Definitely need to replay this eventually, but wow! Really surprised me. I have always loved dating sims (and visual novels in general) but my biggest gripe with the genre is just... how much you are railroaded into being the character the game wants or NEEDS you to be. to give your main character such a variable personality and a story that actually respects and acknowledges that is insanely taxing. despite this, OL:BA does just that, with a level of customization that i knew existed, but didn't expect to like so much.

OL:BA allows you a level of customization i've never seen in a any dating sim or VN before. you can customize your characters appearance, pronouns, personality & feelings towards the love interest, Cove, as well as help guide the relationship you and the main LI through menu options, selecting the amount of agency you'd like your character to have, or naturally as a result of the choices you make. after steps 1 and 2, or childhood and middle school years respectively, i was unsure just how much my choices would affect the story. it felt like they had, but without wanting to redo anything until i played it once through, i had no frame of measure. it was a pleasant surprise when i decided to switch my characters interest in the LI from "disinterested" to "crushing" between steps 2 and 3 that not only did the game respond according, allowing very different toned options to me, but also acknowledging multiple times how the relationship because my character and Cove went from that of not-really-friends to very close, all because of the attitude and choices i started to make. honestly, sometimes the amount of choice was a little overwhelming! i challenged myself not to really reload or select other dialogue options, just to really immerse myself, and i was pleasantly surprised to see just how much this customizability helped with that. i was generally not very interested in cove during steps 1 and 2, but the natural progression of the relationship was genuinely so fun to watch unravel i found myself really loving certain memories, dialogues, etc. and even teared up during step 4 lol... the game really builds itself around who you are as a player, while still not sacrificing the story and person it allows Cove to grow into as well. i don't tend to replay games much, but i am REALLY looking forward to replaying this one.

also, i must mention: this was free!?! im so used to vns/dating sims gating the higher quality cgs and content behind pay walls, but everything available to you in the base game is insanely high quality. im not surprised their recent entries will be more paid, because they definitely deserve to be paid for how much effort and love shines through all this.

of course, there are still limitations to this system. you have to read a LOT of menu-ing and really spend time in menus to curate your experience (it lessens after step 1, but really it was a lot to take in at first) but that was fine once i adjusted. similarly, for a game that takes so much of your input into question, it's a bit... mixed? for me on how much of your family you do/don't have control over. i can't think of a family dynamic i related to so little, which was nice but felt a bit at odds with the way the game wanted me to play. i felt so immersed, like i was really thinking as myself as a child/teen/adult/etc, only to get dropped into family dynamics i was Not accustomed to and didnt really care for. the moms and sister are fine! the cousin is cool! i just... did not relate at all, which isnt the games fault necessarily, but did make certain parts of part 3-4 have much less impact since it felt very jarring to go between. hope that makes sense...

still, a really good play. would definitely recommend if you have time to kill and want a new VN/dating sim to try. even if you don't vibe with cove or the other LI's (theyre trapped behind dlc), you always have the option to remain platonicly bonded with them which is very, very cool. what a fun game. i genuinely cant believe i got so invested. i really feel like my attitudes i chose in game reflected my progression with cove as well, which was so satisfying to play lol.

i love cove so goddamn much. i already adore the idea of a dating sim where you grow up with your love interest, but my god are the characters and the writing just fantastic here. i have yet to get every achievement in this game because the last few i need to get require you to be indifferent about cove, and i'll just have to speed through the game in order to not feel bad about it. customization is also a plus, as the game tailors itself around the kind of person you are.

a genuinely cozy experience that's perfect for the summer vibe!

• Um dos meus jogos favoritos da VIDA! Acho fascinante como tudo nele funciona tão bem.

• Jogar esse jogo é como receber um abraço quentinho, fico feliz só de pensar nele enquanto escrevo essa resenha. Os personagens são EXTREMAMENTE cativantes, a história se desenrola de uma maneira super orgânica, a trilha sonora é impecável (principalmente a música dos créditos) e o estilo de arte é uma fofura.

