I Know a Guy: Shady Life Simulator
by Bunch'o'Nerds · 1 Apr, 2026
174 downloads
About the Game
You owe a dangerous, mysterious mafia a serious amount of money. They don’t call. They don’t warn you. They kidnap you and make it clear: work it off, or else. Run your pizza shop, take on shady favors, and get to know the people of Hobarey Town while doing the mafia’s dirty work. Learn who to trust, who to use, and who to avoid.
Maybe you’ll pay off your debt. Maybe you’ll build the right connections to take the mafia down.
EXPERIENCE DUAL-LIFE
Manage a pizza shop up front while running illegal jobs out back. Keep both sides operating without drawing police attention or blowing your cover.
TAKE SHADY JOBS
Complete illegal favors for NPCs, including cleaning bloody clothes, ordering restricted items from the dark web, disposing of evidence, and even burning bodies in your own oven. Every job increases payout, risk, and police attention.
BUILD YOUR REPUTATION
Build a strong cover by becoming the best pizza shop in town while separately earning trust in the shady underworld. Each side progresses on its own, unlocking different jobs, tools, and risks.
UPGRADE YOUR OPERATION
Upgrade your kitchen, hidden workstations, and equipment. Larger setups allow faster production, riskier jobs, and higher payouts.
DEAL WITH WEIRD NPCs
Interact with dozens of hand-crafted NPCs, each with their own stories, personalities, and ongoing problems that unfold over time.
PLAY TOGETHER
Play alone or team up with up to four players online. Split tasks, run both sides of the business together, and deal with the chaos as a group.
Screenshots
7 images
Version Information
Steam Patch Notes
Official update history
Bug Fix Update
Hey everyone! This update is all about squashing the nastiest bugs you've reported — including a couple that could permanently break a save. Thanks for all the reports, keep them coming!
Fixes
- Beggar softlock: Donating to the beggar could freeze the dialog on screen and lock your controls for good. Fixed — donate away.
- Phantom pizza ovens: Two players grabbing the same pizza at the same moment could create an invisible duplicate that permanently blocked an oven slot. Duplicates are now cleaned up automatically and ovens refuse them entirely.
- "E does nothing" bug: If a machine was sold or moved right as someone was using it, every machine could stop responding to E for the rest of the session. Interaction now recovers on its own.
- Online orders not starting: Saving with your shop open meant courier orders never showed up after loading. Orders now flow correctly on every save.
- Tutorial softlock: You can no longer sell your machines during the tutorial (and lock yourself out of finishing it). Moving them is still fine.
- Placement too picky: Pizza racks, shelves and big ovens can now be placed flush against cabinets, fridges and other machines — no more invisible walls at diagonal angles.
- Fixed a counter collider issue.
Have fun, and see you in the shop!
Hey chefs! We’re back with a quick follow-up patch to address some weird physics, add highly requested control shortcuts, and introduce some fresh rewards. Here is what’s new in Hobarey Town based on our latest tracker updates.
We thrilled to share our new soundtrack, jump in the game and listen the new beats! Get ready to lose yourself in the vibe, hope you enjoy them as much as we do!
New Achievements
New Achievements: Fresh achievements have been added to the game. Time to hunt them down and fully flex about your Steam profile.
Quality of Life & Control Upgrades
Smooth Pizza Boxing: You can now right-click a full pizza box directly from your inventory or while it's resting on the ground to quickly pull the pizza out. No more awkward unpacking loops.
Hold to Place Ingredients: Your fingers can finally rest. You can now simply hold down the button to continuously place pizza ingredients instead of spam-clicking.
Dialogue Hotkeys: Speed through conversations! You can now use the \ and \ keys on your keyboard to instantly select your dialogue choices.
Bug Fixes & Polish
Calmed the Oven: The Automated Pizza Oven had a bit too much caffeine and was shaking violently for some players. We've anchored it down, and it now behaves like a normal piece of machinery.
NPC Hitbox Downsize: Hired NPCs had accidentally massive hitboxes that made them constantly block pathways or get in your way. Their physical bounds have been trimmed down to normal human standards.
Skateboard Save Fix: Fixed an issue where the Skateboard would completely break and refuse to let you ride it after reloading a save file. You can now skate across sessions uninterrupted.
Tree Icon Correction: Fixed a visual bug where the wrong icon was being displayed for the Automated Pizza Oven inside the upgrade tree.
Keep those ovens running, and don't forget to check out the new tracks! And drop comments, we read em all.
