VN - Ren'Py - Our Life: Beginnings & Always [v1.7.1 + All DLC's] [GBPatch]

I will preface my review by saying if you are looking for feel-good wholesome story AND you like the main LI Cove this would probably be a 4.5/5. However, personally I really didn't like Cove or his family at all. To the devs credit you are given choices to be dismissive or even downright rude. While I appreciate that massively, it unfortunately leads to fairly jarring inconsistencies in the story. You are mostly backed into a corner of 90% of the games content involving Cove. No matter how unpleasant you are towards Cove and despite the game acknowledging you as "not friends" you will still be treated as friends throughout the activities. It essentially feels as though there are zero consequences for your actions. I do realize though that would require a much more complex branching story in a way the devs clearly didn't really want to portray the story. It just leads to a very unauthentic feeling if you go down a certain path.

This all about that love. Pure, sweet, wholesome, heartwarming. Very different from 90% of the games i've tried from this site. A beautiful story about meeting the new boy in the neighborhood. Growing up, growing closer, growing together. Looking for explicit and spicy content? This is not the place. Truthfully, the no sexual content seems just right for this story. Really glad that I tried this game. All about the feelings, all about the love. With a cavity inducing amount of sweetness. 84.7/10

An excellent game. Very sweet and a real gem of a cozy game. I can't say much that hasn't already been said. Its just a wonderful game. Really, you have nothing to lose to try it. You just might love it too.

I've been following this game for a long time and now that it's finally finished I think it's time to review it, but before I do there will be minor spoilers, I'll try my best to not spoil anything big but if you really want to play the game blind, and I recommend you do, then maybe don't read this.

Right off the bat, this game is fantastic and you should play it. Honestly, this game is like a dream come true for me. I've always wanted to play a game that progresses through your character's life, and for the longest time I've wanted to play a VN where your choices actually matter and affect not just how others perceive you, but also how your character acts without any input from you. This game does both things and it does both really well.

The game works in steps and moments. It has four steps. Each one depicts a period of your life. Step 1 is 8 years old, step 2 is 13 years old, step 3 is 18, and step 4 is 23. Steps 1 through 3 have a bunch of different moments that act as different scenarios. These scenarios make up the bulk of the game, and depending on the order you play them in and the choices you make, you can end up with a lot of different outcomes. Step 4 has three moments, one for each love interest, each one acts as a long epilogue for the end of the game, and when I say long I mean you'll think it's reached a conclusion but nope, there's still 3 hours left.

While we're on the topic of love interest, let's go over them, starting with my favorite Baxter. Now originally I only liked Baxter because he was a suave handsome man. But after playing his step 4 moment, I have a new found love for him, particularly his difficulty forming and maintaining relationships with people resonates with me on a personal level and I might have gotten teary eyed while playing it, but I'm getting ahead of myself. You first meet Baxter at the Soiree moment in step 2, either by going by yourself and dancing with him, or by going with Derek and sneaking into another party. It is also entirely possible not to interact with Baxter at all in this moment. After that, you'll meet him again in step 3 where you can choose to date him as a summer fling, or just be friends with him, you can also hate his guts and barely interact with him if you really want to. At the end of step 3 he'll say goodbye and you'll never hear from him again. Unless you play his step 4 moment, then you help him plan a wedding.

Next, we have my second favorite Cove. Cove is the main love interest of this game. In fact, originally he was the only love interest in this game, the vast majority of moments revolve around him and you meet him at the very start of step 1, he's the new kid who just moved in next door and is the only love interest that you get to marry and he has two separate NSFW bonus moments, if I didn't mention before this game is very wholesome so the fact that he has this makes him pretty special, beyond that I don't have much more to say, or rather I don't know how to say it, he has so much character growth that I can't think of a way to accurately describe his character in a concise way, I'll just say he's precious and if you've played the game you'll probably agree with that statement.

