Reviews The Good Life | Review Thread

[mazi]

Metacritic (PC) (62)
Metacritic (PS4) (??)
Metacritic (Switch) (45)
Metacritic (Xbox One) (??)
OpenCritic (??)


Rock, Paper, Shotgun (no score):

This is a shambolic RPG barely held together by an underutilised photography aspect and an entirely inconsequential shapeshifting ability, wrapped in the familiar trappings of a rural life simulator. The Good Life is tonally stupid, structurally broken, surprisingly deep and occasionally self-aware. It is a confusing and strange and mostly horrible experience, which I feel personally worse off having been through, but am somehow glad that I did.

MonsterVine (4.5/5):

The Good Life is a peculiar and endearing game that some will love and others won’t. I quite like it, as the setting, characters, and various activities are as pleasing as they are immersive. There are a few frustrating parts and performance issues, but they can’t hold back my overall enjoyment of The Good Life.

Wccftech (7/10):

The Good Life comes with excellent narrative elements, but the entire experience is damaged by some weird design choices that result in mediocre gameplay. While this is hardly surprising for a game directed by SWERY, some of the ideas featured in The Good Life, like the cat and dog transformation mechanics, deserved a much better execution, as they feel shallow and not particularly interesting. With such flawed gameplay, only die-hard fans of the Japanese director will truly love The Good Life.

Game Informer (7/10):

In spite of its lack of polish, I enjoyed The Good Life. It has some rough edges, but these can contribute to its charm, and it’s undeniably entertaining when the story is purposely silly or when I had time to just breathe in the world. The Good Life has heart, even if its features don’t always work together and its design holds it back.

Nintendo Life (7/10):

The Good Life knows where its strengths lie. Its functional open-world model and mostly-dated gameplay systems sit quietly in the background and allow its quirky charm to take the spotlight. That charm is piled on thick, with absurd characters (and absurd accents), a plot that digresses so wildly it seems unable to remember where it started and, lest we forget, the whole dog/cat transmogrification thing. The charm and atmosphere have to be seriously compelling if they are to excuse the well-worn mechanics, repetitive tasks and frequent slowdown and pop-in. If Japanese old-school gaming whimsy × twee Englishness isn't for you, then neither is The Good Life. But if you're a SWERY fan and that sounds like your cup of tea, get dunking.

TechRaptor (7/10):

At its core, The Good Life is a celebration of all things SWERY for better and for worse. Whilst a player completely unfamiliar with the auteur’s esoteric design decisions is unlikely to find anything of value on the surface of this rather haphazardly constructed RPG, lying beneath, for those who know where to look, is a compelling life simulation filled with memorable characters and idiosyncratic systems to explore. There are persistent annoyances for sure, but any grievances are quickly overshadowed by the rural charm that The Good Life carries in spades.

Screen Rant (3/5):

When everything is flowing in The Good Life, it feels like a touch of Animal Crossing with alternatingly quaint and irreverent British pastoral television, all with a burgeoning murder mystery underneath. Unfortunately, some of its rougher edges seem possibly related to the Switch itself and, although loading times are usually on the shorter side, their frequent appearance interrupts the flow even more. The Rainy Woods residents are charming and strange and there’s a numbingly pleasant feel to smalltown life and chores, but stiff controls and muddled design make it hard to find a good rhythm in The Good Life.

Destructoid (6/10):

The Good Life does many things, but they never felt like they coalesced together into an experience that could stick with me. I certainly enjoyed parts of it, and some of its stranger moments really do land as big, enjoyable peaks. But there’s a lot of valley in-between, and while I arrived in Rainy Woods eager for a pleasant countryside escape, I didn’t feel like making a return trip after the credits had rolled.

IGN Italia (5.8/10, review in Italian):

The Good Life is Swery's first take on the Life simulators genre. While it incorporates all the features that made him a cult creator it also shows a disorienting mix of elements and mechanics that just don't work well together. The thin narrative line and the histrionic cast of characters fail to fully flesh out the social commentary that the creator intended to convey. The whole experience ends up feeling more like a list of chores rather than a smart and enjoyable experience in Swery's characteristic Troma-like fashion.

