Last updated on January 4th, 2026 at 02:02 am
Hard Time – Adventure Game Review
Hard Time is a Adventure/Entertainment/Roleplaying game from MDickie Limited, first launched in 11th October 2013.
It’s rated 17+ and currently has 4,249+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Hard Time Stand Out
Create your own inmate and attempt to survive in a prison where every sentence is a "death" sentence! Rub shoulders with up to 100 fellow inmates in a sprawling facility of 12 unique areas, each filled with fully interactive furniture and props. Plus a life beyond the gates populated by real civilians, with wardens enforcing dozens of different laws to keep you as far away from it as possible.
Each day, you will find your health and mental state slipping away. Both can be restored by sleeping – which is also a good way to pass time. You won't always be permitted to sleep, though, so consuming food and drink bridges the gap. These, along with many other activities such as reading or watching TV, can also help to improve your mental state. If you "lose your mind" you will temporarily lose control of your character – and will almost certainly get into trouble!
Your character also has a set of attributes that you are challenged to improve:
- STRENGTH indicates how much damage you can inflict or absorb. You can improve it by fighting or lifting weights.
- AGILITY determines how fast you move. You can improve it by jogging in the yard or scoring baskets.
- INTELLECT reflects your knowledge – including fighting skills such as counters. You can improve it by reading books.
- REPUTATION is how much other prisoners respect you. It can be improved by accomplishing tasks or intimidating others.
There are also opportunities to earn money – whether you work for it with a broom, trade items at a profit, or run with a gang. Having money increases your opportunities to grease the wheels and make your life inside easier.
You may find that you need to go to the toilet from time to time, in which case you must race to the bathroom! Alternatively, you could find a toilet to sit on or grab some toilet paper to spare your blushes. Failing to do so will damage your reputation and mental state.
I regret that there is more to this game than I could ever explain here, so I hope you enjoy figuring some things out for yourself!
Upgrade to "VIP" to enjoy the full experience without ads – plus access to the editor that allows you to customize your character and every other.
BASIC CONTROLS:
(*Look out for tutorials within the actual game)
A = Attack (on its own to kick, with a direction to punch)
G = Grapple / Throw weapon
R = Run
P = Pick-Up / Drop
T = Taunt (interact with handheld props)
OTHER CONTROLS
- Press ATTACK and RUN together to launch a powerful attack.
- Press any button with any direction (or none) in a grapple to trigger different moves.
- Press RUN and PICK-UP together to set fire to a small object (which can then be used to set fire to a large object).
- Touch the clock to pause the game and bring up options to exit.
- Touch any speech bubble to speed through conversations.
PERFORMANCE
- If you find your device struggles to display lots of characters, considering keeping the "Population" option low.
- "Speed Up Frame Rate" sleeping will require good performance at the default frame rate.
- Head to the "Display" options to tone down other features.
This Adventure game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Hard Time is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 17th November 2020
Recent improvements include:
- Higher resolution display, making full use of notched screens in either landscape orientation.
- Enhanced compatibility with iOS 14.
- Fewer onscreen ads (only between scenes).
Download & Availability
Hard Time is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
This needs a online mode that would be lit.
This game is already amazinghowever we woukd love to have more access to places like in Extra Lives.
Us and our brothers grow up by playing this game , and it still has nostalgia.
We love this game , just need Chinese.
We played this maybe when we were 11 or 10 but we loved the game so much we would play it when Im bored and we still play it.
This is back when the game logic made sense and the developer clearly had a passion for development. Its sad to see how far gone hes become now and how hes destroying classics like this. Hopefully Matt can look back at these classics and read the reviews of his recent games and finds that spark he once had. If all the recent games hes made seem unreasonably frustrating and awful, Id encourage you to check out this classic because his recent terrible work isnt indicative of all his capability. Plus this is before he got greedy, you can still buy this game.
By far one of the best prison sims ever. Maybe the only one this good, have it on mobile and steam and both are super fun.
Its a very good game, although its annoying when we get beat up up its really fun if you escape or something like that.
We are a big fan of Mdickie games. We love the unique design of games. Its like playing gta games. We can do whatever we want and complete missions and interact with Npcs.
You guys should allow the backbone to function on all the hard times game this game brings back so many memories we missed playing this game back when we were in grade school.
Please add gore effects similar to back wars and wrecked!!!!we feel this game would feel different with more gore effects to fit the prison simulator other than that the game is perfect the way it is.
Best game Ive ever played in our life ever Im 99 years old.
This game series is amazing. We've played every game in the list : hard times, school days, wrestling, pop scene, the zombies and superhero ones… Each is awesome in its own way, it may look simple but it's actually quite entertaining and you can replay so many times. There's also something for everyone. And the cherry on top is most of the games are free, you get a quality simulation for no money which is very convenient especially for children who don't have acess to a debit card like we were. We even played the Mdickie games on Pc. Thank You so much for making our childhood and for developing such awesome games.
This game is really fun as your in jail interacting with a lot of things. Our favorite part is being set free and becoming a warden, but theres some things that would be cool. 1. When you are set free and you have the option to become a warden, it would be cool if you can arrest people and show what their arrested for. 2. It would also be more interesting if you can go into the stores as your set free to spend some cash. 3. We would love there to be lawyers that you can hire to argue a case while your in court.
Ive been playing this since we were 8/9 im 17 now and these sim games all we play nowadays can we get a 3D version for ios.
This game is amazing we love the combat we love how realistic it is just please make more games like this.
