I am - and I cannot stress this enough - utterly and irrevocably in love with this game. Now, I might be biased, seeing as I grew up on a coastal tourist-filled town, but this game just evokes such a nostalgic feeling deep within me. It has made me reminisce quite a few things about my childhood and overall early - and not so early - life, and has given me plenty of food for thought. Now, to get a bit more into detail, I'm gonna list all of the pros and cons I can think of:

• Cove Holden: Cove is the sweetest cinnamon roll, and basically the real protagonist of the game. He's the romantic lead, but that doesn't mean you have to go out with him, you can stay friends, have him be your crush, end up together or just remain neighbours forever, it's up to you. That said, though, I just find him way too irresistible to end up not having at least a good relationship with him, he's just so pure and cute.

• Customisation: This game really means business regarding the control it gives you of your character; from your physical appereance to your overall personality, you decide how extroverted (or introverted) you want to be, the way you speak, your mannerisms, your relationship with every character, your pronouns, etc... Your choice really - and I feel the need to emphasize just how much - matters in this games. Are you lactose intolerant? Gotcha. Vegan? All covered. Moreover, this game functions by playing 'moments', little parts of the game where you do a certain activity (say going to the mall for example), and not only can you play each moment multiple times and still get varied outcomes and experiences, but you can also avoid one, some, or even all of them completely if you so desire. Seriously, the customisation level in this game is just top notch. 

• It's a pleasure to the senses: This game is just stunning, the visuals are amazing and really help you visualize all of the places you're visiting, from ever-so-familiar beach to the poppy-filled hills behind your house, from your house to Cove's, every scenery has clearly been carefully crafted with the utmost care and love, and it shows, it really does. There's also the music, of course, another key point in making this game as beautiful and enjoyable as it is; calm or upbeat, nostalgic or relaxed, each piece simply feels right and like it belongs, and every single track is just so, so good to boot.

• It's really inclusive, but not on a forced way: More often than not, I come to think that some people find it hard to strike a balance between being inclusive and make it feel natural. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all for representation, but I tend to see companies and individuals try to include, let's say, a black lesbian character, and not really knowing - either by not researching enough or not caring - how to make that character or characters feel real, organic, like a living person. Our Life, however, I think does an incredibly good job at that, there's LGBTQ+ relationships, characters from multiple ethnicities, etcetera, and everything feels organic, they act and speak like a real person would, and in a game with immersion as one of its main features, it really does wonders.

• The sheer level of immersion it offers: You often find yourself making decissions that, while not quite impactful story-wise, really make you feel like you're there. Let's say, you and your friends go to the mall and decide to go get a slushie, the game would then proceed to ask you how you want yours to be, which fruits you want in it, what else you want with it, whether you don't even want to have one. Does what you choose really matter at all? No, but at the end of the day, you'll leave the mall with the feeling that you really hanged out there with a group of friends, and I think it's the little details like this that make every part of this game so enjoyable.

• There are no bad endings: This game values you, your decissions, and your experiences, no matter what you do, there's no bad ending, you didn't do anything wrong. This is one of my favourite parts of this game, as a huge visual novel enthusiast, I sometimes grimace when I get a bad ending because I chose to act a certain way towards a character while the game wanted me to do otherwise. Our Life, however, respects your choices, you can act however you want, you can be you, you can roleplay, you can do anything you wish to do and the game won't punnish you out for it, and I think it's a much needed thing in this genre.

• The myriad of replayability chances: Seriously, I just cannot stop playing this game. Now, if you, unlike me, are a normal person, this might not mean much to you, but this game has just so many options, so many paths, so many little things that can pile up, that even in your 5th re-run you are going to see and learn new things, you're going to see different perspectives of the events the game holds, and I find that thrilling to be honest.

