The Good Life is a Video Game written by Swery65 (known for games such as Deadly Premonition), developed by his studio White Owls, and published by Playism. Funded via Kickstarter in May 2015, the game released in October 2021 on Steam and Nintendo Switch.
Like most of Swery's catalogue, The Good Life is somewhat hard to classify - on the surface, it's a Daily Life Simulator, similar to Animal Crossing or Stardew Valley, boasting crafting and farming mechanics. You also have a camera, a la Pokémon Snap. Then the murder happens.
In The Good Life, you step into the shoes of Naomi Hayward, a perpetually-annoyed, irate photographer hailing from New York City. Deeply indebted, Naomi has been assigned to discover the secrets of Rainy Woods, the so-called Happiest Town on Earth, far away in rural England. Once in the countryside, Naomi holds herself afloat by uploading photographs of popular things to Flamingo, a website that updates each in-game day, or completing assignments for her boss.
However, her routine is quickly interrupted by the discovery that all denizens of the town turn into either a cat or a dog during the full moon. Shortly thereafter, Naomi herself acquires the ability to shapeshift at will by consuming a mysterious potion made by the 'Witch' living in the woods - and stumbles upon what appears to be a ritual murder.
No relation to the TV show of the same name - though they both take place in England.
The Good Life provides examples of:
- 20 Bear Asses: Some of the main quests and side quests can veer into this, especially if it requires obtaining a hard-to-get material. One sidequest in particular requires you to collect over a hundred aluminum cans.
- Animorphism: Naomi gains the ability to turn into both a cat and a dog within the first few days of gameplay.
- Beef Gate: In the form of a Berserk Badger, requiring Naomi to turn into a dog and fight back.
- Bittersweet Ending: Heavy on the sweet. The secrets of Rainy Woods are kept a secret, the predatory company Morning Bell News undergoes a lot of backlash, Naomi gets to keep her house in Rainy Woods, and Elizabeth even manages to come back to life... But it comes at the cost of Naomi declaring all her articles on the town were fake and having her journalistic reputation completely destroyed.
- Booze-Based Buff: Drinking booze can offer Naomi certain advantages such as extending her tiredness meter. It also relieves stress.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Everyone in the village. The local handyman walks around in full plate armor. The cafe owner and mushroom cuisine enthusiast appears to munch poisonous Fly Agaric, straight off a log he's holding. The scone lady owns a chicken that lays golden eggs (but only on the days around a full moon). The owner of the local inn believes himself to be haunted by the Angel of Death and hasn't slept in 30 years. Lampshaded by Naomi, who snarks about the quirks of everyone she encounters.
- Cassandra Truth: Some of Naomi's reports would be earth-shattering and immediately get her out of debt, if only the journal she worked for actually believed her. For example, clear photographs of a UFO piloted by an alien hive mind that manifests in peat moss are mistaken for CGI, and in fact would have been worth more if they were blurry and harder to identify as "fakes".
- Circle of Standing Stones: The outskirts of Rainy Woods have a few of these. So does the area beyond the mine in the Snowy Mountains.
- Confetti Drop: Confetti rains during Dick Whittington's wedding in the intro.
- Deadpan Snarker: Naomi expresses her (many) complaints in a very dry and pointed fashion. Rita's something of a snarker as well.
- Drinking Contest: Naomi can engage in drinking contests with the vicar as part of a side-quest.
- Farm Life Sim: Naomi can grow herbs, produce and other items in her garden to be self-sufficient on food. All items grow in the span of a single day, and don't require watering.
- Get Out!: Essentially the response from all of Rainy Woods once they find out what Naomi has been doing for Morning Bell. Rita is just about the only person who doesn't, and even then, it's close.
- Global Currency: The pound sterling. For some reason, Naomi's debt, accrued in the United States, is calculated in £ throughout the game.
- Hive Mind: The climax of Route B involves a moss-based alien hive mind that identifies as "Simon".
- Intrepid Reporter: Naomi sees herself as one of these, waiting for her big break.
- Item Crafting: The local handyman somehow turns raw ingredients into modern materials, for a modest fee. The very first Fetch Quest Naomi embarks on requires her to find tree sap (to turn into rubber) and small animal hides (to turn into leather). Naomi gains small animal hides by transforming into a cat and mauling nearby critters. You then make a nice pair of modern running shows from the critter's hide.
- It's All About Me: Naomi can be rather self-centered, willing to take advantage of some of the town's weirder discoveries to benefit herself, though it rarely works out for her in the end. Especially not during her Darkest Hour, where she's coerced into kidnapping people to get rid of her debt.
- Lighter and Softer: Compared to Swery's previous games, The Good Life doesn't have much in the way of grisly murders, or really messed up storylines involving insanely dark themes. The game's more of a cozy romp with plenty of quirky humor.
- Mistaken for Evidence: None of the leads that Naomi finds at the crime scene has anything to do with the actual murder.
- Mythology Gag: Rainy Woods, the town name, was the
Working Title for Deadly Premonition. - Puppeteer Parasite: In Route B, David O'Reilley is revealed to have been taken over by sentient moss from another planet, which ties him to the murder scene as it also glows in the dark.
- Really Royalty Reveal: Happens several times during the story. In Route A, Lonette Burley is revealed to be a direct descendant of the Bloodwoldes who ruled over the land long ago and in Route C, Martha Berryman is revealed as a direct descendant of King Arthur himself, with the Curtana that stabbed Elizabeth revealed as the real deal.
- Sherlock Homage: Norlock Holmes intentionally models himself after the detective, and even owns a parrot named Watson.
- Shout-Out:
- During Route C, after deducing how Rudman took the Orient Express to commit a past crime, Norlock is reminded of Hercule Poirot.
- One of the drinks found in the neighboring town of Eccles is The Brexit.
- The uncommon monikers of the DrinKING and DrinQUEEN are a shout-out to Swery's own alcohol-related hashtag on Twitter, which has been used to refer to both himself and the actual act of drinking alcohol.
- Sophisticated as Hell: At the end of Route C, the spirit of the repaired Curtana requests to be returned to a lake, in order to reunite with the spirit of King Arthur... but when Naomi considers selling it instead, it gets downright vulgar in its demands, pointing out that people in the Medieval era were more prone to brutishness than politeness.
- Sprint Meter: And it runs out fast. The right foodstuffs and equipment can help extend it.
- Status Effects: Played with. Naomi can suffer from tiredness, a cold, a toothache, and other realistic 'status effects' - but treats them not by visiting a doctor, but by trading insects parts to the 'Witch' living in the woods and receiving a potion for them.
- The Unreveal:
- As it turns out, none of your leads ever actually tell you who murdered Elizabeth. Her actual killer turns out to be totally meaningless, as Elizabeth is shown to have come back from the dead.
- The reason why the townsfolk turn into cats and dogs during the full moon is never stated.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Several residents confirm having been through the northern mine for one reason or another, but none of them mention anything about Japanese cherry blossoms, a second Stonehenge marked property of the RAF and an actual UFO being there.
- We Buy Anything: Virginia Yates and other stores that have a sell function will purchase anything Naomi offers them.
- Work Off the Debt: Most of Naomi's struggles are a result of her massive debt, not helped by the terms of her contract with Morning Bell meaning that anything she finds that can potentially generate a profit is immediately confiscated by Hugh Lee the debt collector.
- World of Mysteries: The entire point of the game, as Naomi must investigate several mysteries throughout the game, and other mysteries show up in side-quests.
