[Test] The Good Life

After releasing The Missing: J.J. Macfield and the Island of Memories in 2018, then Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise last year, Whites Owls Inc., Hidetaka "SWERY" Suehiro's studio , publishes on October 15, 2021 on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and Steam a third game with colorful and charming visuals: The Good Life. Launched in 2018, the project was funded by players via Kickstarter with a meager budget which nevertheless exceeded the expectations of its producer, the latter having even proudly announced on social networks that the game of his dreams could finally be realized: a routine open-world "Debt Repayment RPG". A well-known producer and scriptwriter in the video game microcosm, SWERY is also and above all renowned for his poorly optimized and graphically delayed productions. Does The Good Life fall into the traps of its creator? Does it remain exciting until the end or does it bore the player after a few hours of play? All the answers are in our test!

Oh only thing I need is money

After an animated introduction featuring old British legends, the player finds himself in the shoes of Naomi Hayward, a young New York journalist burdened with debt and sent to Rainy Woods, a remote village in the English countryside also known as "the happiest village in the world". It is also because of this astonishing name that the grumpy American is sent on the spot to investigate the secrets of Rainy Woods and write an article capable of getting her out of the financial misery in which she has gotten herself. Despite her explicit lack of interest in the countryside, Naomi is welcomed with open arms by the inhabitants of the village who immediately offer her a small house far from the other homes. Troubled by this extreme kindness, the journalist takes advantage of the tranquility of her new "home" to settle properly in Rainy Woods and keep in touch with Morning Bell, the corporation that employs her, in order to inform her superiors of the progress of its investigation by sending them photographs via Flamingo, a well-known image-sharing network that rewards the most active members. Unfortunately, the computer Naomi uses is a wreck and the internet speed is ridiculous... Boredom in all its splendor is pointing the tip of its nose.

With the worked and rather cute aesthetics of the characters, we almost forget the incongruous language of Naomi, recalling in passing that the game is not particularly aimed at a young audience.

To keep busy, the player is invited to go out and explore the surroundings, talk to the villagers and receive some advice from them as tutorials. It is mainly Elizabeth Dickens, a lovely woman in a wheelchair, who first asks the newcomer to use her skills as a photographer in order to realize her dream: to reveal the true beauty of Rainy Woods to the world. Unexcited at first, Naomi quickly changes her mind when she is offered compensation in exchange for her services.

We immediately dive into an interesting first routine: we find ourselves photographing the town from all its angles, looking for all the elements automatically framed by the camera likely to interest Elizabeth, Morning Bell and the members of Flamingo thanks to to the most popular hashtags displayed on the site and remembered by Miss Hayward after reading them once. By delivering the photos to her clients and publishing the others on the internet, the New Yorker's wallet and bank account are beginning to fill up. Very quickly, the player understands that Naomi has a hunger gauge that must be filled regularly in order to avoid a game over which, like other open world games, is not characterized by a return to the last point. backup but a one-way trip to the vet of Rainy Woods, the only country doctor available for miles around. Of course, the care granted by the doctor is not free and he will be happy to dig into the pockets of the unconscious young journalist to be sure of being paid. To avoid anemia, it is obviously enough to eat dishes capable of partially filling Naomi's stomach by ordering them at the restaurant or at the village bar, or by cooking them at home with the recipes in your backpack. and all the ingredients necessary for their preparation which, at the beginning of the game, can be difficult to find. Thus, it is in the interest of the American still unsuited to the campaign to regularly make a jump to Rainy Woods' only cash dispenser in order to withdraw a few saving pounds, but also to place money in her account in order to to prevent the veterinarian from using a little too much in his wallet.

The photos sent to Flamingo are downloaded in real time and the number of images that can be uploaded to the site is limited, thus forcing the player to regularly make room on Naomi's account by deleting photographs that do not generate no more likes, and therefore no more pounds sterling.

We quickly understand the gameplay loop which, of course, deepens slightly as the player progresses in the game's prologue: after having offered his services to Rainy Woods several times, the journalist suddenly becomes capable of transforming into a cat and a dog at will. The agility offered by his feline constitution allows him to jump on stone walls, to climb on walls marked with scratches or to hunt small animals, thus allowing him to slightly fill his hunger gauge. On the other hand, its canine form gives it increased endurance and speed, a powerful flair, as well as sharp fangs capable of repelling larger beasts such as badgers which never hesitate to pounce on people or animals on their territory. A little too quickly accustomed to this mystical power, Naomi is precipitated in one night by a lot of incredible events: all the inhabitants turn out to be therianthropes and metamorphose into cats or dogs during nights of full moon or black moon , while in one of the woods not far from the village lies the bloodied corpse of Elizabeth...

GODDAMN HELLHOLE!