• It's free: Really, who doesn't like free stuff?! It's free! On a serious note though, I found this game by chance, and, while the premise looked quite interesting, the fact that it was a free game made me quite skeptical. Boy was I wrong and oh am I so, so glad I was. Seriously, I feel like a thief, the amount of content you get for literally nothing in return is astonishing to say the least. On top of that, the game currently has 3 DLCs (one for each step of the game), and they exponentially increase both the play time and the fun, while being completely optional and extremely cheap to boot.

• It might not be for everyone: Now, I know this might be weird after speaking so highly about, well, everything in this game, but I feel that a game as chill as this one might not be for everyone, while I found it incredibly fun, some might find the pacing and overall vibe of this game boring, and that's fine, everyone has different tastes, and it's no wonder nothing will ever please everyone. However, if you've gotten this far into this annoyingly long review, I highly, highly suggest you at least try the game, it may not be up your alley, but I'm not exaggerating when I've said it has kind of changed my life, and the only way I can think of repaying that is by, hopefully, showing more people what a jewel this game is.

• Aaaand... Nothing else, really: I honestly can't come up with anything else that might be bad about this game.

I think this game is a masterpiece, and I am kind of sad it's not that known, I think it deserves more, to be honest, and if my review can make even one person play it, I think I did well enough. I really hope anyone who's gotten this far into this essay of a review can give the game a chance, for I am completely sure this game - and Cove Holden - has stolen a part of my heart forever.


Thank you GB Patch Games for this experience, I'll make sure I treasure this deep within me for as long as I can, and I'm looking forward to spending even more time making memories and reminiscing about the past thanks to this game, as well as the content yet to come.


Love, a way too overexcited fan.

