The Good Life is exceptionally foolish in all the appropriate methods. It’s not simply the absurd premise: Naomi Hayward is a younger photojournalist from New York who has inexplicably run up a private debt of £30,000,000 and is someway attempting to work it off by uncovering the key of the sleepy English village of Rainy Woods, the place the inhabitants rework into cats and canine with the complete moon.Of course, that’s a part of it, nevertheless it’s additionally extra that The Good Life–part life sim and half detective RPG–takes a gleefully frivolous method to its each side. From the oddball delights of its solid of characters to the more and more preposterous calls for of its relentless fetch quests, there’s surprisingly little right here that deserves being taken seriously–even the central thriller. Naomi could continually check with Rainy Woods as a “goddamn hellhole,” however she’s fast to settle in and shortly finds herself caught up within the nonsense, whether or not she’s smashing by means of barrels on a cross-country pig trip or serving to the native butcher excellent his meat pie recipe. With the stakes pitched low, The Good Life carries itself with a breezy, knockabout appeal befitting its title.Gallery
Yet regardless of the abundance of infectious whimsy, there are vital caveats. The quaintly playful tone belies a quest construction that leans closely into grind, as you scour the countryside for crafting supplies and, at instances, painfully uncommon drops. Unassuming duties, like shopping for new footwear or making a salad, can require critical up-front funding. Fully exploring The Good Life’s myriad techniques is a whole lot of work and the rewards for doing so aren’t all the time as satisfying as you may hope.The Good Life’s growth was helmed by inventive director Hidetaka Suehiro, higher identified merely as SWERY. His video games are usually overflowing with daring, usually startling inventive selections, alongside a raft of extra prosaic technical limitations and mechanical failings. When the previous shines brighter, we get cherished cult favorites like Deadly Premonition or The Missing; when the latter’s shadow cannot be prevented, we find yourself with disappointments like Deadly Premonition 2.In a way, The Good Life is uncommon for a SWERY sport in that its marriage of genres is kind of conservative. The quest construction adheres to the usual template of any open-world RPG of the final 15 years, whereas the life-sim upkeep is a well-known number of farming, cooking, and crafting. Even Naomi’s skill to make use of her digicam is dealt with in a comparatively typical style. As a part of their questlines, characters will ask you to {photograph} a sure object or landmark, whereas Naomi can even earn cash by importing snaps to an Instagram-style social media platform.Taking pictures might hardly be less complicated: You level and shoot, and if the specified object is highlighted within the body, it counts. A number of totally different lenses present choices, however their use isn’t mandated. Unfortunately, there’s little incentive to spend time framing the proper shot. No character goes to care that you simply captured that small church shrouded within the dying gentle of nightfall. Equally, social media customers will “emoke” (the sport’s “like” equal) any outdated shot so long as it’s tagged with that day’s well-liked hashtag.The actual curiosity within the pictures side arrives on the events the place you are challenged to work out what you are meant to be taking pictures. Sometimes it is so simple as remembering the place the village’s solitary put up field is situated. Other instances the search will helpfully mark the place it’s essential go on the map. But now and again, you are given nothing however a cryptic clue to guide you to the whereabouts of the specified topic of the shot. These little puzzles are typically satisfying to resolve and supply a much-needed, albeit nonetheless sadly too rare, break from the routine box-ticking of the remaining pictures quests.Aside from the pictures, the opposite main space of novelty is that Naomi is rapidly granted the flexibility to hitch the villagers in turning into an animal. Indeed, she’s in a position to rework right into a cat or a canine at any time when she likes, untethered from the phases of the moon. Both animals confer distinct talents. In feline kind, you possibly can journey faster, soar over larger obstacles, climb sure partitions, and hunt small creatures like rabbits and mice. As a canine, you will have extra stamina, can battle bigger creatures comparable to badgers, are in a position to observe individuals by their scent, can dig up all kinds of buried objects, and may even urinate to mark your territory.The Good Life is uncommon for a SWERY sport in that its marriage of genres is kind of conservative. The quest construction adheres to the usual template of any open-world RPG … whereas the life-sim upkeep is a well-known number of farming, cooking, and craftingFor all of the promise held by this transformation skill, in follow, it feels under-developed. There’s no alternative to get inventive. Most of its use is prescribed. For instance, when a quest asks you to observe somebody, you merely flip right into a canine and sniff them out by scanning the “scent clouds” that may lead you to them. Too usually you are solely in cat kind as a result of it’s essential soar over fences that Naomi is unable to hurdle or as a result of you have to kill a bunch of squirrels to assemble crafting supplies. (Don’t fear, the squirrel homicide is