PC Invasion (5/10):

The Good Life tried my patience the entire way through, and I pretty much never enjoyed anything it had to offer. It’s dull and often devoid of much that’s compelling or interesting. There could be some enjoyment for people who just want to collect items and do fetch quests in an idyllic English town, but this was a truly disappointing experience that ends up feeling pointless.

Siliconera (5/10):

There is just a lot to do in The Good Life, which means that players can potentially sink upwards of forty-plus hours taking pictures or running mundane, everyday tasks. And while I like life simulators, I don’t like them when they can barely run at over 3 FPS. With a story that lacks focus and with these elements largely feeling like padding, The Good Life doesn’t stand out in any significant way.

God is a Geek (5/10):

The Good Life is a bit of a mess, trying to be too many things and getting very little right, with weak characters and an unpolished plot.

SpazioGames (4.7/10, review in Italian):

Despite having some interesting moments, The Good Life feels and plays like a crazy mess.

Cultured Vultures (4.5/10):

I wanted to like The Good Life, and for fans of previous titles from Swery and his collaborators, there’s some of that familiar cornball energy to soak up. However, the user-unfriendliness here surpasses any kind of charm and plunges into an antagonistic drive to keep you from having fun. There’s a willful obtuseness and a perverse glee with which The Good Life wastes a player’s time. Side quests refuse to resolve. Main quests morph into endless daisy chains of item collecting and tedious crafting. Naomi keeps getting the cold, and I’m running out of money from all the meat pies I bought just so I could eat one. And through it all, in the back of my head, is that terrible, mocking fact: I asked for this.

Everyeye.it (4/10, review in Italian):

The Good Life is a product plagued by major problems on the playful and structural side. A title extremely lacking from a technical point of view, which brings to the screen a series of decidedly questionable game design choices, at the basis of an adventure that, while trying to tell a story in its own way mature, often ends in boredom and struggles to support the player's interest.

Metro GameCentral (2/10):

Glimpses of SWERY’s janky charm do occasionally shine through – such as Naomi’s first encounter with a badger and Nerlock Homeless’ parrot – but they’re drops of water in a desert of bad game design, broken gameplay, and missed opportunity. The Good Life is a bad game and, unlike Deadly Premonition, we don’t think it’s going to polarise opinion at all.

 

[Lichtsang]

It really is a game by SWERY, huh?

He and Suda should develop a game together.

 

[Skittzo]

Yikes. You don't often see a 2/10.

 

[mazi]

 

[Comic Obsessed]

It really is a game by SWERY, huh?

He and Suda should develop a game together.

Suda is much more consistent than SWERY though.

 

[Peff]

Ouch. Hopefully it'll be closer to DP1 than 2 but the busywork doesn't sound very appealing.

It really is a game by SWERY, huh?

He and Suda should develop a game together.

They are!

 

[mazi]

i kinda expected the gameplay to be mediocre to bad, based on the info we had. i still hope the story and characters deliver but the reviews aren't promising.

 

[Jaded Alyx]

It really is a game by SWERY, huh?

He and Suda should develop a game together.

Suda makes good games though.

As for this, this doesn't even reach "eh, I'll try it on Game Pass" level.

 

[NarohDethan]

Was interested till I read that one of the PoC in the game is a witch that smokes weed. Come on, son.

 

[totofogo]

Game Pass means I'll be giving this a whirl regardless!

 

[Pineapple Pizza]

I am still interested in this, but disappointing to read about performance issues on the Switch that aren't mentioned in reviews of the PC version (one reviewer said it ran flawlessly at 4K). Presumably that 3 minute review above is using the Xbox One or PC code.

 

[byDoS]

"but they’re drops of water in a desert of bad game design, broken gameplay, and missed opportunity"

It's a SWERY game alright

 

[totofogo]

Hmm. Looks pretty rough on Switch too judging by the NL review.