Peace,
Bunch'o'Nerds Team
Patch Notes v0.154
We spent the last few days hunting down some of the wilder ways your save files, inventories, and physics objects have been misbehaving. Here's what we tracked down:
New Features & Improvements
- Sliding Delivery Window: Added a new sliding window for the online order counter, with proper open/closed state that survives save/load.
- Last-Saved Indicator: The Quick Save section in the escape menu now shows when your game was last saved (just now / 30s ago / 5m ago / etc.), so you stop wondering if that save actually went through.
- Honest Save Button: The save button now actually waits for the save to finish before telling you "Saved." Previously it lied to you the moment you clicked. It now shows "Saving…" → "Saved" or "Save failed" with the real result.
Co-op & Networking
- The "Vanishing Inventory" Glitch: Fixed a major bug where, when the host saved the game, every other player's inventory would get wiped because their items only existed on their own client. Saves now collect a fresh snapshot from every connected player before writing to disk.
- Quit + Reconnect Mid-Session: Fixed an issue where leaving and rejoining the same session in one sitting would fail to restore your stuff properly.
- Dark Web Lockup: Fixed a bug where using the Dark Web Computer would leave you unable to interact with anything afterward.
- Door Desync: Fixed several client-side door sync issues in multiplayer.
- Disappearing Clothing: Fixed a bug where if a player wearing world clothing left the lobby, that clothing item would permanently vanish from the world. The only fix used to be buying a replacement. The world now releases the clothing properly when its wearer disconnects.
- Empty Photos for Clients: Fixed an issue where photos taken by the host would show up as blank placeholders for clients after a save/load. Each photo also now generates its own icon instead of stealing the first photo's thumbnail.
- Phantom Inventory Icons: Fixed icons disappearing from the host's hotbar whenever any other player dropped from the lobby.
Gameplay & Physics
- The "Red Line Backwards" Bug: Fixed a major reputation issue where successfully completing a Red Line phone order pushed your reputation toward the Front (legitimate) side, and failing pushed you Shady. The exact opposite of intent. Now properly rewards Shady reputation for shady deeds.
- Cargo Box Possession: Fixed supplier delivery boxes getting launched out of the truck like they were possessed — flying through walls, hovering in midair, sliding in from the left. Boxes now arrive at their slots like normal physics objects.
- Lobby-Full Cargo Scatter: Related to the above — when many deliveries arrived and a non-host client picked up a box, the truck slot never got freed, so subsequent deliveries piled up at the overflow point and exploded everywhere. Fixed.
- Locked-Out Held Items: Fixed a save/load bug where items dropped after loading the game would collide with the player because their physics layer wasn't restored correctly.
- Cargo Box Sprite Leak: Fixed an issue where, after loading a save, closed CargoBoxes would still show their content sprites floating over the closed lid like ghost ingredients.
- Drop Key Frozen After Load: Fixed a bug where the G drop key stopped working after loading a save — the basketball's trajectory system was blocking every other item until you shot the basketball.
- Ingredient Container Swap: You can now bring a different-type CargoBox up to a full ingredient container to swap it out. Previously you had to manually drain the container first.
- Basketball Trash Husk: Fixed a bug where throwing the basketball into the trash bin left an unspawnable visual husk in the scene that nobody could pick up. The trash bin now refuses the basketball outright.
- Held Item Lag: Items you carry while sprinting no longer drift behind you like they're on a loose leash.
Performance & UI
- Build Size: Reduced game install size from 6.3 GB to 4.1 GB. We did a deep pass on texture compression without affecting any visual quality you'd actually notice.
- Topping Crash Spam: Fixed a bug where placing toppings on a pizza generated huge amounts of warning spam per session. The allocation pressure was what some players were experiencing as a crash. Pizza building is now silent like it should be.
Save System Hardening
- Zero-Byte Save Files: Fixed the catastrophic bug where save files would end up filled with null bytes if the game crashed or quit at the wrong moment. We now write saves atomically and keep a .bak backup that auto-recovers your last good state if the live file ever gets corrupted again.
- Quit-While-Saving Race: The game will no longer let itself quit while a save is still flushing to disk. It waits for the write to finish, then exits cleanly.
Peace,
Bunch'o'Nerds Team
Patch Notes v0.144
We’ve been deep in the trenches fixing some of the more... creative ways you’ve been breaking the game. From gravity-defying pizzas to inter-dimensional item theft, here’s what’s changed:
New Features & Improvements
Quick Delivery: Added a new Delivery Window for fast access to the courier.
