Finding a place to live in Amsterdam can be impossible. For many prospective tenants the relentless search can feel like a nightmarish odyssey straight out of a video game.

Hardly surprising then, that after a depressing encounter with a potential landlord in the summer of 2023, comic book artist and writer Krish Raghav decided to create a game inspired by the experiences of both himself and others in the nation’s capitol.

“I went to a viewing feeling good, a small moment of hope in an otherwise very stressful process, and being told by the owner ‘you probably don’t make enough money, so don’t get your hopes up,’” he told Dutch News.

The owner’s pithy remark is now the title of the game. Don’t Get Your Hopes Up was released on itch.io and Steam last week.

The free-to-play game is technically a visual novel, a genre of gaming more focused on story-telling than elaborate boss battles that require lightning quick reflexes to get through.

In Don’t Get Your Hopes Up, the player takes on the role of an unnamed tenant faced with the seemingly impossible task of finding an apartment to rent in Amsterdam in less than a week.

Along with dealing with greedy landlords over-charging for lousy lodgings, the player must compete against other potential tenants, among them recent hires at Booking.com.

Details like these bring the ordeal to life. The player is also faced with shoddy refurbishments, bizarre bathrooms with multiple sinks, and tiny bedrooms.

“I want to make people laugh with recognition and help them know they’re not alone,” Raghav said. “One of the pernicious things the housing crisis does is that it puts you in competition with your peers. It convinces you that sharing, helping, or conceding will ruin your chances at finding a home.”

As their situation becomes more desperate, the player’s journey begins to take a surreal turn. Along with the housing crisis, the game also takes aim at gentrification and the bleaker corners of Amsterdam’s long history. The player eventually winds up with one of five potential endings, based on the choices they make during their increasingly strange quest.

A year’s work

It took Raghav about a year to make the game and it ate up plenty of his evenings and weekends. He also got the Rotterdam-based band Neighbours Burning Neighbours and musician Simon Frank to come up with the soundtrack.

“One person told me ‘you should probably play this game before you consider studying in the Netherlands or in preparation of what will happen to you when you come here,” Raghav said.

Now Raghav says he would be happy to collaborate with an NGO or another organisation willing to help tackle the problem in a policy-based way.  “I want this to be out there as something people can use to understand the complexities of the housing crisis,” he said.

Raghav’s friends have jokingly suggested that he should get started on a sequel that focuses on trying to buy a home in Netherlands, but he thinks he’s done with making games about the housing market.

His next one, he told Dutch News, might be about a potentially less fraught topic, like figuring out how to get to know your neighbours better.