Recent reviews by UserEl

Doesn't work with AMD graphics cards, the ui doesn't work and unless you want to dig up an old driver from over a year ago that will probably break all your other games, you're gonna be playing with a broken ui

This review is really difficult for me to make, yes, I love this game but when I'm asked why I can generally just gesture vaguely at it as a whole, but here goes

Our Life: Beginnings & Always (referred to as simply "Our Life" from now on) is what I would consider the peak of Visual Novel design, of course, being a VN, it isn't for everyone, it's entirely text and pictures, with you making choices as the game goes on, telling the story of your character from childhood to adulthood through 4 distinct chapters or "Steps" made up of "Moments" or scenarios (either 5 per step, or 10 with the dlc for that step) excluding Step 4, which is more linear and acts as a sort of epilogue

I would say that the appeal of Our Life can be split into 2 parts, firstly, the game is incredibly choice heavy, you are not playing a pre-built character, but rather you build the character as you play, almost every decision your character makes gives you a choice, even if that choice is to totally skip the entire moment. Moreover, most of these choices are not throwaway options to keep the player engaged, even super minor choices may get brought up later, though you will find the occasional choice that feels more important than it ends up being

Secondly, this game is utterly inclusive to all forms of people, of course the game features heavy LGBTQ representation, with you able to make your character a variety of different identities and sexualities (although outside of characterization, they don't always come up again), but this game also features a surprising amount of Neurodivergent rep, while you can't choose it outright, it is super easy to build a character that is coded to especially anxiety and/or the autism spectrum

This is not even mentioning the Love Interests, or at the time of writing, Interest, by default only Cove is romancable, with Derrek and Baxtor being dlc. However, they make up the lack of choice with a very pleasing amount of depth and thought out writing, Cove is a deep character with fears and flaws and his own social chart separate to yours, however, the game also avoids the trap of focusing too much on the NPC, to put it simply, Cove helps you, and you help Cove, you each get your moments (sometimes literally) without one overpowering or drowning out the other. On top of this, both Coves appearance and personality changes between playthroughs, with you either allowing your choices to shape him, or just outright choose how you want him to look and act (however, this only applies to Cove, with the other romance options being more set in stone)

Building on top of the point about choice, the game does not actually require you to romance anybody, it is 100% possible to go through the game simply as friends, or even just neighbors who hang out sometimes, The game has a system I call the "Comfort and disposition" system, to put it simply you get to choose your general comfort level around other people, moreover you also get to choose your attraction level to Cove, be it friends, crushes, or even just neighbors, with the feeling always being mutual, there are no needs for route guides and no "fail state", if you have a crush on Cove, he has a crush on you, if you don't, he doesn't, if you confess to him, he will accept, regardless of choices made.

This, however, leads to one of the game's more major downsides, a lack of any real conflict, there is some, mind you, like Cove's animosity towards his father in Act 1, or the ability to get upset at your parents during "Family", but these are generally short lived or in the background, even Jeremy, the "bully" character, pulls his punches for the most part, only really insulting Cove, and said insults are not overly heavy either, although, this was by design as the writer stated that they wanted a "feel good" story, which it very much succeeds in being

So to wrap up, before this review gets any longer than it already is, this game is fantastic, I truly feel that this is not only one of, if not the, best Visual Novel made so far, but also one of the best games made to date, I mean, it has 98% positive reviews, and I've personally played it over 10 times through, but it goes deeper than that, I want more, I think about this game and it's characters, hell, I've even donated to their patreon to get early access to the sequel beta they're working on. Sure, this game isn't utterly perfect, but nothing ever is, and any flaws it does have is often covered up by it's charm and good writing

Overall, I'd recommend everyone try this game, even if you don't play any Visual Novels, you may still get enjoyment out of this one, and hey, it's free, so you've got nothing to lose and everything to gain, right?

To put it simply, this game is completely insane and I literally couldn't make up this games plot if I tried. Every route was a joy to play, I got far more invested in a bunch of png pigeons than I logically ever should have, and the ending made me legitimately emotional, though didn't quite make me cry

Unfortunately the game's main gimmick is also it's main turn off. Most people I've talked to think that it's just a joke game about pigeons, and doesn't offer anything of actual substance, though after playing I would be inclined to disagree. However, you are never really able to "unbird" the characters, or see them as humans with bird avatars, since the plot relies on them being birds, and changing that would change a large section of the final route

The other major hurdle is the fact the game as a sort of "animated sitcom" effect, where the rules seemingly change based on the joke they want to make. For example, the birds are able to ride scooters and hold things with their "hands", but they are also still bird sized, and run by "hopping around", and the Anghel route in particular is just complete nonsense without playing the BBL route.

The game features 14 endings, split across 8 routes, a 9th somewhat hidden route (Anghel), a "bad ending" which is unlocked by failing certain routes, and a big final route called BBL or "Bad Boy's Love", which requires you to have obtained most of the main endings, and is entirely separate from the main ones. Instead giving you an option to "fulfill a promise" when you go to start a new game (saying no takes you to the main game, and while saying yes locks you into the BBL route)

If you're looking for a funny, but still well written and at times surprisingly emotional Visual Novel, and don't mind the fact everyone are birds, this game is simply amazing, if you want a more grounded story, dislike vague rules and over the top absurdity, or are just unable to connect with non-human characters, you may want to skip this game