You start with nothing. Here's how to not stay that way.
Low Life City is a text-based multiplayer crime game. You type commands into the terminal and the city responds. The web client keeps your vitals — cash, heat, HP, district — pinned above the terminal and pops up an alert when something big happens. Everything else is one quick command away. You arrive broke. The city doesn't care. Learn fast or stay broke.
Type look to see where you are. Type price
to see drug prices in your district. Type go <district>
to travel. Type help for the full in-game command list.
Your heat level (0–100) represents how much police attention you've attracted. Every crime raises it. It decays naturally over time — faster if you lay low. Let it run too hot and the city will make your life very short.
Above certain thresholds you may face random police encounters, arrest and jail time, or bounty hunters. And the worst of your crimes are remembered — victims can retaliate with stash raids and hideout attacks, or an avenger NPC who hunts you across the city until one of you goes down.
Use laylow to skip time and decay heat faster.
Use bribe to pay cops directly (expensive but instant).
Renting a hideout and using laylowhideout gives the
best heat decay rate.
Eight drugs trade across six districts. Prices drift every
5 real-world minutes
based on supply/demand. Check the local market anytime with the
price command and look for the arbitrage between
districts. This is your primary income — master it before you
start shooting.
Price philosophy by district: Industrial Zone has the cheapest prices (no police, open market). Uptown has the highest (wealthy clientele, premium markup). Harborside is cheap on supply-side drugs — it's the import hub. Arbitrage between districts is the core money-making loop.
Buy in Industrial Zone or Harborside, sell in Uptown or Downtown.
Watch the trend arrows — a drug trending ↑ will keep rising for
a few ticks. Don't carry all your cash; use stash
and your hideout to protect assets from raids.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| buy <drug> <qty> | Purchase drugs at current district prices |
| sell <drug> <qty> | Sell drugs from your inventory |
| price | View current district drug prices with trend arrows |
| inventory / inv | Check what you're carrying |
| stash | Store items in your personal stash (safe from raids) |
| unstash | Retrieve items from your stash |
| stashlist | View stash contents |
| launder | Convert dirty cash to clean cash (with a cut taken) |
Beyond trading, you can commit crimes directly. Each one raises heat and has a success chance based on your skills and the district's police presence. High risk, high reward — but get sloppy and you'll be doing time before you've made your first real score.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| rob <target> | Attempt a robbery — risky, but high reward |
| deal | Sell drugs on the street (generates heat) |
| heat | Check your current police attention level (0–100) |
| laylow | Skip time to reduce heat faster |
| bribe | Pay off cops to reduce heat (expensive) |
| case [district] | Scout police presence, faction control, and risk before operating |
| train <skill> | Practice a skill: stealth, muscle, or smooth_talk |
Committing crimes in high-police districts (Downtown: 7/10, Uptown: 5/10) dramatically increases your chance of arrest. Stick to Industrial Zone (1/10) or The Flats (3/10) for lower-risk operations until you've built up your skills.
Combat is turn-based and deterministic — your weapon condition, ammo, and skill levels determine outcomes. Keep your weapons maintained or they'll jam at the worst moment. In Low Life City, the worst moment is always right now.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| hit <target> | Attack someone (starts combat) |
| flee | Attempt to escape from combat |
| heal | Pay to recover HP from injuries |
| equip <weapon> | Ready a weapon for combat |
| unequip | Put away your current weapon |
| weapons / gear | View your weapon inventory |
| inspect <weapon> | Check a weapon's condition and ammo |
| reload | Reload your equipped weapon |
| clean | Maintain your weapon to prevent jams |
| repair | Fix a damaged weapon |
| buyweapon | Purchase weapons from arms dealers |
| buyammo | Purchase ammunition |
| listweapons | See available weapons for purchase |
| listammo | See available ammo types |
Three factions control the city's six districts. None of them care about you when you're nobody. Your reputation with each faction affects prices, NPC dialogue, and what opportunities are available to you. Taking over a district for your faction earns ongoing bonuses — and makes you a target.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| takeover | Attempt to seize control of a district for your faction |
| faction | View your faction standing and relationships |
| territory | See which factions control which districts |
| reputation | Check your standing with various factions |
A hideout is your base of operations. Rent one, upgrade its security, stash contraband, and lay low there for enhanced heat decay. Recruit crew members to guard it while you're out. Without a hideout you're just a street-level nobody with nowhere to run.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| hideout | View your current hideout status |
| rent <tier> | Acquire a hideout: squat → apartment → warehouse → front business |
| upgrade <type> | Install upgrades: reinforced door, security system, etc. |
| stashhideout | Store items in your hideout's stash |
| unstashhideout | Retrieve items from your hideout's stash |
| laylowhideout | Rest at your hideout for enhanced heat decay |
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| crew | View your crew members and their assignments |
| recruit | Recruit a new crew member |
| fixer | Visit a Fixer NPC — hire crew, launder cash, buy bribes and intel |
| crewassign | Assign a crew member to a role or send them on a job |
| crewdismiss | Dismiss a crew member |
| crewguard | Order crew to guard your hideout |
| crewunguard | Stand down guarding crew |
Crew members earn their keep through jobs, but running jobs builds their own heat — a crew member whose heat maxes out can get arrested or turn on you. They also expect daily upkeep; miss it and they walk. Chain-running jobs with no cooldown is how you lose good people.
