RATING / ESRB / A Created with Sketch. RATING / ESRB / E Created with Sketch. RATING / ESRB / E10 Created with Sketch. RATING / ESRB / M Created with Sketch. RATING / ESRB / T Created with Sketch.
RATING / PEGI / 12 Created with Sketch. RATING / PEGI / 16 Created with Sketch. RATING / PEGI / 18 Created with Sketch. RATING / PEGI / 3 Created with Sketch. RATING / PEGI / 7 Created with Sketch. icon_pin Created with Sketch.

Our Life: Beginnings & Always

in library

3.4/5

( 23 Reviews )

3.4

23 Reviews

English
FREE
Why buy on GOG.COM?
DRM FREE. No activation or online connection required to play.
Safety and satisfaction. Stellar support 24/7 and full refunds up to 30 days.
Our Life: Beginnings & Always
Description
A nostalgic visual novel where you design your own character and grow from childhood to adulthood with the lonely boy next door. Create an experience that’s all your own in this near-fully customizable, choice-heavy story. Our Life: Beginnings & Always is a feel-good simulation, as well as a...
User reviews

3.4/5

( 23 Reviews )

3.4

23 Reviews

{{ review.content.title }}
Product details
2020, GB Patch Games, ...
System requirements
Windows 7, 2 GHz, 1 GB RAM, DirectX or OpenGL compatible card, 1 GB available space...
DLCs
Our Life: Beginnings & Always - Step 2 Expansion, ​Our Life: Beginnings & Always - Step 1 Expansion,...
Time to beat
8 hMain
22.5 h Main + Sides
30 h Completionist
21 h All Styles
Description
A nostalgic visual novel where you design your own character and grow from childhood to adulthood with the lonely boy next door. Create an experience that’s all your own in this near-fully customizable, choice-heavy story.



Our Life: Beginnings & Always is a feel-good simulation, as well as a “feel-better” one, where painful emotions such as sadness, anger, stress, and worry can all be expressed, then met with reassurance, understanding, and support.

It’s a wholesome experience that faces large steppingstones of life, while having a focus on familiar everyday moments. With notable amounts of customization for even tiny details, you can enjoy pleasures as simple as having a preferred type of drink and a neighbor who cares enough to remember what it is.


  • 4 different periods of life to experience: childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, and fully grown
  • Name, appearance, personality, and pronoun (he, she, or they) customization for your character
  • Change your character's details however you like as you grow, including transitioning to new pronouns
  • Shape your personality, feelings, and preferences, then see them reflected in the story as characters remember who you are
  • 1 love interest, Cove Holden, whose personality, interests, and appearance will develop in a custom way over the years based on his experiences with you
  • Decide for yourself how quickly or slowly the relationship with Cove develops by setting a unique dynamic; from love at first sight to last minute confessions to always being friends and more
  • A welcoming, sentimental story that can easily be enjoyed over and over using new main character qualities or different connection types with Cove
  • Font style and size customization. Hit the "A" key to open a screen that has text appearance options
  • 397,000 words, 16-24 hours of content in total


Jamie Last (changeable name) has spent the last couple weeks on a summertime high. At eight-years-old, nothing is better than what feels like endless days of school-less adventures, especially when you live walking distance from the beach. While coming home under a scorching sunset one fine evening, Jamie is approached by a stranger. The man is looking for a kid who can do him a favor, and he’s even offering to pay for it. He wants Jamie to please be friends with his only child. The person is Mr. Holden, Jamie’s new neighbor, as well as the father of the odd, and oddly named boy, Cove. Whether Jamie wants to play along or not, Cove isn’t going anywhere. He's present in Jamie's life for far longer than they ever would've guessed.

And then the long days of vacation finally come to an end. Summer may not be able to last forever, but Jamie can take comfort in knowing it will come back again someday…
System requirements
Minimum system requirements:
Why buy on GOG.COM?
DRM FREE. No activation or online connection required to play.
Safety and satisfaction. Stellar support 24/7 and full refunds up to 30 days.
Time to beat
8 hMain
22.5 h Main + Sides
30 h Completionist
21 h All Styles
Game details
Works on:
Windows (7, 8, 10, 11)
Release date:
{{'2020-11-16T00:00:00+02:00' | date: 'longDate' : ' +0200 ' }}
Size:
780 MB

Game features

Languages
English
audio
text
You may like these products
Users also bought
User reviews
Overall most helpful review

Posted on: February 2, 2023

rizzinek

Verified owner

Games: 800 Reviews: 18

Bittersweet coming of age VN

Our Life is a VN about a person growing in a peaceful beach town with their friends and families. It's done using RenPy engine, so gameplay-wise everything is smooth. The art style is sharp and consistent. The music fits the mood of the game well. Now with that out of the way I'll talk about the main part, the story. Disclaimer: I've completed the free version without any DLCs and I'm not going to play them. The game's story tells of 4 periods in life of the main character, each period is basically a couple of slice of life type of small stories. There's no tension, no build-up to anything. The characters seems like they came out from slice-of-life animes like Azumanga Daioh or K-On. Everyone is always happy and is very friendly, and whenever someone's upset, it gets resolved lightning fast. In this regard the story is a bit boring. However the overarching line of childhood friends growing up and growing apart is done well, I enjoyed it. The choices, and there are a lot, seem to matter, even some of the small ones, though I felt like a lot of them, like "what kind of crepe do I get" were there just as a fluff. Those choices do actually change the following text, but they don't really affect the story. The story is very heavy on LGBT and gender themes. As a regular dude I just found it annoying, but people for whom these topics are close will probably enjoy those options. Overall the main impression I've got from this game is that it feels like these fanfics that girls like to write where they "ship" characters with each other. Everyone likes and wants to marry everyone, everyone is happy, all ends well. I admit this kind of narrative isn't for me, but I do think this is a good VN overall. If you like this kind of narrative, or if gender/LGBT issues are close to your heart, it's 5 stars from me. Otherwise it's 4, because it's still more or less solid and is free.