[h1]A masterpiece[/h1] I am - and I cannot stress this enough - utterly and irrevocably [b]in love[/b] with this game. Now, I might be biased, seeing as I grew up on a coastal tourist-filled town, but this game just evokes such a nostalgic feeling deep within me. It has made me reminisce quite a few things about my childhood and overall early - and not so early - life, and has given me plenty of food for thought. Now, to get a bit more into detail, I'm gonna list all of the pros and cons I can think of: [h1]PROS[/h1] [list] [*][u]Cove Holden:[/u] Cove is the sweetest cinnamon roll, and basically the real protagonist of the game. He's the romantic lead, but that doesn't mean you [b]have[/b] to go out with him, you can stay friends, have him be your crush, end up together or just remain neighbours forever, it's [b]up to you[/b]. That said, though, I just find him way too irresistible to end up not having at least a good relationship with him, he's just so pure and cute. [/list] [list] [*][u]Customisation:[/u] This game really means business regarding the control it gives you of your character; from your physical appereance to your overall personality, you decide how extroverted (or introverted) you want to be, the way you speak, your mannerisms, your relationship with every character, your pronouns, etc... Your choice [b]really[/b] - and I feel the need to emphasize just [b]how much[/b] - matters in this games. Are you lactose intolerant? Gotcha. Vegan? All covered. Moreover, this game functions by playing 'moments', little parts of the game where you do a certain activity (say going to the mall for example), and not only can you play each moment multiple times and still get varied outcomes and experiences, but you can also avoid one, some, or even all of them completely if you so desire. Seriously, the customisation level in this game is just [b]top notch[/b].  [/list] [list] [*][u]It's a pleasure to the senses:[/u] This game is just [b]stunning[/b], the visuals are amazing and really help you visualize all of the places you're visiting, from ever-so-familiar beach to the poppy-filled hills behind your house, from your house to Cove's, every scenery has clearly been carefully crafted with the utmost care and love, and [b]it shows[/b], it really does. There's also the music, of course, another key point in making this game as beautiful and enjoyable as it is; calm or upbeat, nostalgic or relaxed, each piece simply [b]feels right[/b] and like it belongs, and every single track is just so, so good to boot. [/list] [list] [*][u]It's really inclusive, but not on a forced way:[/u] More often than not, I come to think that some people find it hard to strike a balance between being inclusive and make it feel natural. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all for representation, but I tend to see companies and individuals try to include, let's say, a black lesbian character, and not really knowing - either by not researching enough or not caring - how to make that character or characters feel real, organic, like a living person. Our Life, however, I think does an incredibly good job at that, there's LGBTQ+ relationships, characters from multiple ethnicities, etcetera, and everything feels organic, they act and speak like a real person would, and in a game with immersion as one of its main features, it really does [b]wonders[/b]. [/list] [list] [*][u]The sheer level of immersion it offers:[/u] You often find yourself making decissions that, while not quite impactful story-wise, really [b]make you feel like you're there[/b]. Let's say, you and your friends go to the mall and decide to go get a slushie, the game would then proceed to ask you how you want yours to be, which fruits you want in it, what else you want with it, whether you don't even want to have one. Does what you choose really matter at all? No, but at the end of the day, you'll leave the mall with the feeling that you really hanged out there with a group of friends, and I think it's the little details like this that make every part of this game so enjoyable. [/list] [list] [*][u]There are no bad endings:[/u] This game values you, your decissions, and your experiences, no matter what you do, [b]there's no bad ending[/b], you didn't do anything wrong. This is one of my favourite parts of this game, as a huge visual novel enthusiast, I sometimes grimace when I get a bad ending because I chose to act a certain way towards a character while the game wanted me to do otherwise. Our Life, however, respects your choices, you can act however you want, you can be you, you can roleplay, you can do anything you wish to do and the game won't punnish you out for it, and I think it's [b]a much needed thing in this genre[/b]. [/list] [list] [*][u]The myriad of replayability chances:[/u] Seriously, I just [b]cannot stop playing[/b] this game. Now, if you, unlike me, are a normal person, this might not mean much to you, but this game has just so many options, so many paths, so many little things that can pile up, that even in your 5th re-run you are going to see and learn new things, you're going to see different perspectives of the events the game holds, and I find that thrilling to be honest. [/list] [list] [*][u]It's free:[/u] Really, who doesn't like free stuff?! It's free! On a serious note though, I found this game by chance, and, while the premise looked quite interesting, the fact that it was a free game made me quite [b]skeptical[/b]. Boy was I wrong and oh am I so, so glad I was. Seriously, I feel like a thief, the amount of content you get for literally nothing in return is [b]astonishing[/b] to say the least. On top of that, the game currently has [b]3 DLCs[/b] (one for each step of the game), and they exponentially increase both the play time and the fun, while being completely optional and extremely cheap to boot. [/list] [h1]CONS[/h1] [list] [*][u]It might not be for everyone:[/u] Now, I know this might be weird after speaking so highly about, well, everything in this game, but I feel that a game as chill as this one might not be for everyone, while I found it incredibly fun, some might find the pacing and overall vibe of this game boring, and that's fine, [b]everyone has different tastes[/b], and it's no wonder nothing will ever please everyone. However, if you've gotten this far into this annoyingly long review, I highly, highly suggest you at least [b]try the game[/b], it may not be up your alley, but I'm not exaggerating when I've said it has kind of [b]changed[/b] my life, and the only way I can think of repaying that is by, hopefully, showing more people what a jewel this game is. [/list] [list] [*][u]Aaaand... Nothing else, really:[/u] I honestly can't come up with anything else that might be bad about this game. [/list] [h1]CONCLUSION[/h1] I think this game is[b] a masterpiece[/b], and I am kind of sad it's not that known, I think it [b]deserves more[/b], to be honest, and if my review can make even one person play it, I think I did well enough. I really hope anyone who's gotten this far into this essay of a review can give the game a chance, for I am completely sure this game - and Cove Holden - has stolen a part of my heart forever. [b]Thank you[/b] [i]GB Patch Games[/i] for this experience, I'll make sure I treasure this deep within me for as long as I can, and I'm [b]looking forward[/b] to spending even more time making memories and reminiscing about the past thanks to this game, as well as the content yet to come. [b][i]Love, a way too overexcited fan.[/i][/b]