After an unsuccessful Fig campaign last year, director Hidetaka “SWERY” Suehiro and his studio White Owls are once again seeking crowdfunding support for his new project, The Good Life—this time through Kickstarter. At more than a third of the USD $638,000 goal already raised, things are looking better than they did on Fig, but the project still needs all the support it can get.
The Good Life is described as a “debt repayment life simulation RPG”, which is certainly an accurate description, but one that barely scratches the surface of the game’s brilliantly quirky concept. It’s a game about a New York photojournalist who moves to a sleepy British village to pay off a huge debt, only to find that “the happiest town in the world” has its share of bizarre mysteries.
A murder case is always going to be a rock a little town like Rainy Woods, but that’s not even the strangest thing going on. On one night each month, all the residents—including Naomi, the photojournalist—turn into cats or dogs.
The Good Life, then, is about trying to find the truth at the heart of these mysteries, all while going about daily life in a small town and taking on photography jobs to pay off your debt. That means lots of exploration and photo-taking gameplay, alongside light survival elements like managing hunger, sleep, and whatnot. And then, when you transform into a cat or a dog (which one you get depends on a choice at the start of the game), you get to see a whole new side of Rainy Woods through the animals’ unique exploration abilities.
If that doesn’t sound amazing, then I don’t know what does.
In true SWERY fashion, the game looks decidedly surreal, and the charming, low-poly art style makes that all the more so. Even just from the handful of screenshots and videos we’ve seen so far, The Good Life is just overflowing with personality and identity.
In other words, what I’m saying is back this game. Pledges start at 100 yen (roughly USD $1), and pledging 3,000 yen (~$30) or more will secure you a copy of the game when it launches in Q3 2019. Higher tiers get you extra goodies, like T-shirts, soundtracks, appearances in the game, or a visit to White Owls’ office in Osaka and dinner with SWERY himself. If his Twitter presence is any indication, SWERY will be a delightful person to hang out with.
There’s still 30 days left for the Kickstarter campaign, so things look positive. That said, it’s not unusual for a project to get a lot of support in the first few days, fall off the radar, and then not meet its goal. If you want to see The Good Life hit its goal—and you really should—be sure to support it however you can.
Visit the Kickstarter campaign page for The Good Life and show your support!
