is a painting sim in which you must splatter some canvases in the most talented way you can and hope that the discerning public will take notice of your genius. But you can only do this with the most rudimentary artist’s tools. Imagine if making bad pictures in MS Paint was a profession and you got paid hundreds of dollars for each poorly sketched sailboat you drew. That’s this game.

I tried to become famous in my own lifetime by painting a variety of wholesome scenes, including a series in which a recurring motif known as the Stretch Man dispenses various vital fluids on the people of the earth. Here’s how I got on.

You start out as a loser in a garage, with a few spaces to hang paintings and some folks milling around inspecting your stuff. These people must buy your masterpieces, otherwise your money slowly dwindles away on bills (baguettes, wine and rent). Later you can unlock new painting tools, but for now it’s just you, a bunch of colours and an adjustable brush size. I got started straight away and painted this monster.