Movement Polish: Removed collisions from handheld items. You should no longer get stuck on the environment while carrying objects.
Lobby Security: Strengthened lobby protection to prevent unauthorized players from joining your sessions.
Co-op & Networking
The "Accidental Thief" Glitch: Fixed a major bug where pressing 'B' (Build Mode) as a host would "steal" whatever item your friend was currently holding, even if they were in a completely different room.
Miner Duplication & Phantoms: Resolved a complex issue involving Bitcoin Miners on the roof where players could end up with "phantom" miners or duplicated items in their hotbar.
Inventory Desync: Fixed instances where two players building/replacing items simultaneously would lock the non-host's inventory.
Photo Mode Sync: Taking a photo as a client will no longer cause the host's screen to get stuck in photo mode.
Achievements: Fixed a bug where non-host players weren't receiving the achievement for beating the game.
Gameplay & Physics
Camera: Patched a glitch where spamming the camera allowed players to clip through walls, enter locked buildings, or climb out of the map. No more noclip photography!
Photography: Fixed an issue where players could still enter "Photo Mode" and take pictures even after dropping their camera.
Hitboxes: Adjusted the Enforcer NPC's hitboxes. They can no longer punch you from superhuman distances.
Pizzas: Fixed several issues where pizzas and boxes would float into the air, lose gravity, or allow players to "double-sell" empty boxes.
Mechanics: Updated the robbery logic; keeping the "Shady Window" open while you sleep can now trigger a robbery regardless of whether the front shop is open.
Performance & UI
Optimization: Fixed significant FPS drops caused by high numbers of Pizza Racks. We’ve adjusted shadow rendering for pizza ingredients to keep your GPU from sweating.
Input Lag: Addressed reports of input lag during low FPS situations, especially when moving the camera rapidly.
Infinite Scrolling: Fixed a frustrating bug where menus would scroll infinitely (even with controllers unplugged).
Debt UI Correction: Fixed the text in the Debt Collector menu. It will now correctly state "Final Installment" instead of "First Installment" when you are about to clear your debt.
Debt Progression: Resolved a bug where players were getting stuck on the 6th installment with the 7th failing to trigger.
Miscellaneous
Police Chase: Fixed an animation bug where the policewoman would stand still while her "running" animation played if you entered the pizzeria.
Double Trouble: Fixed a rare bug where starting a new game could result in two "Source Machines" being spawned.
Peace,
Bunch'o'Nerds Team
Patch Notes v0.142
Hey folks! Usually these community posts come from the rest of the team, but this one's me. The "works on my machine" developer (the guy who actually writes the code) hopping into the announcements channel. So expect things to get a little more technical than usual. Bear with me, I'll try not to go full changelog-brain on you.
We did a pretty massive refactor of how every pickup-able item in the game works. All holdables (pizzas, ingredients, cargo boxes, cameras, weapons, contraband, instruments; basically anything you can grab) now run through a single, shared system. Sounds boring, but it means fewer weird bugs, less duplicated code, and way easier patches from here on out. A lot of small gremlins got quietly squashed in the process. Because this was such a big change under the hood, please keep those bug reports coming. If something slipped past us or a new issue popped up, let us know and we'll jump on it. Sorry in advance for anything we missed!
Bug Fixes
Your co-op partners' outfit and position now save properly. Reconnecting players show up right where they left off instead of respawning across the map.
Contraband items should stop falling through the floor or going invisible for anyone who isn't the host, and clients can actually pick them up with E now, instead of the prompt just not responding.
Late-joiners now see the correct state on machine handles instead of random positions.
Redline Phone: fixed the bug where you'd answer the call, get offered a quest, and then not be able to click Accept or Decline at all. Buttons actually work now.
Oven Level 2 can be exited with ESC like every other machine (sorry about that).
Dark Web browser doesn't yeet you out of the computer anymore when you type a word containing the letter "E".
Wall-mounted and floor decorations no longer get yanked around when you pick up a nearby counter.
Fixed the camera going absolutely feral (flying off into the void, weird snaps, general chaos) when pressing E on a machine that had another machine placed right behind it.
Fixed broken characters (the weird uXXXX gibberish) showing up in German and Polish text — special characters now render correctly.
Known Issues
Client inventories aren't saving properly right now. We know it's a pretty big deal and we're actively working on a fix, sorry about that, thanks for bearing with us.
Thanks for your patience!
