The Good Life Reviews
A hugely disappointing mess of a game that magnifies all of SWERY's worst tendencies and fails to compensate in terms of the unengaging characters and script.
The Good Life, for better or intentionally worse, is full of hardships. It might be the kind of experience you're looking for if you wanted a reflection of just how laborious life can be sometimes. That might not make for a very good life, though.
There is scope for the humour to work, but factoring in fighting with the camera and struggling with the controls the whole experience is just not worthwhile. In a self-fulling prophecy, Naomi points out a lot of faults in games that The Good Life just blithely repeats itself.
Despite an interesting setting, tedious gameplay and poor performance makes The Good Life a disappointing outing for Swery.
The Good Life is a product plagued by major problems on the playful and structural side. An extremely lacking title from a technical point of view, which brings to the screen a series of decidedly questionable game design choices, at the base of an adventure that, while trying to tell a story in its own mature way, often expires in tedium and struggles to sustain the interest of the player.
Review in Italian | Read full review
While there's still some ramshackle charm and memorable silliness to be had, The Good Life takes every opportunity to sell itself short and make playing it a frustrating, repetitive, and user-antagonistic experience.
Despite having some interesting moments, The Good Life feels and plays like a crazy mess.
Review in Italian | Read full review
If you’re familiar with SWERY games and enjoy them, definitely check this out. If you’re not, and you can’t stomach games that aren’t polished, maybe watch a play through online instead.
There is just a lot to do in The Good Life, which means that players can potentially sink upwards of forty-plus hours taking pictures or running mundane, everyday tasks. And while I like life simulators, I don’t like them when they can barely run at over 3 FPS.
If you already know and appreciate the work of director Hidetaka "Swery" Suehiro, there's a big chance you'll enjoy The Good Life. If you don't, there are plenty of other titles in the market that are more capable of entertaining you.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
While the daily ongoings of Rainy Woods and its surrounding environment can rustle up a brief oddity or two, Swery and co's latest round of eccentric antics with The Good Life sadly doesn't go far enough in its set-up to feel all that compelling.
If you’re a fan of SWERY’s previous output or have a lot of patience for fetch quests, there is reason enough to check out The Good Life, but it is a hard sell for pretty much anyone else.
To enjoy The Good Life, you will need to be a big fan of Swery, and be able to inflict all the faults of the game on yourself to glimpse any semblance of truth!
Review in French | Read full review
Boring, pointless, and jammed with grating characters and obnoxious story beats, The Good Life doesn't live up to its name.
The Good Life is a bit of a mess, trying to be too many things and getting very little right, with weak characters and an unpolished plot.
There is a ton of stuff to do in The Good Life, even multiple main storylines to pursue. Unfortunately, completing them and fulfilling the side missions is not very fun. Between the constant back and forth across the huge map and the fetch quests, I feel that more in-depth gameplay features would really help me enjoy this game.
The Good Life is a chaotic game, for better or worse you find so many elements that it can be overwhelming to keep up. If you are looking for a lightweight game that does not ask you questions, this is not the best option. In fact, the best thing you can do with The Good Life is to let yourself be dragged along.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
The Good Life is Swery's first take on the Life simulators genre. While it incorporates all the features that made him a cult creator it also shows a disorienting mix of elements and mechanics that just don't work well together. The thin narrative line and the histrionic cast of characters fail to fully flesh out the social commentary that the creator intended to convey. The whole experience ends up feeling more like a list of chores rather than a smart and enjoyable experience in Swery's characteristic Troma-like fashion.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The Good Life is a charming and unique "debt-repayment RPG" that sets itself apart with its humor and character, but its lackluster gameplay, bizarre tonality, and overall lack of polish make that charm wear off quickly.
This RPG life-sim adventure game might be barking mad, but it's got an intriguing story with unique gameplay. Investigate a mystery as a New York photojournalist in rural Britain, complete with eccentric characters and activities to keep you busy.