The Good Life (2021)

The Good Life is one of the strangest and most charming life simulation games released in recent years, blending photography mechanics, open-world exploration, murder mystery storytelling, and supernatural transformations into an experience that constantly shifts between cozy rural adventure and bizarre psychological mystery. Created by Hidetaka “Swery” Suehiro, the game carries the same eccentric personality found in his earlier projects, delivering a world filled with awkward humor, memorable characters, surreal twists, and unconventional design choices. It is a game that often feels rough and chaotic, yet its overwhelming personality and creativity make it difficult to forget once the journey begins. The story follows Naomi Hayward, a struggling New York photographer drowning in debt who travels to the rural English town of Rainy Woods after receiving a mysterious assignment. The village is advertised as “the happiest town in the world,” but Naomi quickly discovers that the peaceful countryside hides deeply unusual secrets beneath its welcoming atmosphere. What initially appears to be a quirky investigative story gradually evolves into something far stranger involving murder my…

I think I'm around 2/3 done with the game, writing is really fun and if you don't mind new and unique mechanics being undercooked this has plenty, unfortunately it also has baffling design choices, overall very charming.

Lovely quirky game.

When you start a game made by SWERY, you expect something like Deadly Premonition. Something dark and moody. But what you're getting this time is some kind of half-baked mystery story, with a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of unnecessary systems thrown on top. There is so much to keep track of, for no real reason. There's hunger, sleep, health (HP), how healthy you are (not the same as health, if this gets too low, you get sick), your “faction”, stress, and then there's also stuff like gardening, tending to your sheep and doing an insane amount of side-quests. I found it best to just focus on the main story and ignore the rest of the stuff as much as possible. If you're going for all achievements, good luck. It requires insane amount of grinding, including spending 365 in-game days in the little town. It would have been a much better game if it was just the story, and none of the extra ♥♥♥♥ that only are there to frustrate the player and make it feel more complicated than it really has a need to be. The story gets interesting around the end of the game, but by then it's too little too late. 10/42 achievements.

Another game from Swery that I've loved. I've played it long ago on gamepass and now I've finished it on steam. Fun but requires knowledge for smooth play - not long after start you get 3 questlines you can do in any order but the recommended order is basically a must otherwise you don't get fast enough the qol unlocks. Also some tricks you just discover as you play, like killing small animals(for example hunting birds) while a cat feeds you etc. Right know the game had few bugs I've encountered but once the game got stuck after a cutscene and I had to reload save. Another con is that garden accessories and most clothes are very grindy to get.

It's a fun game, alot of the game is chill but it's also the first game where I managed to rage quit. I will definitely try again. Developer an option to save and quit would be nice and to skip or continue with the "challenge"  e.g the chicken or the alien cat. Pretty sure it's a skill issue. I rage quit so no I did ot complete the game at this point.