• Acho incrível como ele consegue capturar períodos específicos da vida de alguém de um jeito tão orgânico. Enquanto jogava e via os personagens crescendo, me identificava com muitas coisas e sentia nostalgia de outras.

• Briga de rotas:
1 - Cove (óbvio)
2 - Derek
3 - Baxter

• Quase me matei jogando a DLC de casamento amo esse jogo de merda e sempre irei amar.

c’est un des plus beaux visual novels auxquels j’ai pu jouer et j’en ai fait énormément. j’ai l’impression d’avoir vécu une autre vie, d’être retournée en enfance et d’avoir pu apprendre ce que c’était le véritable amour. les sprites sont beaux, les dialogues sont magnifiques (j’ai fait tous les dlc + content bonus) et ça se sent que plein d’amour et pleins de sentiments ont été mis dans le jeu, ça transpire l’émotion et ça m’a énormément prise et transportée. j’ai l’impression d’avoir grandit avec les personnages, tous aussi bienveillants et incroyables les uns que les autres! c’est tout plein d’ouverture d’esprit et d’inclusivité et pitié c’était juste incroyable!! merci à ce jeu d’exister et de m’avoir fait vivre tout ça. cove holden mais vraiment quel homme…. 🥺🥺🫶🏼 le childhood friends to lovers remonte FORT haut dans ma liste après ça !!

A heartwaming and easy going visual novel, I really enjoyed it.

This was basically the first VN I ever played, and I found it to be very charming. The games prioritizes your freedom to have any kind of experience you want, without having to worry about it.

Cove will fall in love with you, regardless. So you don't need to stress about choosing the "right" answers. You may also customize your appearance, gender and pronoums to your liking.

The game also has an interesting system where Cove's personality is not set in stone. As you grow up together, some of your personality will change Cove as well, in his ways of thinking, acting and also his appeareance. As someone who is kind of sensitive and easily absorbs some traits from the people I like, this feature made me emphatize a lot with the character.

Of course, if you want your Cove to be a certain way without worring you'll change him into someone you're not too fond of, you can customize his appearance and personality mannually too.

This games tries it best to be welcoming to as many people it can, and brings you an endearing experience you can customize to best fit whatever you desire.

I'm look forward to buying all the DLC and trying new paths in this game in the future.

If you've ever looked for a cozy experience, this is it. I've played over 29 hours of this game and still not seen all that it has to offer and I keep getting surprised by just how well this vn remembers the choices that you've made.

Not only does it remember what you look like, if you chose to wear a ring or what item you picked a long long time ago, it also remembers how you reacted to your partner. Cove changing because of the way you speak to him and even how you feel about him has to be one of the most dynamic ways a vn has ever engaged with me.

There's a reason the kickstarter for the next game got funded in like. 2 hours.

