Game guide
How to play A Day in Berlin
A Day in Berlin is a free 3D story game about your first day in Berlin, from the Hauptbahnhof at 7:30 in the morning to bedtime in your friend Jonas's Altbau flat, where you talk your way through the day in beginner German with the meanings in English. Your goal is to get through the day's 16 replies, collect a stamp in your travel journal in each of its six places and meet all 27 phrases of Unit 1 of our studio's beginner German lessons: hello and goodbye by the time of day, how are you, please and thank you, du and Sie, and introducing yourself.
Play A Day in Berlin
- Genre
- Story game with choices, in 3D, that teaches beginner German from Unit 1 of our studio's beginner German lessons
- Players
- 1 player
- Length
- One episode of 85 short beats across six places, 16 of them replies and two of them things to do. It takes roughly 8 to 10 minutes, longer if you open every Why? note and the phrasebook. There's no clock, and you can stop at any line and carry on later.
- Plays on
- Phones, tablets and computers, in an up-to-date web browser with WebGL, with no download. Tap, click or use the keyboard, on upright or sideways screens; no gamepad.
- Progress
- Saved in this browser on this device after every step: the sound setting, your place in the episode (the line you're on, the phrases you've met and said, your journal's stamps, second tries and hearts, and any replies crossed out on the question you're on), and how many episodes you've started and finished. Finishing the episode clears your place, so Play again starts at the station. A private window may not keep anything.
- Price
- Free. No download and no account.
- Version
- 1.0.1, updated November 8, 2026
- Feedback
- Comments on itch.io
How to play
- On the title screen, press Play, then Start on the episode's card (Episode 1, Your first day). You play Sam, from London. If you left the story part-way, the title offers Continue, which takes you straight back to the line you were on, and Start again, which begins a fresh run from the station once you press Start.
- The day moves through six places: Berlin's Hauptbahnhof, where Jonas waits on the platform with a welcome sign, Herr Becker's Bäckerei at eight, the U-Bahn at eleven, where an elegant lady sits with a basket of leeks, a café terrace at three with a waiter and an older gentleman reading his paper, a street in Prenzlauer Berg at seven as the gas lamps come on, with a mime and a flower shop, and Jonas's building and his flat at the top of it. The time and the place show in the top left corner.
- Each line appears in the box at the bottom of the screen: who's speaking, their German, and its meaning in English underneath. A few lines show a picture instead, like a Brezel for Eine Brezel? Tap or click the scene, the box or Continue, or press Enter or Space, to carry on. If the line is still typing out, the first press shows all of it.
- Sixteen times it's your turn, in a box headed Your reply that repeats the line you're answering. Every reply is in German: some ask you to pick the right phrase, some to answer what someone has just said, one to tap German words in order to build a sentence, some to fill in a missing word, and one to put a verb in its right form. Tap or click your answer, or on a computer press the number shown on it.
- A right reply shows your line in German with its meaning, the person you answered hops with hearts over their head, and any new phrases go into your phrasebook. A wrong reply costs nothing: the person reacts, your choice is crossed out, and a note headed Not quite shows what your choice meant and gives a hint, with a Why? button for the full grammar note when there is one. Then you try again.
- Twice the story needs a hand rather than words: a button to catch the gentleman's newspaper when the wind snatches it at the café, and one to help the mime out of his invisible box in Prenzlauer Berg. Press it, tap or click the scene, or press Enter.
- At the end of each place a stamp lands in your travel journal. The day ends at Jonas's, with you asleep on the sofa bed and Minka, the neighbour's cat, on your feet. The end screen shows your journal, the phrases you met out of 27, your stamps, your second tries and the hearts each person gave you, with buttons for the Phrasebook, Play again and the Title.
Controls
Keyboard
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Enter or Space | Carry on to the next line (the first press shows a line that's still typing out), or do the thing the story asks for. When a button has focus, it presses that button instead |
| 1 to 9 | Pick the reply with that number, or place the word with that number in the word bank (the numbers show on the buttons) |
| Backspace | Take back the last word you placed in the word bank |
| Type in the box, then Enter | Fill in a missing word. The box has the focus when the question opens; capitals are optional, ü can be typed as ue (or u) and ß as ss, and a number key picks the word with that number. While you type, letters go into the box, so B, M and P don't work as shortcuts there |
| B | Open or close the phrasebook |
| P or Escape | Pause or resume. With the phrasebook open, close it |
| M | Sound on or off |
| Tab, then Enter or Space | Move to any button and press it: replies, words, Why?, the corner buttons and every menu |
Mouse
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Click the scene, the dialogue box or Continue | Carry on to the next line; a click while a line is typing out shows all of it |
| Click a reply | Answer with it. A reply that's crossed out can't be picked again |
| Click words in order | Build the sentence in the word bank. It checks itself once you've placed as many words as the answer has; Check checks it sooner, and Undo or a click on a placed word takes one back |
| Click a word under the sentence, or type it in the box | Fill in the blank (press Enter after typing) |
| Click Why? | Show the full grammar note behind a hint |
| Click the button or the scene, when there's something to do | Catch the newspaper, or help the mime out |
| Click the book, pause or sound button (top right) | Open the phrasebook (its number is how many phrases you've met), pause the story, or turn the sound on or off. In the phrasebook, Phrases and Journal switch pages, and × or a click outside it closes it |
Touch (phones and tablets)
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Tap the scene, the dialogue box or Continue | Carry on to the next line; a tap while a line is typing out shows all of it |
| Tap a reply | Answer with it |
| Tap words in order | Build the sentence in the word bank; tap a placed word or Undo to take one back |
| Tap a word under the sentence | Fill in the blank (on a touch screen you pick the word rather than type it) |
| Tap the button or the scene, when there's something to do | Catch the newspaper, or help the mime out |
| Tap the book, pause or sound button (top right) | Open the phrasebook, pause the story, or turn the sound on or off |
Tips
- Check the clock in the top left before you greet anyone, because German greets by the time of day. Guten Morgen is for the morning (at the Bäckerei at eight; pick Guten Abend there and Herr Becker is puzzled), Guten Tag for the rest of the day (the lady in the U-Bahn at eleven), and from about six in the evening it's Guten Abend (the flower shop at seven, the stairs, dinner). Gute Nacht isn't a greeting at all: it's what you say at bedtime, which is why Jonas says it to you at the very end.
