Ten-year-old Franky Second (name changeable) and their mother are the newest residents of Golden Grove, a sleepy mountain town. As they explore the town on their first day, they are suddenly hit by a mysterious paper airplane. Deciding to find who threw it, this quest eventually has them meeting their new neighbors, Tamarack Baumann and Qiu "Autumn" Lin...
Our Life: Now & Forever is a wholesome visual novel currently in development. A public demo was made available on January 19th, 2022 on both Itch.io
and Steam. It is the second installment in GB Patch's Our Life series.
The game follows the MC's life and their relationships with Qiu and Tamarack over the course of twelve years through the same Steps format its predecessor introduced. Step 1 occurs when the MC, Tamarack and Qiu are ten years old, Step 2 when they're all fourteen, Step 3 when they're eighteen and Step 4 when they're twenty-two. Each Step happens over a single autumn and is divided into Moments, a returning mechanic from the previous game. However, Now and Forever also introduces new features, such as linked Moments and opportunities to change your dynamic with a respective LI partway through a Step.
The game is slated for release in 2025, and at least three waves of DLC Step expansions have been announced, as well as a wedding DLC.
Our Life: Now & Forever contains examples of:
- Childhood Friends:
- Depending on the player’s choices, the MC can be friends since Step 1 with Qiu, Tamarack, Renee, and/or Baxter. They can also choose to enter a romantic relationship with Qiu and/or Tamarack in later Steps.
- Qiu also already has an established friend group with Renee and Baxter at the start of the game, having known Renee since they were young and knowing Baxter for two years prior.
- Close-Knit Community: Everybody knows everybody in Golden Grove.
- Cool Kid-and-Loser Friendship: Qiu is the most popular kid in Golden Grove, something that stays consistent throughout the story. Tamarack on the other hand, is said to be on the lower end of the social ladder (at least in Step 2), while the MC can determine their popularity. Still, the three of you can still be close friends regardless.
- Darker and Edgier: Downplayed. While not necessarily darker, things definitely skew more serious this time around. Step 2 is of particular note, with Tamarack and Qiu mired in teenage insecurities and having drifted away from their previous friend groups, the MC being the only thing they have in common now (and possibly not even that).
- Dialogue Tree: As a visual novel, the player is able to choose from a variety of dialogue choices when interacting with the world or with other characters. The save file's sticker will also appear on the choice box.
- Everytown, America: The game takes place in the fictional mountain town of Golden Grove, Oregon.
- Free-Range Children: The kids are generally allowed to wander around without adult supervision even in Step 1, though Opal prefers that the MC tells her where they’re going beforehand.
- Friendship Trinket: The paper airplane the MC gets hit with at the start of the game can be seen as this, with the MC either trashing it, giving it to Qiu or Tamarack, or keeping it as a keepsake.
- Literally Loving Thy Neighbor: The game is about growing up alongside and potentially romancing one or both of your two next-door neighbors.
- Malt Shop: The Diner Table, a local restaurant at the edge of town.
- Shared Universe:
- While this is his native home, Baxter first appears in Our Life: Beginnings & Always as a visitor and a potential love interest with DLC.
- Pran is one of the love interests from XOXO Droplets. His best friend from that game, Jeremy, was a cameo character in the first Our Life as well.
- Shout-Out: One of the stickers for save files is a blue feather.
- Teachers Out of School: Discussed by the main trio on their way to the first day of school, if the MC asks why Qiu didn’t want Mrs. Murray as his teacher. Tamarack is shocked at the idea.
- Time Skip: While it uses the same mechanics as its predecessor, each Step is four years apart in this game. It takes place when the MC is 10, 14, 18, and 22 chronologically.
- We Used to Be Friends:
- Qiu and Tamarack no longer see each other as friends by the start of Step 2. This can also be invoked by the player if they choose to have the MC drift away from characters between Steps.
- In the same vein, Qiu's original group is also mentioned to be in the same state, with Baxter in particular having drifted apart from them as he prepares to leave Golden Grove for college.