Is this helpful to you?

Posted on: June 13, 2022

G052

Verified owner

Games: 342 Reviews: 1

Choose your own life

Our Life: Beginnings & Always is a superb visual novel. It includes a lot of choices that allow you to customize your character: from their look to their taste. Most of these choices do not affect the game at a profound level but they are still important to you. They make sure that your playtrough is unique. The DLCs double the length of the game and bring memorable events and characters. The only critique I would make to this game is only providing you with a male relationship (be it romantic, friendly or even cold). But I know this point is taken care of in the next game from GB Patch (still in development).


Is this helpful to you?

Posted on: June 19, 2022

DXFakie

Verified owner

Games: 124 Reviews: 1

Incredibly surprising

I never thought I'd write a VN review, but after spotting this randomly in a "you might like" recommendation, I figured I'd see what was worth free. I don't have a basis of comparison to any other VN, but what I did get was an incredibly chill, comfy experience that far exceeds its free price tag. There has possibly never been more personality/preference choices in a game before. Our Life wants to know everything you're about, and pulls those choices back sometimes eons later. You choose the pace and tone you want, you even decide how things turn out. Are you good or bad at that thing? How are you feeling right now? What do you think about this, and even more minutiae, why do you feel that way? Even not knowing how you feel is a valid option, and the game is not here to judge you for it. You can pretty much be whatever you want as well; I'm not familiar with the different aspects of LGBTQ but it sure seems like you could identify as whatever, dress how you like, and have whatever 'preferences' you want. Cool if that's what you're about. I don't want to get too much into the story, it's a free game so you know if you want to try it, but suffice to say, this game was purpose-built to chill out with and cheer up with. There's no 'wrong' choices, and no bad or early ending. People will remember how you act, and generally acting like a jerk might take events down a weird path, but ultimately it's your life; if you want to fly off the handle just because, go for it. The auto-save system is generous and you can even rewind a decent amount if things aren't going how you thought they would. Ultimately, I was quickly absorbed in hanging out in Sunset Bird, and hours would go by as I cruised through the story. It's an extremely relaxing game, and it's honestly pretty surprising it's free. I would sincerely recommend the DLC expansions if you like the base game, they add quite a bit of extra time. It's a pretty easy recommendation with a small file size and a free price tag!


Is this helpful to you?

Posted on: August 30, 2024

Vhalek001

Verified owner

Games: 444 Reviews: 1

Beautiful and Nostalgic

It's an odd feeling, being nostalgic for a life I didn't live, but this game brings that out in me. Worth every minute of gameplay, I've run through the entire thing three times now, taking different options, and I love how seemingly trivial early choices suddenly appear as relevant much, much further in the game. The storytelling is beautifully done, and the art equally so. Highly recommended.


Is this helpful to you?

Posted on: October 9, 2022

Omux

Verified owner

Games: 4 Reviews: 1

Emotional and heartwarming story

I'm not a VN player, I don't read romance and I'm not usually an emotional man. I am however gay and stuck in bed with a chest infection. For some reason I decided to play this and god damn am I glad that I did. I got fully sucked into this and I'm a bit stunned considering I was expecting something contrived and to heavily pander to LGBT+. Instead I got a truly emotional and charming story. I love the 4 life stage format. I love the characters. I love the sheer volume of choices and different outcomes/scenes. I'm pretty sure I nearly cried at least once - a new experience for me! Big thanks to the dev(s) for this, it's helped me pass the last few days being stuck in bed.


Is this helpful to you?

1
3
...
...
5

Something went wrong. Try refresh page.

This game is waiting for a review. Take the first shot!
{{ item.rating }}
{{ item.percentage }}%
Awaiting more reviews
An error occurred. Please try again later.

Other ratings

Awaiting more reviews

Add a review

Edit a review

Your rating:
Stars and all fields are required
Not sure what to say? Start with this:
  • What kept you playing?
  • What kind of gamer would enjoy this?
  • Was the game fair, tough, or just right?
  • What’s one feature that really stood out?
  • Did the game run well on your setup?
Inappropriate content. Your reviews contain bad language. Inappropriate content. Links are not allowed. Review title is too short. Review title is too long. Review description is too short. Review description is too long.
Not sure what to write?
Filters:

No reviews matching your criteria

Written in
English Deutsch polski français русский 中文(简体) Others
Written by
Verified ownersOthers
Added
Last 30 daysLast 90 daysLast 6 monthsWheneverAfter releaseDuring Early Access

Delete this review?

Are you sure you want to permanently delete your review for Our Life: Beginnings & Always? This action cannot be undone.

Report this review

If you believe this review contains inappropriate content or violates our community guidelines, please let us know why.

Additional Details (required):

Please provide at least characters.
Please limit your details to characters.
Oops! Something went wrong. Please try again later.

Report this review

Report has been submitted successfully.
Thank you for helping us maintain a respectful and safe community.