Mdickie fr the most goated mobile game dev.
We love hard time but it would be better with controller support.
Stole an SMG, Shot two cops got body slammed and died.
We wish we wrote a review about it 5 years ago this game is a childhood classic for us we love it. We remeber we used to play it all the time go fight people in the cafe maybe pick up a propane tank take it outside to the yard then blow it up honestly this game was one of the best if not the best for our memories also we like how you can actually get out of prison if your good wish the developers could come back give us a tiny update and say how they are doing we need them for new videos on consoles because the new ones are not too good so thank you for making this game and a good childhood memory we will now wait for it to reinstall so we can use the last of our senior moments happy.
Its Good fun and offline game so good for on the rode.
We love this game so much number 1 but we are confused how do play as the character you customized. Please help us.
Love this game but Ive been waiting since we were a kid for there to be a multiplayer mode even if its like a private game with only like 2 or 3 players we just would love it.
We want it to be very fun for us.
We think the game is really good and it has no flaws. We love Mickey D.
We have been playing this game on and off for a few years and we would love some occasional updates with new locations, new character interactions, new interactive props, or perhaps new ways to edit your character. Keep up the good work.
But we bought the VIP pass we try to restore it and it didnt work kinda sad we love to make our own prisoner but it wont work developers pls help us.
How do you get 3d version of hard time.
We like these games we have all the apps but this game needs a choice where if u wanna be a girl cuz all the people we get is boys and we hate it.
We used to play this game as a kid its literally a 10/10.
In our opinion you should make an updated version with serves of friends or randoms wit private lobbys too.
Omg we havent played this game in years now Im Downloading it and it was our favorite game Im so happy we found it.
This game is great we just wanted to brag that we beat an 83 day sentence and walked out a free man.
Game needs update you cant take some one to court if you make your self a warden need more option needs to be like gta we get tired quick playing this game game looks like the 80s.
We removed playing this everyday on our tablet thinking we were playing with real people and we were playing with our brothers and years later its still fun.
Just make a western game, we believe it would be an AMAZING game, please consider it if you read this, it would be perfect.
The locks they catch you in are a PAIN. Not only can you not get out them, you have a possibility of dying. Issue two: have laws against bots too. We get SO MAD when we see a bot that has a big ol gun and the cops dont do anything. But this game is still very good in our opinion.
Alright so we play hard time right so when we leave the prison like serve our sentence you cant go into stores and next update could you add some accessories and then add a thing where you can get money by every day and we did upgrade the game so here is one thing why every time we play as a police officer then the prisoner will take our gun and fight us for no reason and add a arrest option thank you Matt youre the best keep it up.
Hey Mdickie can You guys add controllers support to your games wrestling mania including your old games so we can connect our backbone controller and Xbox controller please.
So we absolutely hate the meltdowns and we wish you could choose characters.
We really love this game, us and our siblings play it together all the time and its really fun! There are pros and cons though, the pros are that your are able to roam around and do whatever you want. The cons are that when you kill someone, or pick up deadly weapons, or steal, and etc; the cops beat you up then arrest you, vs the npc, they kill you a lot and steal poop and pee in public and hold deadly weapons; yet not a single cop glances at them, the npcs dont even get arrested. You guys really need to fix this because its just not fair. Another thing is that when you become a warden you cant arrest anyone but only get away with killing, fix that aswell.
We started playing this game 9 years ago when it first came out and us and our dad played it non stop. After 3 years or whenever vip came out we bought it. This game was our childhood and we still play it today. You are an amazing developer. PLEASE KEEP WORKING ON THIS GAME.
Us and our friend have been enjoying this game for a while now. We love how you are in prison. Our friend Josh personally loves the dr Sasquatch part of the game. LIKE HOLY BEEF JERKY we LOVE THIS GAME LETS GO RAVENS AND BILLS. PASS INTERFERENCE. HACKING DEFENSE. YOLANDA IS ON FARMERS ONLY 18+ DATING Website. Anyways merry Christmas happy birthday. Oh and our gf cheated on us. #FUNNY #LOL #JOSH #DOWN SYNDROME.
Love this game Ive loved this for years every since we were 8years old but Im eleven now this game is cool and fun but our mom let us play so no worries people.
RHIS IS THE BEST GAME we HVE EVER PLAYED PLEASE PLAY OT SAVED MY MARRAGE WITH MY 15 yr old wife.
We think its about time we should be able to play with friends like online just imange how fun that would be how many people will play also adding a car more stores ways to spend the money you collect in jail, just an idea hope we could get a response.
This game is good but the game developer should make 3d for mobile and update this game like this game got a lot of potential yall just gotta work on it no matter how long it take.
Awesome game but wish we could use this controller for it.
Please add gore effects similar to back wars and wrecked.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 1.4.4
- Size: 55.92 MB
- iOS: 10.0 or later
- Languages: CS, DA, NL, EN, FI, FR, DE, EL, HE, ID, IT, JA, KO, MS, NB, PL, PT, RU, ZH, ES, SV, TH, ZH, TR, VI
- Content Advisory: Infrequent/Mild Sexual Content and Nudity, Infrequent/Mild Profanity or Crude Humor, Frequent/Intense Mature/Suggestive Themes, Frequent/Intense Realistic Violence, Infrequent/Mild Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References, Frequent/Intense Cartoon or Fantasy Violence
- Developer: [MDickie Limited]()
Last updated: 17th November 2020 | Genre: Adventure, Entertainment | Developer: MDickie Limited