Hobo: Tough Life Guide — instantvigors

*Spoiler Free*

Guide written from version 1.01.003

Hobo: Tough Life is a challenging, open world survival game about the struggles of being homeless. Since the start of the game can be quite challenging and sometimes unintuitive, I made a non-spoiler beginners guide to help out.

Surviving

The biggest hurdle of this game is to understand how to keep yourself alive. Death is very punishing, making you lose all your items on you (except quest items), which you can buy back at a much cheaper price from Maisner. You do keep all your money when you die.

Death also puts a 5% semi-permanent reduction to all your stats, including: health, food, morale, freshness (or energy), warm and dry. This lowers your chance of survival per death and compounds into an impossible game save if you die more that 9 times. There is a way to reverse the effect, giving back 10% of the stats, but it costs 2000 gold to buy a medal at the Leaky Hut (with Vanga), or at the “We Have Everything” Shop (with Mrs Spurna).

“We Have Everything” Shop appearance:

Conditions

Yellow colour is a warning. Red colour is dangerous as you are losing health

Heath

Always try to keep your health high as you might lose track of a condition or take damage from an NPC (Non-Player Character).

You can heal from:

Bandages +10%
Health kit +50%
Broth

Willpower

Increase willpower from:

Chewing gum +1%
Snickers +2%
Energy drink +2%
Some alcohol +2 to +6%
Weak tea +4%
Healing tea +8%
Nitrin +8%

Energy

Red makes you lose health.

Increase energy from:

Sleeping +100%
Water +10%
Coke +10%
Energy drink +10%
Coffee +15%
Quality coffee +20%
Gourmet coffee +25%
Some food
Meth +100%
Trusted people can boost your energy

Warmth

Red makes you lose health

Increase warmth from:

Fire barrel +100%
Alcohol +5% to +100%
Spices +3%
Healing tea +100%

Hunger

Red makes you lose health

Increase hunger from:

Food +3 to +50%
Grub +10%
Broth +50%

Morale

Red makes you lose health

Increase morale from:

Praying at a shrine +100% (needs constant warmth and Picture of our Saviour)
Smoking +2% - +20%
Alcohol +10% to +100%
Reading PlayGuy +100%
Paint thinner +80%
Antidepressants +50%
Meth +100%
Trusted people can boost your morale

Illness

Red makes you lose health

Lower illness by:

Broth
Apple -3%
Herbs -1%
Lemon -5%
Weak tea -20%
Healing tea -80%
Some alcohol -3% to -8%
Antibiotics -50%

Poisoning

Red makes you lose health

Lower poison by:

Waiting out in game time -100%
Weak tea -20%
Healing tea -80%
Kombucha -50%

Alcohol

Makes you lose health and stops talking, begging, trading, and stealing from people walking on the street.

The charity will also not help you.

Lower alcohol by:

Waiting out in game time -100%
Alcoholic drink -10% to -50%
Kombucha -50%

Alcohol Withdrawal

Makes you lose health rapidly.

Get rid of alcohol withdrawal by:

Drinking alcohol to temporarily cure

Stick out the addiction with bandages, health kits, and base buffs (this will take a whole day so make sure you have supplies)

Nicotine Withdrawal

Makes you lose health rapidly.

Get rid of nicotine withdrawal by:

Smoking to temporarily cure
Stick out the addiction with bandages, health kits, and base buffs (this will take a whole day so make sure you have supplies)

Bathroom

Does not make you lose health but causes high increase to odour.

Lower bathroom by:

Paying for the bathroom
Going to jail, but the bathroom makes you lose max morale and is slower
Getting a free bathroom from certain trusted people

Odour

Does not make you lose health but causes people to refuse service to you.

Lower odour by:

Wipes -10%
The rest of soap -10%
Soap -40%
Perfume -60%
Paying for shower
Getting a free shower from trusted people

Clothing Smell

Lower clothing smell by:

Paying for laundry

Wetness

Does not make you lose health but causes you to get cold quicker.

Lower wetness by:

Fire barrel -100%

Money

Make money by:

Winning the scratch lottery
Giving empty glass bottles back to convenience store, $2 per bottle
Begging on the streets
Trading items for money on the streets
Stealing from people
Asking money from trusted people
Finding money in coin dispensers
Finding money in bins
Finishing requests or quests
Finishing a job given by the Labor Office with Irena Skrabisova

Inventory Space

Increase inventory space by equipping:

Makeshift luggage +10
Plastic bag +15
Cloth bag +30
Stylish satchel +50
Canvas backpack +70
Expedition backpack +120

Dumpster Diving

When a bin is opened it will tell you on the top left how much shrapnel is left, shrapnel will stop you from being affected by the smell of garbage. When you run out and go over non-pickable garbage it will make you smell.

You can also cause yourself to smell by missing the dumpster diving mini game. You can retry the dumpster diving mini game after failure.
Running out of shrapnel and then going over non-pickable garbage can also damage you if you have not repaired your clothing. Go to a crafting table to repair your clothing if this happens.

The bigger the bins the more loot, and it is an increased possibility of rare loot
Big orange bins have the highest chance of rare loot
Look at all the bins around the starting location as they have items to help you
Find the bins that will give you food bags, raw meat, herbs, spices, fresh fruit, and vegetables.

Perks

When you gain people’s trust, they may be able to give you a perk. These are usually expensive $200-$1000 gold, but if you have the spare money, is well worth it.

Base

Building up your base is one of the best ways to survive as you can get regeneration buffs when sleeping. Make sure to get a bench, bed, or couch next to the fire early on. Click Tab to place items into your base and R to access the base buff.

There are 5 bases around the map. Any item you put into any of the 5 bases will count towards points to add a base buff. This is the same when placing items to increase storage space.