Above and Beyond Sweetness

In 2022, a friend of mine recommended me Our Life: Beginning’s and Always, his reasoning being that since I am bisexual that this could be something I might end up liking. Initially, I was kind of hesitant to give the game a try. From my outside perspective looking in, it’s a romance otome visual novel, which it’s already hard to get me hooked into visual novels like that. However, it’s free, so I swallowed my pride and started a playthrough.
Almost immediately, I was sucked into a sugary sweet slice of California in Sunset Bird, and before long, I finished an entire “life” of the game, then went back, and did another. What I found was one of the most comforting, fluffy games that shuts out the outside world and allows a moment of reprieve.
The premise of the game starts with your main character at the age of six, who finds a man moving in next door. The man wants the main character to take $20 to befriend his son. Take the money or not, you’ll encounter the star of the show, Cove Holden. Fairly quickly you befriend him and will begin the first “step” of the game, the summer of childhood.
Each step of life is one summer in one of three (or four if you buy the DLC) parts of life; childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. In each step, you are given select activities to experience, each one putting you in a different situation with either family or friends, but most will focus on your relationship with Cove.
Each event has different options for you to take, and while some of them are inconsequential, a lot do have some impact on how Cove will act or what you do will alter events later in the game. While I could argue that the selections do not always allow for every type of response, and some of those missing would be more reasonable than what you’re presented, I quite enjoyed playing and seeing what I could do with each option.
But what I saw throughout each step of the game, and what made me love it more, is how nice the people around you are. Whether it be your character’s sister, your two moms, Cove’s father Cliff, or any of the friends you make in each step, each are well written and feel human, even if the dramatic and gloomy points of the game or their characters never linger long. The town of Sunset Bird is one I came to love, because of the likable characters, and the pleasant vibes it brought in every step of the game.
Cove is the star of the show, and the game goes out of its way to make sure that you will grow to like him. His inner struggles are very human and gives reason to care about him. Throughout each step, the game will nudge the player towards a (optional but c’mon) romance with Cove, and it’s super sweet.
I’m trying not to say too much about all the details of the game specifically, as I think just playing it and finding out each thing for yourself is the best way to experience Our Life: Beginnings and Always. However, throughout my experience at least, I found myself emotionally invested with every character, and Cove himself has shot up to one of my favorite characters.
What I do want to highlight is the game’s writing. I touched up on it in the options you as the player are given, but it goes further than that. GB Patch’s writing for each stage of life is not only good, but really believable. At least in my time with the game, I never read a piece of dialogue and said, “a six-year-old wouldn’t say something like that” or “they’re teenagers, this is not how they act”. It’s all very well written, and that writing is a strong reason I kept playing.
But more importantly, and absolutely my favorite part, is the handling of queer writing. Our Life: Beginning and Always embraces LGBT+ themes very openly. For starters, you can make your player character whatever you want them to be, and just like any actual queer person, have their feelings and own self change in each step of the game. Want to start off as a male, but have your character discover to embrace being transgender or non-binary? Then it’s possible, and incorporated with actual care.
Even further, a lot of the cast in the game is also queer. The player character has two mothers, who married and adopted both the main character and your sister. Not once did I think this was a strange decision, it just felt extremely natural here. You’ll also have an openly transgender character as one of your friends. With DLC, two additional characters can be romanced in a same-sex relationship as Cove.
In a lot of games, I never really find myself satisfied with how queerness is portrayed. Every so often we’ll get a game that doesn’t shy away from queer themes, but also embraces them either upfront or subtlety. However, there are also plenty of shallow duds, which either play it safe, use it as a bad joke, or do not even try to make it feel “normal”, but rather a gimmick tacked on for brownie points. Here though, GB Patch has put care into making a game that’s not only inclusive, but well-meaning and comfortable. That’s the word, it’s comforting.
With how much I hear of gay jokes or flat out homophobia, it doesn’t really bother me, but rather annoys me. How do we still live in a time where someone's life and way of life can be so despised? Why did I have to spend so much of it ashamed of who I was, and how others around me would feel about my sexuality? It's lame, and this game knows that those feelings are lame. So, it’s nice that Our Life: Beginnings and Always just feels like a nice warm hug away from the nonsense and venom people today can spew.
Would I recommend Our Life: Beginnings and Always to everyone? Absolutely not. Unless you’re queer, really into slice of life and/or visual novels that just keep it sweet, this really isn’t going to do it for you. But what I found is one of my favorite games, a game so good and so sweet that it being free is a damn crime. A game that is comfort for when I want to step away from the negativity of the world or the negativity of myself and want to have a smile plastered on my face. I would go to say it’s one of the best visual novels out there, with the likes of VA-11 Hall-A. But above all else, one of the best examples of queer writing out there in video games. To me, that makes it something special. I've wanted to write about this game for so long, and it felt good to do so.
Grand Theft Auto VI and Monster Hunter Wilds will be on their knees when the sequel, Our Life: Now and Forever, drops in 2025. Truly, it will be game of the year, I just know it.

(Copy and Pasted from Steam)

This game is my happy place. Every summer I boot it up there's a million new things to discover or another cute thing to put me into a frenzy. Making me care about every character in a game where Cove is the lead is a massive accomplishment. The art and sound of this game is so cute and welcoming, and the writing for both the causal interactions and the intimate ones are just chefs kiss.

There is no other game like this one and my hat goes off to the entire development team, you truly made something unforgettable. I know I wont.