 

[Jarmusch]

oh boy, after dp2 i was kinda expecting this to be really rough technically but yeah, hope it does well cause i like swery

 

[Pineapple Pizza]

Hmm. Looks pretty rough on Switch too judging by the NL review.

A few patches smoothed out Deadly Premonition 2 I believe (can't speak from experience as I've got both Origins and 2 and haven't played either yet... Backlog be damned).

 

[Eärendilus]

Is this based on the series? Lmao

 

[xghost777]

I was looking forward to this, the elevator pitch sounded awesome, but I think I’ll hold off for now. I’m curious to hear more impressions as more people play it. Wonder if it’ll get any performance patches?

 

[mazi]

A few patches smoothed out Deadly Premonition 2 I believe (can't speak from experience as I've got both Origins and 2 and haven't played either yet... Backlog be damned).

DP2 still runs like dogshit. it was worse before the patches, but it's far from acceptable now.

 

[Comic Obsessed]

Yeah, at this point is safe to say that is better if SWERY just directs an anime or something. DP1 is still his best game and that still had TONS of problems.

The comparisons with Suda are baffling to be honest. Yes, Suda usually puts style over gameplay and such but there's still a solid (albeit simple) gameplay in most of his games, that's the reason why titles like Killer 7 and No More Heroes are well-remembered.

 

[JetstreamRorschach]

If it's SWERY being SWERY, chances are that I'll like it. Guess I'll play on the Steam Deck.

 

[mazi]

MonsterVine (4.5/5):

The Good Life is a peculiar and endearing game that some will love and others won’t. I quite like it, as the setting, characters, and various activities are as pleasing as they are immersive. There are a few frustrating parts and performance issues, but they can’t hold back my overall enjoyment of The Good Life.

 

[Sumio Mondo]

Just booted this up earlier and it is definitely a PS2/DS era adventure game in every way so far. Full of quirks and nice atmosphere. Running mechanic is crazy bad though. Hard to make out if Swery is trolling with that or not...

Yeah, at this point is safe to say that is better if SWERY just directs an anime or something. DP1 is still his best game and that still had TONS of problems.

The comparisons with Suda are baffling to be honest. Yes, Suda usually puts style over gameplay and such but there's still a solid (albeit simple) gameplay in most of his games, that's the reason why titles like Killer 7 and No More Heroes are well-remembered.

Swery actually made a decent game in the 2D puzzle platformer in The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories.

I think his adventure game mechanics can be hit or miss and are definitely decisive in games like Deadly Premonition 1, 2 and this. I also liked Spy Fiction on PS2 (stealth action game that he wrote/directed that nobody remembers). But yeah as a game designer he definitely favours storytelling over function and the technical aspect of his games have been wild storm. DP2 actively gave me a headache on release. It was atrociously bad.

I'd personally like to see him tackle a visual novel. Think that would suit him well.

 

[Herb Alpert]

I'm disappointed, I admit.
I'll wait for your impressions, guys.

 

[someday]

Sounds like classic SWERY. I downloaded it earlier, but might not even try it.

 

[mazi]

Screen Rant (3/5):

When everything is flowing in The Good Life, it feels like a touch of Animal Crossing with alternatingly quaint and irreverent British pastoral television, all with a burgeoning murder mystery underneath. Unfortunately, some of its rougher edges seem possibly related to the Switch itself and, although loading times are usually on the shorter side, their frequent appearance interrupts the flow even more. The Rainy Woods residents are charming and strange and there’s a numbingly pleasant feel to smalltown life and chores, but stiff controls and muddled design make it hard to find a good rhythm in The Good Life.

Destructoid (6/10):

The Good Life does many things, but they never felt like they coalesced together into an experience that could stick with me. I certainly enjoyed parts of it, and some of its stranger moments really do land as big, enjoyable peaks. But there’s a lot of valley in-between, and while I arrived in Rainy Woods eager for a pleasant countryside escape, I didn’t feel like making a return trip after the credits had rolled.

God is a Geek (5/10):

The Good Life is a bit of a mess, trying to be too many things and getting very little right, with weak characters and an unpolished plot.