The city has a living newspaper. Player actions — big scores, turf wars, arrests — get synthesized into in-fiction news bulletins by the AI. Your personal story arc tracks your milestones and generates a "story so far" chapter recap. The city remembers who you are — for better or worse.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| news | Read the latest city news bulletins |
| story | View your personal story arc and progress flags |
| hud | Refresh and display your heads-up display |
As your heat climbs, the police response escalates beyond simple arrest chances. The city runs a full wanted-level system — zero to five stars, visible in the HUD next to your live bounty (heat × $50) — with consequences queuing up at every tier.
| Wanted Level | Heat | What Happens |
|---|---|---|
| ☆☆☆☆☆ None | 0–20 | Police aren't watching you |
| ★☆☆☆☆ Low | 21–40 | Occasional patrol stops |
| ★★☆☆☆ Moderate | 41–60 | Stop-and-frisk territory; police stops get queued when you move |
| ★★★☆☆ High | 61–75 | Patrols spawn near you; police chases can begin |
| ★★★★☆ Severe | 76–90 | Bounty hunters take contracts on you |
| ★★★★★ Critical | 91–100 | Federal watch — your heat stops decaying naturally |
On top of the wanted tiers, random
encounters can fire whenever you move or commit a crime —
fifteen types, from patrol stops and corrupt-cop shakedowns to
snitch tips, undercover buyers, and coordinated raids. The odds
scale with your heat and the district's police presence, so scout
ahead with case [district].
When you're being chased, the HUD counts down your moves to escape. Every move you make is a dice roll — get caught and you're going to jail; survive the countdown and you've slipped them. Head for a low-police district or a hideout with good concealment.
Federal watch is the worst state: flagged at 90+ heat, your heat stops decaying on its own. The only way out is to actively burn it back below the threshold — lay low, pay bribes, or serve your time.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| heat | Check your heat level and current wanted status |
| wanted / bounty | View your wanted stars, live bounty, and chase status |
| case [district] | Scout police presence and risk before operating |
| bribe | Pay a cop directly to reduce heat (only works if cop is present) |
| laylow | Lie low to accelerate heat decay |
| laylowhideout | Hide at your safehouse — best heat decay rate, also clears chase |
| surrender | Turn yourself in before a chase starts — the courts go easier on you |
If you're being chased (being_chased shows in the HUD),
move immediately — every command you spend standing still burns a
chase move. Head for Industrial Zone or Harborside (lowest police
presence) and use laylowhideout if you have a safehouse
there.
Get caught and you're doing time. Your sentence scales with how hot you were at arrest — and so does your bail. You've got options: pay your way out, work shifts to cut the time, talk to inmates for tips and connections, or roll the dice on an escape. Fail an escape and your sentence grows.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| jailinfo | View your remaining time, bail amount, and options |
| payoutbail [amount] | Pay bail — $1 buys 1 second off your sentence |
| jailwork | Work a shift to cut 5–15 minutes off your time |
| jailtalk [topic] | Talk to inmates for gossip, tips, or connections |
| jailescape | Attempt to escape — risky, and failure costs you |
| bounties | List every active bounty on players in the city |
Check jailinfo first — it tells you exactly what
bail costs. If you can't afford it, jailwork is
the honest grind and jailtalk can make the time
useful. Save jailescape for when the sentence
is worse than the risk.
| Command | Description |
|---|---|
| go <district> / travel <district> | Move to another district |
| look | Survey your surroundings |
The web client plays great on a phone: your cash, heat, HP and district stay pinned above the terminal, and big moments — arrests, scores, turf wars — pop up as alerts so you never miss them while reading the scroll.
▸ Social & NPC Dialogue
NPCs have persistent memory. Talk to a dealer, cop, fixer, or rival and they'll remember your history. Trust scores affect what they'll do for you. The AI narrates the conversation — but the trust score is deterministic code. Burn someone once and they don't forget.