As I can only assume was the case for many others, I choose to help Kickstart "The Good Life" because I was a big fan of Swery. For those who aren't familiar with Swery he is best known for the cult-hit horror game Deadly Premonition. Deadly Premonition had so many quirky characters and such a strange story that it really left a strong impression on all of us fans. The Good Life is nearly on the opposite side of the spectrum, genre-wise, as it is essentially a country-side simulation game. Thankfully the story features some of the unusual humor Swery is know for. That said there is a certain unpleasant feeling that comes with a sandbox game like this that is keen to performing chores.
You play as Naomi, a New York journalist who was sent out to the small English town of Rainy Woods. The news company Naomi works for wants her to investigate why Rainy Woods is referred to as "The happiest place on Earth". Naomi feels totally out of place in such a rural landscape but does her best to get to know the locals. She quickly finds out the town does have quite an unusual secret. Every full moon all the residents transform into cats and dogs, an ability Naomi inherits herself soon enough. The real trouble begins when Naomi becomes a witness to a brutal murder.
It's hard to know where to begin as far as gameplay is concerned. This definitely feels a bit like a story-driven RPG with the myriad of quests available at any given time. Many of the side quests do start to feel quite repetitive the further you progress in the game. Thankfully the main quest line offers a clever plot to unravel and introduces some twists to the gameplay mechanics. This may include learning to ride a sheep or being abducted by aliens. While the story clearly isn't designed to be rushed through I found myself getting tired of all the gimmicky side-quests so at some point I decided to work straight towards the climax.
Clearly this was designed to be a relaxing, simulation-esque, sandbox game. I say this in the sense that you can grow crops, expands your house, and mine for materials. If farming isn't your thing maybe the more interesting gameplay element will be Naomi's ability to transform. As a cat you can climb up walls or pounce upon small prey. As a dog you can pick up scents or pee to mark your territory. You can also devote your time to taking pictures and there is even a website that requests various tags in which you can earn money if you share related posts. Each aspect of this game is quite silly but when you bundle it all together into one package there is some charm to it.
While I did enjoy the story and some of the clever mechanics, the whole country-side sim side of things wore me out. While the scale of this game is quite impress, especially considering it's modest budget, it desperately lacked enough refinement to really keep me hooked. When I wasn't making progress on the story I just started to feel like I was going through the motions. I'm not sure the developers could have done much differently other than cut out the longer filler-quests. It is more the simple fact that this game is trying to target a very niche demographic. Cleverly developed by someone who admires the country but is stuck in metropolitan Japan, this game is basically trying to find an audience that feels the same way.