The Good Life - Review @ Ars Technica

Ars Technica reviews The Good Life, the newly released detective / adventure / life sim game made by White Owls Inc.

The Good Life review: A messy RPG as unique as it is ridiculous

The Good Life throws you into its offbeat little tale without much preamble.

After a cute storybook introduction, New Yorker and photojournalist Naomi Hayward is dropped off in an Untitled Goose Game-caliber sleepy British hamlet called Rainy Woods, the self-proclaimed "happiest town in the world." Why is it the happiest town in the world? Nobody knows, but that's what Naomi is there to find out. The place supposedly has an earth-shattering secret that her employers at the Morning Bell want her to uncover—though because she's drowning in debt it's less of a request than a mandate.

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There are things about The Good Life I wish were fleshed out or improved. Naomi moves too slowly, for one, and controller inputs can be hit or miss. I hope to see some much-needed quality-of-life additions patched in, particularly in overhauling the UI. Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to a toggle to turn off the always-on objectives that take up a sizable chunk of the screen and being able to skip inconsequential cutscenes that occur when you, say, fail a minigame segment and have to replay it.

But these issues shouldn't really be too much of a deterrent. While it won't win any awards for its moment-to-moment rhythms and its patchy execution, The Good Life's ludicrous turns and the central mysteries of Rainy Woods are reasons enough to stick with this adventure. It's a reasonably sized jaunt that doesn't wear out its welcome.

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Verdict: Though technically rough and uneven, The Good Life is memorable and anything but predictable.