SpazioGames (4.7/10, review in Italian):

Despite having some interesting moments, The Good Life feels and plays like a crazy mess.

 

[Pineapple Pizza]

Thank you @mazi for posting those review summaries. I'm still leaning towards getting this game but I think once I'm done with Mystic Quest/FF Adventure this weekend I ought to try Deadly Premonition Origins which I own, and see if I gel with this evidently infamous producer.

 

[mazi]

Thank you @mazi for posting those review summaries. I'm still leaning towards getting this game but I think once I'm done with Mystic Quest/FF Adventure this weekend I ought to try Deadly Premonition Origins which I own, and see if I gel with this evidently infamous producer.

the first deadly premonition is amazing! remind me to give you some tips for playing it whenever you decide to start. it can be frustrating to play but if you follow some basic tips it can be such an amazing experience.

 

[someday]

the first deadly premonition is amazing! remind me to give you some tips for playing it whenever you decide to start. it can be frustrating to play but if you follow some basic tips it can be such an amazing experience.

I’d enjoy those tips. I tried it a while back but couldn’t really get into it.

 

[mazi]

@someday @Pineapple Pizza

• i strongly recommend using a guide for the side missions (like this guide and other guides on that website). side missions are really important in this game, and they greatly expand the story and characters. don't skip them.
• remember that the time frames for main missions can be ignored. you can just come back the next day for the main story, so it's best to explore and do as many side quests as possible in each chapter before finishing the main quest and moving on to the next chapter.
• something to keep in mind, some characters give you multiple side missions but you can only finish one of them in a chapter, for these you can always replay a short chapter (2 and 7 are very short chapters) to do the side missions. for example you can replay chapter 7 over and over to fully upgrade your car and repair york's original corvette
• some side missions require rain, but other than specific chapters that have rain for story reasons, rainy weather is pretty infrequent. rain is very frequent in chapter 2 tho, and there's a bunch of side quests in that chapter that require rain. so just check the hotel TV in the lobby and see if there's going to be rain that day. if not, sleep for 24 hours. the most important sidequest, the one that enables fast travel, requires rainy weather and can be completed in this chapter.
• aiming with guns in the game is pretty bad. you can basically cheese most of the game with melee weapons. there's one that has infinite durability, finish side mission #29 to get it.
• there's a major bug in the game that may make the game unbeatable and require you to restart your save, so DO NOT replay a chapter and save after finishing if you have a key item necessary for finishing the chapter you're currently in. it's best to replay chapters when you just start a new chapter.
• check out the first post in this thread for more tips, specially to get the fast travel item.

 

[wrowa]

What's up with Opencritic not adding scores for the game, it's weird.

 

[Jimmy Joe]

Do we have any word on if this includes Swery's weird transphobic undertones in it? Or some weird racism, I guess? Or other stuff?

God

The people behind The Missing's actual story must have beaten him with a stick to make it work as well as it did

 

[mazi]

 

[Pineapple Pizza]

Push through that, though, and The Good Life can be a gentle, hugely charismatic and surprisingly rich experience; a game about photography in which you're invited to poke and prod at the slowly grinding gears of country life, sometimes told with disarming authenticity. For all it leans on fairy tales and myth - there's a healthy dose of Arthurian legend here, as well as cameos from detectives that look suspiciously like Arthur Conan Doyle's famous creations - it's the smaller details that coalesce and convince. It's having the right type of bins outside the house, the sense of quiet lethargy that hangs over the village centre, or the joy of turning your back on it all to go traipsing across the nearby fields.

It's an absolute mess, as you'd probably expect from a Swery joint, with the familiar shortcomings when it comes to the technical details and lumpy writing. It's also got that same spark as the likes of Deadly Premonition, scruffily pushing at the limits of what's possible, as well as pushing beyond the limits of the team's technical abilities. Here's an adventure that's as confounding as it is charming, the small town of Rainy Woods always ready with a surprise or two.

Eurogamer. Unrated. Reviewed on Switch.