While The Good Life could change course and focus entirely on the murder of Elizabeth, even if it means disappointing fans of the crazy and colorful life simulation and, somewhere, the Internet users who financed the game, the title of White Owls Inc. prefers to continue to offer its routine quests, asking the player to investigate the infamous crime by giving him the choice of three compulsory scenario routes that can be completed at any time and in any order. . A daring bias which, unfortunately, only half convinces. While each route is extravagantly scripted (understand that they are filled with capillotracted and entertaining situations), two of them offer little playful diversity, contenting themselves mainly with tossing Naomi from point A to point B in a set of mini quests like any other side mission, rarely exciting as always based on collecting specific items, hunting and taking pictures.

A fedex quest among many others...

Although not very exciting to do, these storylines are nevertheless useful for the player's progress because they allow the acquisition of new abilities that facilitate his long routes. Examples include the ability to capture, train, and ride a sheep. If the concept is amusing, the practice is much less so: to capture a sheep, all you have to do is approach it in its pasture while being transformed into a dog, then bark at the target which, inevitably, flees a few no Naomi before stopping dead and grazing again. It is then necessary to chase the beast and start the manipulation again until the total exhaustion of its endurance so that in one click, the sheep can be immediately mounted. By taking the new mount to the dedicated paddock at Rainy Woods Farm, Naomi becomes its rightful owner and can summon it anywhere and anytime to speed up her journeys through the English countryside.

You will have understood that the player is not confined to just exploring Rainy Woods and a few other important spots, he has a large open rural space to explore which does not have to be ashamed of certain other worlds open spaces offered by contemporary games with a much larger budget. Sometimes empty, sometimes furnished, the British region that we travel through offers coherent and rather pleasing rustic decorations to the eye, despite often poor textures and some clipping problems. You can almost breathe a real country air and feel really small in a "cursed backwater" of Great Britain (to quote Naomi), and this is indeed one of the main artistic achievements of the game.

To avoid starving to death or being killed by a badger, Naomi can visit one of the many shrines scattered across the region in order to teleport to one or go straight home in exchange for a few denarii. It's also possible to fast travel home via the region map, but doing so will tire and starve Naomi in addition to draining time.

Unfortunately, the addition of open world + fedex quests always results in boredom which, here, can certainly be justified by the artistic direction and the life simulation aspect of The Good Life, but these do not whitewash for so much the design and balancing flaws, nor the absurd bugs that sometimes occur. We can start with the presence of illnesses, penalties that are imposed on Naomi when the player does not take care of her: going out in the rain causes her a cold which drastically reduces the endurance bar (impossibility of running for a long time) , chewing certain foods can attack the reporter's teeth, which halves her hunger gauge, increasing her fatigue or her stress bar by never resting encourages the appearance of a migraine, etc.

These penalties are welcome because it requires the player's constant attention to the health of the young American who very often has her nose outside, a simple imprudence on her part could penalize her slightly. To cure Naomi's ailments, all you have to do is go to the veterinarian, buy or concoct medicines. Even if the onset of symptoms is abrupt and albeit a bit too random, the disease system is simple and quite effective, but one malus in particular quickly becomes unbearable: alcoholism. By ingesting a single low-alcohol drink, Naomi can become an alcoholic. Drunk, her vision becomes blurred and she can neither run, nor even speed up her walk, and once sober... Nothing changes: a slightly distorting filter continues to come alive on the screen, the anti-heroine swings always his arms towards the ground moving with abominable slowness and, worst of all, the slightest interaction (like picking up an object) can cause a softlock! Even death cannot solve this problem since all animation freezes without ever displaying the game over screen... This problem is all the more disturbing when you see that there is only one location of manual saves, that the automatic saves are very scattered and that the medical treatment to eliminate this plague is the most expensive in the game (300£)... Suffice to say that in such a situation, it takes courage if the money comes to be missed since completing a quest in such unentertaining conditions can activate the soflock.

By traveling enough and spending a little money, you unlock access to camps where you can rest, save, store items and cook... It's just like in the House !

Other ideas that look promising and fun at first glance turn out to be quite flat and useless, as is the case with territory marking. Despite the meager insistence of the tutorials on the disappearance of urine odors being done gradually after several days, urinating at certain predefined places on the map by transforming into a dog does not serve to keep away hostile fauna as one might think, but only to unlock new points of interest that allow you to unearth more or less rare ingredients.

The "team" system, team cat or team dog, is subtle, poorly explained and not always the most fruitful. Simply put, every inhabitant of Rainy Woods belongs to Team Cat or Team Dog, represented by a tiny icon above their head and, of course, by their animal transformation. By completing a mission given by a person from the dog team, for example, the relational balance tips in favor of this same side. Individuals affiliated with the dog team being mainly merchants, the New Yorker is entitled to some discounts in local shops. Certain hidden actions can also increase the relationship with one team, necessarily reducing that maintained with the other, but this does not affect the communication between Naomi and the inhabitants of the town - it is only a question of bonus. Finally, to tip the scales more quickly, just go to an altar and sacrifice some money there. Interesting but rarely useful, this team system has the merit of being present.

