Let boys be boys in this free indie game

Hard Lads is a short and free simulation video game wherein you get to see shirtless boys do silly stuff. Developed by Robert Yang, this so-called “masculinity simulator” is based on the 2015 British viral video about four young men smoking and drinking while playing around with a folding chair. The game has some LGBT content and can be considered PG-13 for partial nudity, alcohol, smoking, and slight violence.

Go beyond the recording

At first, Hard Lads looks like it’s just recreating the video titled “British lads hit each other with a chair.” You play as the cameraman who recorded the video with his phone. However, unlike the original video, you also get to play as its director. The game starts with the two main boys standing in attention. By moving the camera’s view and locating the four available actions on the screen, you can start directing.

Clicking the camera center onto the action boxes will enter the recording mode and will allow you to control how the scene plays out. If you choose the bottle, you can control the guy’s arm with your mouse movement and either let him drink or empty the alcohol on the ground. The cigarette and the kiss have similar funny outcomes, too. Meanwhile, the chair lets you whack him around like a ragdoll.

The gameplay doesn’t stop there. Every time you successfully knock the guy out, a folding chair mysteriously falls from the sky and onto him—definitely not something the video showed. This will multiply for every knockout you cause until you finally trigger the cutscene wherein he floats away to a hilarious ending song. Each of these playthroughs also unlocks a classical painting of Greek mythology figure Icarus, rewarding players for trying to fully explore the game.

Boys having fun

Overall, Hard Lads is not just any meme game reproduction for any fans. It’s also a hilarious game that offers various alternate scenarios to the original video and can be a fun little thing to play with if you’re an eager secret hunter for unlockables. Its only drawbacks are that it’s pretty short and can be easily put down because the game doesn’t quickly hint that it has secrets to hide.