Game Review: The Good Life (Xbox Series X)

It is no secret that here at GBHBL, we absolutely adore the game Deadly Premonition. We consider it to be one of the best games released on the Xbox 360 while also understanding why so many people hate it. It really was one of the most marmite games ever made.

We bring this up because Deadly Premontion was a SWERY (aka Hidetaka Suehiro) game, as is The Good Life and, similar to Deadly Premonition, this new game is a wacky, confusing, uneven mess of a masterpiece. A game with infinite charm and infuriating issues. It’s a game that you’ll like, then love, then hate, then love… then maybe hate again, if you’re going for 100% completion.

The Good Life is a madcap combination of gameplay styles. Adventure and open-world exploration, quest-fulfilling and task completion, life-simulating and role-playing… it’s all these things and more. More and more aspects revealing themselves as you progress into a story that is often a very light-hearted experience with some dark and twisted turns.

The comparisons to Deadly Premonition come from more than just the name of SWERY though.

Rainy Woods is a quiet, small and picturesque town somewhere in the Lake District of the UK. It harbours a secret or two and an English newspaper wants to find out more. So, they have sent New York photographer Naomi Hayward to settle in and do some digging. Literally… but we’ll get to that.

Naomi is far from happy about her assignment seeing the cosy town and friendly locals as nothing more than a ‘god-damn hellhole’. However, she has no choice but to do the work assigned to her seeing as she has somehow racked up an intense debt with the newspaper company. This is her chance to pay it off, earning cash by taking photos and unearthing the secrets of this town.

It all sounds pretty safe and unimaginative for someone like SWERY. That is until the town’s major secret is revealed early on. Once there is a full-moon in the sky and the clock hits 11pm, all the townspeople transform into cats or dogs. This lasts until 8am the next day but only during the full-moon period. Why? Who knows, it’s just one of many oddities that exist in this game. One that has a hilariously charming English countryside quality to it.

Just check out some of the residents of Rainy Woods. A local shop keeper who shouts rather than talks and has a robotic arm. A vicar who drinks way too much, a hotelier who believes the angel of death is watching him all the time, a witch-doctor who likes to say ‘bollocks’ a fair bit and armour wearing carpenter. These are just some of the many strange residents that Naomi will have to interact with and get to know.

Over time and though many, many interactions, you’ll likely find most quite endearing. Even if the lack of full voice-acting is a missed opportunity. They do have some lines but they mainly work as punctuation to a statement, something that also applies to Naomi. Get used to hearing ‘god-damn hellhole’, ‘yeah, baby’ and her laugh.

The purpose of interacting with the cast of characters is, of course, required to progress the story. Something that quickly evolves into a wild, murder mystery, but is also where you get a wide number of side quests and tasks. Yes, most are fetch quests and very unusual fetch quests but there are plenty more to add some variety to things. Sheep racing, sheep rearing, mining, tending a garden, cooking, photography, it’s like Animal Crossing but… not.

That’s before you take into account that Naomi will be able to transform herself into a cat or dog, opening up even more adventuring possibilities. Chances are, she never saw herself in the body of a dog reliving herself to help a giant beanstalk grow so she can reach a crashed UFO when she first came to Rainy Woods.

Yes, The Good Life is this strange. Yet, it is so very compelling. It has so much depth that you can sink 20 hours into it and not even notice. Similar to Deadly Premonition, its flaws, of which there are many, become part of its charm.

Though, in its infancy, there’s no denying gamers will have to push through to find full enjoyment of this title. On first glance; the dated visuals, crude character models, rough frame rates are hard to swallow. This is not a pretty game (yet, is still better looking than Deadly Premonition 2) but as time goes on, it all just becomes part of its innate charm.

Likewise, a lot of the gameplay aspects take some getting used too. Most notably, the life-sim aspects that require you to keep Naomi fed and rested. Don’t feed her enough and she will begin to starve and get ill. You can enjoy a tipple or two, but drink too much and her inebriation will affect your stamina. Drink to much, to often and she will become an alcoholic! Likewise, don’t let her sleep enough and her health will deteriorate resulting in her catching colds and other illness.

Thankfully, these ailments can be cured by visiting the local vet (obviously) but come at a price. Which is where money comes into it. You’re going to need a lot of money. Not just to buy food, drinks, cures and more but to craft materials, upgrade your house, garden and outfits. Happily, you can pull in money fairly easily simply by selling everything you collect throughout the world. All which respawn in a few in-game days.

Simple enough except inventory management is a nightmare and you’re going to need to hold on to your items to craft materials, food and concoctions. Some items are also rare to find, such as aluminium cans which are used to create aluminium chunks which are than used as part of crafting materials to create items needed for certain quests.

Early on, you’ll likely be selling everything you have resulting in regret later when you realise you really could have done with that mass of feathers or collection of butterfly wings.

Selling is the easiest way to make money but not the only way. You are a photographer after all. Take pictures, upload them to an app on the computer in Naomi’s bedroom and earn ‘Emokes’. These convert into cash which can then be deposited in your account. Every few days, you’ll get a new round of ‘hotwords’ which are basically hashtags and if you snap a picture of the specific hotword item then you’ll really rake in the Emokes. It’s a fun system and a great way to earn money.

Of course, completing quests also gives you cash, although the townspeople can be a bit stingy. The real big bucks come from completing shrine quests and it is here that The Good Life really grinds to a halt. The important word being ‘grind’ as these quests are all about doing that.

Around the in-game world are shrines. Effectively fast-travel points but they also serve several other purposes. One of which is the opportunity to ‘talk’ to it and take a quest that relates to spending a lot of time in Rainy Woods. From having to travel a certain distance on foot to having to travel a certain distance on sheepback. To having to defeat the vicar in a drinking game a certain number of times to having to collect all outfits, learn to cook a certain number of food items and drink a certain number of beverages.

There are a ton and they have different levels of difficulty, starting at easy and going up to master. Each level is the same, the requirement is what changes. To complete all at Master difficulty is going to require a serious amount of time investment and a willingness to put up with some serious monotony. That almost all the achievements (aside from the main storyline) relate to these quests only is why completionists are looking at a 60–80-hour game instead.

Of course, you don’t have to do this at all and can get through the main bulk of the game without really doing any. However, it’s this stuff that often results in you finding so much of the hidden depth within the game. The longer you’re in the world of Rainy Woods, the longer you feel part of it. There’s almost a sense of sadness when you realise it’s time to leave.

With all the comparisons to Deadly Premonition made throughout, it needs to be pointed out that The Good Life is a far inferior game. For all it does good, it does a ton wrong and it really could have done with a lot of polish. It’s a god-damn hellhole but it’s an addictive and befuddlingly charming experience.