over in a comical mud cloud flash.) It by no means feels really transformative.Even extra underwhelming is how little is manufactured from the truth that everybody else can even flip right into a cat or a canine. Early on, it is launched as a Big Deal. As it ought to be! Then it is simply accepted and just about forgotten about. Wander all the way down to the city sq. at evening and you will see the furry villagers prancing round. You can pet them, or play with them for those who’re equally reworked, and watch a short animation, however that is concerning the extent of it. There could also be extra aspect quests I failed to find, however I encountered solely the one quest that required me to work together with a reworked villager. I anticipated significantly extra.The Good Life can also be uncommon for a SWERY sport in that it shows a sure degree of technical proficiency and–dare I say it–a diploma of polish. Of course, it seems to be dated, nevertheless it is not downright ugly; a few of the texture work is iffy and the sparse meadows surrounding Rainy Woods are regrettably bland, however most of your time is spent in and across the beautiful little city sq., and its cluttered shopfronts, pokey laneways, and plush hedgerows are all the time a delight to revisit.Character controls and motion, distinctly awkward in different SWERY video games, are not any worse than competent right here. Initial considerations about Naomi’s sluggish velocity and brief stamina meter in comparison with the dimensions of the map are alleviated when you begin unlocking quick journey websites, acquire entry to faster modes of transportation, and start crafting and buying garments to boost her talents. Some of the animal talents undergo from rudimentary animation, however by no means to the extent that it impedes what you are attempting to do. Even the efficiency is fine–at least on the PC and PS4 Pro variations I played–with no body drops or alarming draw distance points to talk of. It’s not saying loads, however this could be SWERY’s most polished sport but.Yet in some ways, The Good Life may be very a lot a SWERY joint. Although missing the darkness of Deadly Premonition and The Missing, The Good Life revels in the identical type of collision between the on a regular basis and uncanny. One second, you are tending to mundane duties like making breakfast and having a bathe, and the following second, you have stepped by means of the wanting glass and into some remnant of Arthurian legend. It is joyously, deliriously bonkers in a method that seems like SWERY is intentionally doubling down on the quirkiness for which he is famend.The inhabitants of Rainy Woods are all depicted in what has change into SWERY’s hallmark model. They every possess a few distinctive traits which can be simply communicated by means of the lightest of touches, usually little greater than a signature animation or pose and a memorable catchphrase. None of the solid are granted the depth of Francis York Morgan from Deadly Premonition, however they’re uniformly charming and humorous and totally obsessive about meals. Taken collectively, their accrued character brings the village to life and succeeds in remodeling it into a spot you care about.The little particulars of day by day life assist right here, too. Villagers have a tendency to take care of routines, heading to their administrative center in the course of the day, then again house at evening. Get up early sufficient and you will spot Bruno strolling into city to open his cafe. Wait till mid-morning and there is Martha heading all the way down to the lake to color. It’s pleasant to look at these comings and goings, not simply because it is tremendously satisfying when a later quest asks you to recall the place Douglas is prone to be on a Sunday morning, however since you quickly begin to really feel these lived-in grooves your self. Naomi’s day by day routines–showering and consuming earlier than leaving the home, checking the backyard, taking the highway all the way down to the village, popping into the pub or the cafe, chatting with everyone–ground her on this world and assist forge your reference to Rainy Woods.Gallery
Where that connection breaks is when the routine turns into too grindy. Much of the crafting and upgrades out there are solely earned by means of some extraordinarily tedious useful resource assortment, whether or not that is working across the woods selecting herbs and fungus, heading to the caves and quarries together with your pickaxe, looking animals, or digging up holes. You find yourself having to gather a whole lot of totally different crafting supplies, lots of which solely have a small–sometimes extremely tiny–chance of dropping. It rapidly turns into boring to spend days on finish repeating the identical farming run when you pray the RNG swings in your favour. It’s true, you should buy a few of these supplies, however you may want cash to try this, and incomes cash is one other type of grind, actually. At instances, Naomi and different characters crack a joke about how tedious this all is, or ask why anybody would really wish to do that. And, I’ve gotta say, it is arduous to snicker on the “joke” once you’re the one caught residing it.The Good Life is a curious and uneven expertise. As a kind of hybrid RPG meets life-sim, it is definitely competent, regardless of the grind it calls for. Surprisingly, the novel premise takes a again seat for probably the most half, nevertheless it’s by no means something lower than adorably easy-going, carried alongside by a carefree angle and limitless appeal.