For the final love interest, we have my least favorite Derek. You meet him in step 2 as a very polite short guy who tries a little too hard sometimes, and he makes a brief appearance in step 3, and, of course has his own moment in step 4, I'll be honest, his moments are probably my least favorite to play through, I think they drag a little too long and I just don't connect with him as well as I do the other two, having said that, Derek is still great and much like everyone else, his step 4 moment is fantastic, I highly recommend you do a run for each love Interest because all of them are great in their own way.

With all that said, here are my final thoughts. This game is great and you should play it now. If you've already played it, play it again. I'm willing to bet there's something you haven't tried yet. This game is so good that I was gonna rate it 5 stars and the only reason I haven't is because the sequel, Our Life Now & Forever, looks even better than this one, so I had to readjust the scale to rate that one 5 stars when it fully comes out.

Cove Holden is adorable. If you're considering this game, get ready to laugh, cry and smile.

Don't think twice, pick this up. Get playing and finish it.

Don't be surprised if you end up obsessed and very sad when it's all over.

Oh, I can't believe I never dropped a review on this until now. Yeah, this game is amazing. In fact, it will probably ruin all other visual novels for you, like BTS can ruin all other live concert experiences, lol. Much like with BTS, I don't feel like I'll ever come across another VN that will please me so thoroughly. Like, my heart walked away so happy. I usually remove a game once I finish it, but I'll never remove this from my PC. 11/10

Now that Our Life is more or less completed, I can write down my thoughts for the game as a whole. It really is by far, one of the best slice of life/romance VN's I have read in a good long while.

Do you like wholesome romances? A relationship that spans and develops for years? An insane amount of customization and call backs to past events and decisions you've made? A game that is made to be as feel good as possible with a pretty likeable cast? Then boy, are you in for a treat!

Of course, a game like this isn't for everyone. Your enjoyment of the game lives or dies on how much you resonate and like our main leading man. If you're looking for serious character drama, you're gonna have to look elsewhere. If you're not a fan of slice of life romances, this won't change your mind at all.

I really enjoyed my time with Our Life. It's wholesome, it's sweet, and wears it's heart on its sleeve. Please give this game a shot, and throw some love and support to the developers if you do end up enjoying it!

Always has and always will be an amazing experience to play this game. I love every character in this game, but Cove will always hold a special place in my heart. Every time I complete a play through I always end up smiling because of the heartfelt support from every character. Creating my own character and choosing their personality provides a realistic setting that make me feel like I am an actual person in their lives.

Despite the "gay" and "no sexual content" tags. this looked too cute to pass up. And, yeah. It's so precious. Much like the Dev's other game, this is full of customization options, many, many choices, and a heart-warming story. Part of me wishes there were hetero romantic options (for the male MC) as well, but you know what, who even cares? This game is flawless. And all of the Moms are total MILFS, btw. Sheesh.

5*

I played the game from start to finish, and here are my thoughts.

It has a great concept but is executed incredibly poorly.
The romance is basically non-existant and when you do actually get romance its blander than potatoes and white rice. The characters are thin-skinned, whiny, and innocent to the point of retardation. No one drinks, smokes, or has sex, not even at the end of the game. No one cuss's or does anything remotely adult, its like some strange idealistic version of youth where everyone lives in neverland... I understand this is not a porngame, and that half the time the characters are still growing up, but the author still could have added some fade-to-black romance scenes when the characters grew older - or at least alluded to there being intimacy behind closed doors.

I like that you get the dialogue options to basically roleplay as a whiny autistic person, i found that part funny.

The main love interest is just plain awful. He's so bad that i would NTR him with his hot father in front of him if the game gave me the option.

I actually really like the concept of a romance that spans a life-time, i think thats a really cool idea for a visual novel - its too bad the author has no idea how to write romance.

2 out of 5 because of the cool concept.

This game will give you diabetes, and not in a good way. Its like drinking a teaspoon of coffee with 3 cups of sugar...