New Content
Freezer Upgrades: Two new Freezer levels have been added to the game!
Level 2 — Allows you to store up to 50 dough.
Level 3 — Allows you to store up to 100 dough.
Critical Fixes & Stability
Freezer: Fixed an issue blocking access to the Freezer for some players.
Shady Truck (Multiplayer): Client players can now properly interact with items delivered by the Shady Truck.
Pizza Rack Fixes
Pizza Disappearing: Fixed multiple cases where pizzas would vanish from racks when saving, loading, or switching between host and client sessions.
Rack Sync: Pizza racks now correctly update for all players when someone joins or reconnects.
Selling Issues: Resolved a bug where pizzas would get stuck floating in the air instead of being sold properly during multiplayer sessions.
Gameplay & Items
Topping Station: Fixed the Topping Station becoming unusable after the host saves and exits.
Item Loss: Items in your inventory are no longer lost when saving and quitting. Cameras, HDDs, and other quest items are now preserved correctly. This fix for host only, we're working on client side as well.
Open World Missions: Fixed several mission tasks not tracking correctly for client players, including photo, skateboard, and pizza delivery objectives.
Item Boxes: Boxes placed by clients no longer disappear when they leave the session.
UI & Inventory
Inventory Display: Fixed item icons reverting to old appearances when scrolling through the inventory.
Item Interactions: Resolved an issue where some inventory items became unresponsive. Flashlight, camera zoom, and similar interactions are now working as intended.
And if you like the game, make sure to drop a review on Steam.
For your reports, join our Discord: https://discord.gg/7BJAaKt4wV
[p align="start"]Peace, Bunch'o'Nerds TeamPatch Notes v0.135
Critical Fixes & Stability
Anti-Softlock Measures:
Fixed a soft-lock occurring when getting punched while interacting with Bribe/Extortion NPCs.
Inventory
Resolved an issue where rapidly switching items caused objects to scale up indefinitely.
Lobby & Security: Lobbies are now set to Private by default in the Host menu.
Added Lobby Protection to prevent unauthorized joins. Please report any further instances of uninvited players joining your sessions.
Added a "1 Player" option to the Max Players dropdown in lobby settings.
Gameplay & Balance
Shady Point Balancing: To prevent easy farming, punching the same NPC will now only grant Shady Points for the first hit each day.
Incinerator Mechanic: The pop-up notification for unlocking the Incinerator on the Dark Web is now global. All players will be notified, so the whole crew learns the mechanic at once.
Online Orders: Fixed a bug where orders would still arrive even when the Pizza Store was closed.
Hank’s Quest: Fixed an issue where assets were missing upon accepting the quest.
Map Fixes: Added a missing ceiling collider to the Redline Phone room and fixed an exploit in The Hobarey Depot where the Level 2 Washing Machine could be purchased through the wall without the upgrade. You guys so naughty when it comes to exploits!
UI & Audio Improvements
Accessibility: Added a Subtitle Size setting for players using large screens (TVs) to ensure readability from a distance. We're also working on a 'Black Bars' option for the competitive Counter-Strike players, coming in a patch around February 2041.
Skillforge Guidance: Improved the description pop-ups for upgrades to better explain their functions.
Audio Logic: Overhauled the debt-related audio logs. Much like the tutorial, playing a new log will now automatically stop the previous one to prevent audio overlapping during bulk payments.
New Sound Effects (SFX) added and polished.
We fixed over 35 bugs, errors, missing texts, and save issues last week. You can check the full details on our posts page or jump into our Discord to report any problems you encountered during your visit to Hobarey Town.
Peace, Bunch'o'Nerds Team
New Features & Major Fixes
Steam Cloud Save: Integrated! Your progress is now synced across devices.
Endgame Content Added: The story reaches its conclusion. The final chapter is now playable. But there is not a single ending...
Save System Stability: Fixed issues where saving via the bed wouldn't function correctly.
Added extra security layers to prevent BTC loss after loading a save.
Fixed a bug where cameras would disappear from the inventory upon loading.
Balance & Economy
Bitcoin Mining Nerf: Hourly rates have been adjusted for long-term balance:
Lvl 1: Reduced from ~0.21 BTC/hr to ~0.104 BTC/hr.
Lvl 2: Reduced from ~0.63 BTC/hr to ~0.417 BTC/hr.
The Famous Guy Encounter:
Footstep volume reduced by 50%.
Camera shake effect reduced by 30%.
If he is rejected, he will no longer return.