Even if the cameras and lenses (zoom, panoramic view, etc.) are very expensive and fragile (you have to pay for repairs in the worst case), the quality of the images captured with them can bring more people together on Flamingos. By reaching a certain number of subscribers, the sharing site offers an increase in the number of downloadable photos in exchange for a few hundred pounds. Is it better to continue saving or is it better to think about long-term profitability?

The dog's scent also seems to be put aside, but its use becomes implicit over the hours of play: by sniffing an important object in its inventory, a human or an animal, you can track down its symbolized scent on the ground by green marks. When several perfumes are confused, it is enough to switch to the first person view and to smell the different green points on the way to determine their origin and find the track of our target. Interesting, this game mechanic is mainly highlighted in the only recreational scenario route in the middle of the game since it only serves to find more quickly the trace of an animal species whose presence is indicated on the mini-map. . This can come in handy for efficiently hunting and faster harvesting of desired components and ingredients for cooking dishes, ordering concoctions from the village witch, upgrading your home and garden, or creating bespoke clothing that can improve Naomi's characteristics (increased stamina gauge, more powerful attacks, etc.). However, acquiring components can be long and laborious due to sometimes cruel random drop rates.

As an apprentice tracker, Naomi can only memorize two scents simultaneously: that of a quest object (which can sometimes be likened to that of an individual) and that of a human being or an animal. By smelling a new fragrance, we automatically forget the previous one.

That's life!

The day-night cycle and dynamic weather have become inseparable elements of modern open-world games, and The Good Life is no exception. Easy to observe, the daily life of the inhabitants of Rainy Woods is simple and quiet: work during the week, rest on weekends for some and church for others. It is by insinuating himself into the life of "the happiest village in the world" that it is easy for the player to discern the new faces, the problems that certain characters encounter and, unfortunately, those that the developers have circumvented. .

Indeed, by changing the active quest in his journal, the weather and the routine of certain characters can be altered. However, their evolution is not gradual but instantaneous. Going from pleasant sunny spells to torrential rain, Naomi's health just needs to be better... Also, finding the key character in a quest that is not active can be painful when launching the mission of which it is the objective since it can simply disappear in front of the wide eyes of the player. Even if the citizens of the town have lifestyles, these are not fixed, thus preventing the player from becoming completely familiar with their daily lives and from appropriating the game and its universe a little, in absolute opposition in Shenmue, a classic among classics, which still manages to immerse the player in the daily life of a Japanese neighborhood while forcing him in a rewarding way to know the routine of the inhabitants in order to progress. We can still memorize the smell of an important character before selecting the quest in which he is an actor in order to find his trace, but this batch of manipulations remains rather unsatisfactory.

It's not the many satirical texts that sometimes break the fourth wall that will make the quest objectives more captivating...

Add to that some slow transformations, the impossibility to go from cat form to dog form and vice versa (which is impractical when you have to combine the ability of both animals), jumps rigid and imprecise and attacks that are just as rigid (it is easier to favor the cat's stalking ability, which allows you to automatically pursue your target and kill it in one shot), characters and animals that suddenly disappear, a poor assortment of sounds (the voicelines are extremely limited, whether human or beast, which tends to tire when they are chained...), an unstable framerate with severe slowdowns in crowded places or vegetation, and we get a game that is not very entertaining despite very good ideas and script situations that are as far-fetched as they are funny, both in terms of the main plot and the secondary quests.

Even if The Good Life could clearly run on the previous generation of consoles (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3...), or even on PlayStation 2 if we remove certain visual effects and lower the resolution of screen (we can cite as proof the very good J-RPG Radiata Stories, released on the Sony console in 2005, which shares a fairly similar aesthetic), the graphic style remains charming, the character design adorable and the settings quite striking, but it's the inexcusable lack of optimization that penalizes the gaming experience - SWERY's signature or not.

Like the real thing, dog and cat photos are rapidly gaining popularity. Why not take advantage of the therianthropy of the inhabitants to post some photos of their animal appearance on Flamingo and make some easy money?

The slow gameplay and the quickly endearing characters can nevertheless hook the player who is looking to relax and clear his head without thinking too much, and despite a soft stomach in the middle of the very interventionist main plot, the last part of the scenario, it goes even further in its delusions by offering its share of new comical situations fairly well staged. The turn of events is surprising until the end and the main theme of the story is revealed and, even if it is logical, it may surprise in view of the journalist's previous adventures: the control of information via the various media, social networks, etc. Some hitherto unanswered questions then take on meaning and the still unsolved mysteries mischievously tickle the player who, in his momentum, might well want to return to the game to start and complete the very many secondary quests which, perhaps, will reveal new secrets to him about the "happiest village in the world", about Naomi's neighbors and their human quirks.

Reading her emails is important: most assign new missions to Miss Hayward, some are instructive and others often enigmatic. However, it is not possible to reply to messages.