- German has two ways to say you, and the rest of the sentence follows the choice. Jonas, the waiter, the mime and Mia are friends or young people, so it's du: wie geht's, und dir, wie heißt du. Herr Becker, the lady in the U-Bahn and the older gentleman at the café are grown-ups you don't know, so it's Sie: wie geht es Ihnen, und Ihnen, wie heißen Sie. Try und Ihnen on Jonas and he laughs; try wie heißt du on the gentleman and he frowns.
- Frau and Herr only ever go with a surname (Frau Schulz, Herr Becker), and every German noun has a capital letter, wherever it stands: Guten Abend, never Guten abend. The flower shop's question is about exactly that.
- A wrong reply costs nothing but another try, so read the hint and the Why? note rather than guessing. Stamps and hearts can't be lost: every place gives its stamp, and every right reply, first try or not, wins a heart from the person you answered. The number that changes is second tries on the end screen, so a run with none is the thing to aim for.
- On a computer, a missing word comes with a typing box that already has the focus, so you can type straight away and press Enter. Capitals are optional, and if your keyboard has no umlauts or ß, type ue for ü and ss for ß (heisse counts for heiße); your line then shows the word as German writes it, with a short note. You can also pick the word: press its number, or click it under the sentence.
- The phrasebook (B, or the book button) lists all 27 phrases of the unit in its three lessons: hello and goodbye, asking how someone is, and introducing yourself. The ones you've met show their meaning, most with a short note, and You said it marks the ones you used in a reply yourself rather than only heard. The Journal tab shows the stamps you've collected so far.
- The story saves after every line and reply. Switching to another tab or app pauses it, Back to the title in the pause menu keeps your place, and Continue on the title picks up at the same line, even after you close the browser. Start the episode again in the pause menu, or Start again on the title, begins a fresh run from the station.
Screenshots
Recent updates
Version 1.0.1 · November 8, 2026
- Herr Becker stands behind his counter now. He was standing inside the glass case, among the cakes. He also holds the Brezel up over the counter when he offers it to you.
Version 1.0.0 · November 8, 2026
The first release of A Day in Berlin, a little 3D story game where you talk your way through your first day in German. A player wrote in asking for a German game like A Day in Paris: here it is.
- Episode 1, "Hallo! First Words": step off the train at the Hauptbahnhof, where your friend Jonas is waiting with a sign, say Guten Morgen to Herr Becker at the Bäckerei, meet an elegant lady (and her flying hat) in the U-Bahn, catch an old gentleman's newspaper on a café terrace, free a mime from his invisible box as the gas lamps come on, and finish with dinner in Jonas's Altbau flat.
- Every reply comes from Unit 1 of our studio's beginner German lessons: hello and goodbye by the time of day, how are you, please and thank you, du and Sie, and introducing yourself.
- Every German line comes with its meaning in English (or a picture), and a reply that isn't right just gets a kind correction and another try. No umlaut keys? Type ue for ü and ss for ß.
- The phrasebook keeps the phrases you've met, and your travel journal collects a stamp for each place.
- No music: just the sounds of each place and of the story, all made in code. Works on phones and computers, with a keyboard, a mouse or touch.
More games
-
Wörter
A word-wheel crossword in German. Swipe the letters, clued in English.
How to play Wörter -
Paare
German word pairs on blue-and-white porcelain tiles at a Berlin café. Match each German word to its meaning to clear the board.
How to play Paare -
A Day in Paris
Your first day in Paris, and your first French. Every reply is real French from a beginner course.
How to play A Day in Paris -
A Day in Mexico City
Your first day in Mexico City, and your first Spanish. Every reply is real Spanish from a beginner course.
How to play A Day in Mexico City -
A Day in Beijing
Your first day in Beijing, and your first Mandarin, with pinyin over every word.
How to play A Day in Beijing