Fixed a dialogue softlock if you get punched while talking to him.
Multiplayer & Sync (QoL)
Ingredient Sync: Fixed an issue where pizza ingredients would vanish for the Client when a Pizza Rack was moved.
Physics Fix: Fixed "floating cheese" bugs when moving racks with uncooked pizzas.
Ingredient Handling (QoL): We heard you, odd numbers like the 13 pepperoni slices were a pain. We’ve overhauled ingredient counts (especially those olives!) to make prep work much more satisfying and less tedious.
Debt UI: Fixed a bug where the debt UI remained visible after loading, even if the debt was fully paid.
Achievement Fix: Improved the detection for the "Halfway There" debt achievement to ensure it triggers correctly for Clients.
Peace, Bunch'o'Nerds Team
Patch Notes v0.25
We're continuing to polish the experience based on your reports. Here’s what’s new:
Multiplayer & Networking
Sync Issues: Fixed a bug where preplaced objects wouldn't sync between Host and Client when replaced or sold.
Player Count: Official support for 8-player sessions has been removed to ensure better stability and performance.
Dev Logs: Added comprehensive logging for Steamworks UDP and Relay systems to better diagnose connection issues.
Gameplay & Balance
Online Orders: Fixed a bug where the wrong pizza could be delivered.
Economy: Online order prices were too low; we’ve doubled the payouts to make them more rewarding.
Tutorial Fix: Adjusted the GPS Tracker timing in the tutorial to prevent "hardstuck" situations caused by long wait times.
Dark Web: Fixed a listing error where the Heroin Block was missing from Dark Web Level 3.
UI & Accessibility
FOV Slider: Added a Field of View (FOV) setting to the options menu. We heard your feedback regarding motion sickness, and this should provide a much more comfortable experience.
Camera Mode: Added clearer on-screen instructions for the Camera Mode to better explain how photo detection works.
Visual Polish: Fixed a centering issue for pizzas on the bottom racks of the Large Pizza Rack.
Peace, Bunch'o'Nerds Team
Fixed cocaine bricks not arriving after ordering from the dark web.
Fixed Burner Phone and Voice Recorder not being placeable in the Incinerator.
Fixed decoration achievement not unlocking.
Patch Notes v0.122
We’ve been listening to your feedback! Here are the fixes and improvements included in this update:
UI & Experience Improvements
Skillforge: Updated button text from "BUY" to "UNLOCK" for better clarity.
Build Mode: Fixed an issue where UI instructions in the bottom-left corner were overlapping.
Pop-Up Guidance: Enhanced pop-up instructions to be more informative and clear.
Forgery Station: Improved the feedback system to better explain the station's operational status.
Localization: Fixed the text for the first unlockable Achievement and localized missing Caseoh dialogues.
Gameplay & Bug Fixes
Transaction Logic: Fixed a bug where players couldn't give change when their balance was negative.
Network Stability: Resolved an issue where players with unstable connections would get stuck in the wrong state after exiting machines.
Physics & Spawning: Fixed a bug where players in ragdoll mode would spawn under the map if a game started via a friend's interaction at the Bar.
Tutorial: Fixed the GPS tracker delivery bug during the tutorial phase.
Quests: Resolved delivery issues regarding Dr. Natalie Brooks' orders.
Night Creatures: Adjusted the photography hitbox; you no longer need to see their feet to successfully snap a photo. Yet feet pics still allowed if you are really interested.
So we're working tirelessly to fix issues, and balancing the game. Updates, patches will be keep coming.
Stay shady. Watch your back.
Hi, hardwork continues, we are fixing lots of bugs and QoL issues with these constant updates. Stay tuned!
Fixed:
Clients cannot lock into machines.
Dough press machine & sauce machine not working properly.
Sync issues between client-host, related to order computer.
Steam constantly asking for permisson to run command while joining friend invite.
Minor bugs and QoL improvements.
Current Release
Build 24239187
Uploaded Jul 17, 2026
System Requirements
How to Install
I Know a Guy.exe to play
Troubleshooting tips
• Run Redist/_CommonRedist installers if game won't start
• Add folder to Windows Defender exclusions
• Run as administrator
Download
Direct link available
1.6 GB
24239187
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Download I Know a Guy: Shady Life Simulator for PC with a direct link or via torrent. Get the full version of I Know a Guy: Shady Life Simulator for free. I Know a Guy: Shady Life Simulator is a Simulation released by Bunch'o'Nerds.