I finally got the chance to play The Good Life, another open-world game from Swery, the visionary behind games like Deadly Premonition and D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die. If you’ve played any of Swery’s games, you’ll understand why I couldn’t wait to lay my hands on this game. The game is available on different platforms, including PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. It was first released in October 2021.

So Many Things to do with Very Little Time

The Good Life is a simulation game that has many different aspects. You can interact with your neighbors, work on hobbies, spend time grooming your garden, grooming your health, performing mini-tasks, and so much more. The goal of The Good Life is to achieve millions of euros in net worth, which will require a lot of hard work and planning. 

Switch Between Humans and Animals at Will 

The Good Life does something unique with gameplay that I haven’t seen before: You can transform into three separate forms, which each have their controls and camera perspective. You can play as a human, a cat, and a dog as you play as Naomi, a photojournalist who is neck-deep in debt. She came into the little town of Rainy Woods to work off her £30,000,000 debt. I wasn’t overly fond of Naomi’s rude personality initially, but I later got to understand her, which helped me flow freely with her character. 

Apart from her original form, Your character can also transform into an animal. As a dog, you will have the ability to perceive and distinguish between smells or mark territories by literally pissing on stuff. The dog can also sniff out secrets and find things that are hidden. If you play as a cat, you can sneak into different places or even jump through fences. 

Once you get used to your transformation ability, you start learning more about how your powers work and why you were sent there in the first place. Each of these characters plays differently from one another, so even though all of them are you in some sense or another (it is a game more about multiple personalities), they are also all very different! 

Earn By Performing Different Tasks

Naomi can perform various side quests, including running errands, taking pictures, and posting pictures on social media, among other tasks. There are several ways to accomplish each goal, making The Good Life feel less linear than most games. You don’t always have to follow one path to success, which gives players a lot of freedom in terms of how they choose to interact with others. When playing the game, your primary mission is to investigate and learn more about the strange happenings in Rainy Woods. You will soon find out that everyone in the town can transform into animals during the full moon. You will quickly have the same transformation ability. 

During your investigations, you can interact with the NPCs who will give you hints and advice that will help you solve different cases. You should, however, note that some of the characters are not very friendly, which means that you need to find ways to get close enough to them without getting them angry. Some cases are best handled in animal form, which makes such cases interesting! While playing as an animal is fun, it also has unique challenges. For instance, some characters may be suspicious and chase him away if they see him too often.  

Interacting with Non-Playable Characters

Some NPCs serve as reminders of both past events and future goals. For example, Mr. Chimes will tell you what time it is or remind you about appointments that need to be kept; Ms. Chimes will tell you about any messages left on your answering machine, and Mr. Townshend will give you updates about any problems that need to be solved. 

Overall, it’s clear that The Good Life is full of charm and humor. Even though it’s a bit of a slow burn at first, it gets better once you reach certain milestones in the story. Plus, there’s an in-game hint system that can help guide you if you ever get stuck or confused about what to do next.

NPCs Are Not as Interactive as You May Expect

NPC behavior in The Good Life is that they’re not as many individuals as characters. While you will often see NPCs doing different things—working, sitting around, talking to each other—they don’t behave like independent beings. 

Instead, they look more like extras in a play or background figures in a painting; their interactions with one another and with your character feel almost scripted and directed. For example, if you walk into a town square at night, it’s common for two people to be walking across it from opposite directions; when they meet in the middle, they stop and talk for a few moments before continuing on their way.

The Good Life Lets You be You

Despite its simplicity, The Good Life has managed to attract the attention of so many gamers. The game’s strengths lie in allowing players to choose their values and building a game world based on those decisions. Its unique philosophy also ensures a truly outstanding experience for all types of players. 

The good life is about being honest about what you want. The story does not judge you or anyone else for how they get there or what they have to do to get there; it just asks you to be true to yourself. That is something we can all relate to, whether we play games.

Life SIM Made More Interesting 

If you are a fan of simulation games such as The SimsTM series, you will likely enjoy playing The Good Life. Like other simulation games, play is centered around managing resources and tasks to achieve success within different life goals. However, several new features are introduced in The Good Life that allows for more engaging gameplay. For example, some rewards can be obtained through competitions with town-dwellers and require planning before accomplishing objectives.

Conclusion 

Whether you are a Swery games fan or David Lynch films lover, or Twin Peaks-style enthusiast, you will love this weird game. Also, If you like surrealism, dark humor, black comedy, and lots of swearing—and if you can handle not knowing what’s going on most of the time—you should get The Good Life ASAP. It might not be everyone’s favorite, but I found it delightful!