The story of this game is fairly good. I particularly like the characters which i believe are very fleshed out and to my knowledge original. The game is easily played, the background music is good though not especially good. I experienced no bugs or grammatical errors. The voice acting in my opinion is very good as well as the art. With the enjoyable characters and decent engine i would rate this higher though the lack of noticeable variation between the multiple personality paths despite the emphasis on them is making me rate 4/5 with new content being added I'll probably switch this to a 5/5.

I'm just lost for word, as this was so amazing, but I'll try to write down my thoughts!

For the first time I did enjoy to play a female protagonist. This as she only had one LI, a sweet and loveable guy. So not a slut as most of other females are. I've played through Step 1-4 and hopefully there will be a Step 5

The graphics are so loveable, story is just wonderful and all the choices (easy to implement) makes the MC so easy to configure just as you want her (him). The gameplay is straightforward, just to enjoy the show. The lewd scenes are not there, only in the 18? (which I also played of course), but you don't miss that.

And do play all Moments!!!

Once more: I want more!

This is by far one of the best games i have ever played. This VN really captures the concept of romance pretty nicely. Even though the love they show is platonic the dialogues and the moments that we experience is seriously magical. This game is one i tend to play when i feel bad. Because this game perks you up. The Cove character is seriously well made. I strongly recommend this gem to anyone who wants to feel good.

im not big into games with the gay tag but i always love a good story which this games provides. the season aspect that this VN provides is excellent and i hope more vn's copy this blueprint when it comes to creating a story. even if you are not into the mc LI you can still become great friends with him and create a brother ship i only played it once but i wont play it again, even though it has great replay value. i got what i wanted out of the story 10/10

This is a game that I wouldn't even classify as one. It feels like so much more than that. The emotions that this makes me feel are astounding, everyone feels so real, and the fact you have control over the aspects of your character add to it. I don't even care about the lack of sexual content. (Although in Step 3 it can get a bit hot.) I can't wait for the Epilogue and witness the wedding and/or aftermath.

Although lacking in choice and consequences, Our Life: Beginnings & Always succeeds in telling a story.
A heartwarming story about childhood, friendship, and love.

incredibly endearing characters, who develop according to your own choices in order to create a cute romance (or not) narrative which is sure to either put a smile on your face or a year on your cheek.

Notes: No sexual content (not explicit anyways), Seemingly gay ( can change MC's sex and gender)

No sex, so if that's your thing, look elsewhere. Our Life is meant to be a sweet story about your character's relationship with a boy named Cove - you can fall in love with him, not care about him much, or anything in between. There's no wrong way to play, no risk of 'failure', just various ways to connect (or not). It's just a cute, sweet game.

This game was an overall heartwarming and wholesome experience. There‘s only one love interest and no sex scenes but I didn’t miss anything during my playthrough. It’s a really nice slice of life game about growing up with your neighbor where you can decide the kind of relationship the two of you have, e.g. acquaintances, friends or lovers. It really made me wish to have someone like Cove in my life too.This game was an overall heartwarming and wholesome experience. There‘s only one love interest and no sex scenes but I didn’t miss anything during my playthrough. It’s a really nice slice of life game about growing up with your neighbor where you can decide the kind of relationship the two of you have, e.g. acquaintances, friends or lovers. It really made me wish to have someone like Cove in my life too.

a very touching and wholesome story (at least the path i did) the choise you make and the actions you take do effect the story even if they were silly little comments. sadly the game isnt finished but after playing what was currently aviable i cant wait to see the end to all and how it all plays out

This game was incredibly cute and made me feel happy. That's enough for me. It truly doesn't need any sexual content to be a genuinely feel good experience. I was actually upset that I couldn't play more, desperately wanting the Step 3 DLC.

Highly recommend for anyone looking for a feel-good romance game.

Edit: 1 month after this review, I've played this game so many times. It has become my comfort game. If some other game gets me tilted, I can come to this for good vibes. I've done everything I could find in this game, as every personality type for both my character and Cove. The dynamics change, the interactions are different. I still want more. This is one of the few games I want to financially support, that's how much I love this. 10/5 would recommend twice. Might edit this again when more DLC drops.