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For Pisces the Fishes - out - of - weewee photographer Naomi Hayward , a pond - hopping trip to the unruffled little burg of Rainy Woods seems like a grim errand . She ’s a New Yorker ( and quick to remind others of this fact ) but distressed by where her climb debts and lance have landed her , yet frequently counters her tartness with an saucy cheerfulness . It ’s this duality and counterpoint that informs much ofThe Good Life , the new release by White Owls Inc. and video game director Hidetaka Suehiro , aka SWERY , and it ’s well in line with his body of work while also feeling noticeably hampered on the Nintendo Switch .
Naomi ’s reaching to township precede her to a few of its eccentric inhabitants , an assortment of conspicuous weirdos which include a hotel manager haunted by the angel of decease , an anthropomorphizing camera tech , and a punk pub bartender . There ’s nary a single character inThe Good Lifethat does n’t have a twist or wrinkle to disarm any surface - level trope , and all of them have fleshed - out daily routines and docket to study . These are constituent Naomi can exploit to fill in a variety of photo challenges and quests , let alone the emergent execution mystery that add up to the fore in the first ¼ of the game .
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Naomi tends to skid into profanity - itself a nice contrast to the exterior sweetness of her surround - but often reacts with a simple sunshine that does not seem to be intended irony . WhileDeadly Premonitionwas beholden toTwin Peaksin myriad ways , The Good Lifehas plenty to compare as well , with periodic darkness , pop culture point of reference , and , bounteously crude design .
The Good Lifehas a very dated overall looking . The lighting is painful , texture study is flavourless and phoned - in , and Naomi control very rigidly , whether in brute or human signifier . There ’s an former shapeshifting animal power receive where she can become a dog or cat at a whim , and it factors into several unlike game auto-mechanic .
On that last notation , mechanics are an aspect in whichThe Good Lifenever really falters . There are a bevy of hunger , quietus , health , and stamen bars to maintain , among others , all of which Naomi will need to keep top up with cooked knockout and drugs . Fail to do so and she “ dies , ” to be resuscitate at the Rainy Woods fauna hospital at considerable cost . These life history sim elements can be an comical misdirection in their own right , though they just as frequently get in the path of questlines . Still , much like other life sims , things get wanton further on into the game , and early beguilement like garden and hunt in cat form evolve into methods to master Naomi ’s drain stats .
The photography componentis also a potentially nice jot and becomes the primary method of income , although cameras and upgrades like alternative lense break down , requiring more in - biz busywork to break up . It can be hard to tell whetherThe Good Lifeprefers instrumentalist to act on the various story threads as they present or frustrate them with fetch pursuit , janky control , dull run upper , and “ death . ” To say the plot has a pacing trouble passably calls its basic structure into query ; for example , quests can only be take on one at a time , squeeze constant payoff to place position that were not capable to be resolve on an earlier visit .
When everything is flowing inThe Good Life , it feel like atouch ofAnimal Crossingwith alternatingly quaint and irreverent British pastoral telecasting , all with a burgeoning murder closed book underneath . Unfortunately , some of its rougher edges seem possibly link to the Switch itself and , although loading times are usually on the short side , their frequent appearance interrupts the flow even more . The Rainy Woods residents are witching and strange and there ’s a numbingly pleasant feel to smalltown life and chores , but blind drunk dominance and muddled figure make it hard to obtain a good rhythm inThe Good Life .
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The Good Lifeis out now on PC , Nintendo Switch , PlayStation 4 , and Xbox One . A digital Nintendo Switch code was supply toScreen Rantfor the role of this review .
