Heirlines beginner’s guide: your first life
Heirlines is a text-based life simulator in which you advance through a life 1 year at a time, make choices, and can continue as a living family member when that life ends. For your first run, learn the yearly rhythm, read changes to your character’s circumstances, and follow a dream that interests you. You do not need the Heirloom to play either era or continue as an heir.
Start a life: what should you choose?
The modern era offers Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. The medieval era offers England, France, Italy and Spain. Both eras and all 8 settings are included in the free game.
You can leave choices to chance rather than deciding every part of the character in advance. The new-life screen lets you choose details such as the era, country and name. Choosing the family you are born into is an extra included with the optional Heirloom; in the free game, that starting circumstance is random.
For a first life, choose the era you want to read about. Picking a familiar modern country can make the setting easier to follow; choosing medieval life gives you a different historical backdrop. Neither choice requires buying an expansion.
How a year works
A year can contain ordinary developments and decisions that need an answer. Read the event and the available responses before moving on. The story includes work, relationships, money and family, so a choice can matter for more than the immediate paragraph.
An actual choice from Heirlines. The first response is marked “Poor chance”; the alternatives take the story in other directions.
In this example, the grandfather wants to revisit his birthplace. The game offers a journey, a conversation about his memories, or a refusal. Notice the chance label on the journey. A response you prefer for the story is not necessarily a guaranteed outcome.
A useful way to read a decision is:
- Identify what the person wants and what the character can choose.
- Read any chance information shown with the response.
- Decide whether you want the opportunity enough to accept its uncertainty.
- Read the result before advancing to another year.
What should you check between years?
The screen brings together your character’s age, work, money and personal measures such as Health, Mood, Mind and Looks. Use these to notice changes in the life, rather than treating every event as an isolated question.
After a major work event, look at employment and money. After a family event, check who is in the character’s life. When you have been advancing quickly, open Your life so far to review the story. The family-line view helps you keep track of how the generations connect.
These checks are a way to understand consequences, not a promise that keeping every measure high guarantees a particular ending.
Follow a dream without ignoring the rest of the life
Each life has a dream that can be met or missed. Use it to give the character direction: it is a reason to care about the decisions that appear. You can still have a meaningful family story when a dream is missed.
For your first session, concentrate on understanding what happened after each choice. A career, home or relationship can become more interesting once you can connect its current state to earlier decisions. Repeatedly starting again before seeing those consequences makes the game harder to learn.
What happens when your character dies?
Read the life story, then review the available heirs. You may be able to continue as a child, grandchild, niece, nephew, brother or sister, depending on the living family. Your heir starts at their own age and can have a household and work already.
Continuing as an heir and taking a second chance are different actions. An heir begins the family’s next chapter. An available second chance returns to the start of the fatal year, with a limit of 3 second chances per life. The heirs and inheritance guide explains the handover.
Save habits worth learning early
Your lives are saved on your phone. The free game has 3 slots; the Heirloom increases that to 9. When all your available slots are occupied, beginning another saved life requires replacing an existing one. Read the replacement confirmation carefully.
A store account can restore an eligible purchase, but that does not make it a cloud backup of your family stories. Clearing the app’s storage or uninstalling can remove local saves.
Questions new players ask
Do I need to pay to reach the medieval era or play an heir?
No. Both eras, every event, all country settings and generational play are included for free. The Heirloom comparison lists the optional extras.
Can I play without an internet connection?
Yes, ordinary play works offline and no game account is required. Store purchases, restoration and optional reward ads require their online services.
Is Heirlines on iPhone?
Heirlines is currently available on Android through Google Play. It is not yet available on the App Store.
Get Heirlines, or visit the game page for the feature list and privacy policy.