Deadly pre-meow-nition

It's honestly difficult to think about where to start with The Good Life. It is the latest from White Owls and Hidetaka Suehiro, a.k.a. Swery.?? From its outset, you are Naomi Hayward, a photojournalist who's accrued inhuman amounts of debt. And so you've been sent to Rainy Woods, a quiet English town dubbed the happiest place on Earth, to uncover t??heir secrets using your detective skills and trusty camera.

Then the moon illuminates the night sky, and the townspeople turn into dogs and cats. And soon, so can you. The Good Life is certainly a photography game mixed into a little slice??-of-life sim, but it's also got elements of investigation, resource management, and puzzle solving.

The Good Life does a lot, but I don't really thin??k it does any of it well enough to carry it through. It's a world held aloft by its quirkiness and charm, but the way it barely fits together and often grinds its own gears into itself can wear its cheerf??ul veneer thin.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6ypIZB9ZRg

The Good Life (Nintendo Switch, PC [reviewed], PS4, Xbox One)
Developer: White Owls Inc.
Publisher: Playism
Released: Oct. 15, 2021
MSRP: $29.99

Not long after Naomi ar??rives in town, eager to uncover the secrets of Rainy Woods and learning to transform into both a dog and cat herself, she stumbles upon even more intrigue. A well-liked local is murdered, and Naomi has only a few clues to go on as she ventures out to both discover more secrets and find the killer.

This might sound like an appealing scenario for fans of Swery's Deadly Premonition, and it definitely has tinges of that, in both the small-town setting and penchant for the supernatural. But The Good Life doesn't just lea?n into the uncanny and odd, it leaps f?or it.

Over the course of about 10 to 12 hours to see the main narrative through, parts of the story can feel like they're whisking you between ever-increasing fantastical activities. The surprise of finding out just how far these go is one of the highlights, and so I'll avoid spoiling the??m; but I wi??ll say, there were multiple times where I thought a story had reached its peak absurdity, and it escalated even further.

But between its peaks of bizarre surprise, there is also a lot of just walking around. The Good Life might hit the gas when it calls for it, but on the whole, it's a game where you are moving from place to place as often as you're doin?g things in those places. And movement always costs you.

The Good Life has a constant running clock, on a running calendar complete with? moon cycles and important events on certain days of the week. Characters will be in places and, importantly, only be available for some tas?ks at certain times of the day.

You do have health, but that's honestly the meter I paid the least amount of attention to. Instead, I was usually watching my stamina, as I ran in short sprints through the English countryside; or hunger, slowly creeping down throughout the day; or my wellness, separate from my health, which? could lead to a cold or a headache if left unattended. Medical bills aren't cheap either. And at some point, I'll need to sleep too, or risk passing out from exhaustion.

The world is fairly large, with the quiet town of Rainy Woods in the center of a countryside that also contains lakes, quarries, ruins, farm??s, and even a mountain range. It's also fairly spread out, and until you get a faster means of travel part-ways into the main quest line, you're hoofing ?it (or pawing it, in animal mode).

Generally, I liked how easygoing this still felt. I would fill my quest log with little activities and tick them off as I went about my day. On my way to see one character to advance a main plot point, I could also stop off to eat some food, catch up with the quirky and endearing folks living in Rainy Woods, and take a few snapshots to boost up my social media account. Of course, it all could all fall apart thanks to a little cold or a shortage of cash, and then you're sent into a spiral trying to scrape together what you need to be healthy ag?ain and resume a quiet, easygoing rural life.

The most steady income in The Good Life comes from Flamingo, a social media app where you upload photos you take in the world and get paid for likes, or "Emokes." The photography works, and I like that there are also options for picking up additional lenses in a wide-angle and telephoto lens. There isn't much more customization beyond that, and it was really more point-and-click than something with involved po?st-processing or finicky camera cont??rols, but it fits the vibe.

It's more that the photography felt underutilized, and much like other aspects of The Good Life, starts to feel like an afterthought. The Good Life introduces a lot of ideas and then moves them aside for other ideas. At the start of the game, it seems like a mystery game where getting to know the locals and snap good shots w??ill be key. Instead, I spent a lot of time riding shee??p and tracking smells as a dog.

Most of the photo targets focus on either searching for an object or setting in the world, or in so?me cases, waiting for a person to do something so you can snap a picture of it. And getting more Emokes in general entails adhering to certain "buzzwords" that refresh twice a week. They encourage paying attention to the environment, but also feel like they could be a bit more involved. There are a lot of side quests that I could only make a fair dent in, so there might be more there as each citizen's quest line goes deeper, but I soon saw side quests as a means to earn cash rather than something I was eager to engage with.

There were also some weird cases of certain side quests not tracking what I had done unless I had them active, while others did. In general, I didn't encounter anything else majorly buggy, but the performance of The Good Life on different platforms is something to make note of. I played through the game on PC, but I did spend a few hours with the Switch version, and the difference is really noticeable. It chugs and forgoes some of the graphical features that smooth out The Good Life's graphics in the PC version, making it look and play rougher. The Good Life isn't a visual powerhouse either, but it has a certain charm to its look, and that charm comes across be?tt??er when it isn't stuttering.

By story's end, it felt like The Good Life had lost the threads of its story, as it tried to wrap up a lot of story beats while also bringing things to a close and showing how Naomi, a ??jaded photojournalist apathetic towards anything not involving money, can start to care about more than just her debt.

And even though I liked some of the quirky characters in Rainy Woods, and enjoyed how over-the-top its story beats went, and found an endearing charm to managing its many meters and side activities to become both a successful detective and titanic influencer, The Good Life feels like it spreads itself t?oo thin to make its breadth feel? impactful.

It's cool I can mine for ore, then turn it into chunks and use those to fund a home renovation, but the individual steps of that feel too similar to taking a special picture for a townsperson or gathering mushrooms for a new dish. Their simplicity makes tasks feel too repetitive after enough time doing them. There are a lot of things to do in The Good Life, but the reward is often just getting to do more of it. And in between doing those tasks, there's lots and lots of travel, unless you want to spend some cash to fast travel between the animal? shrines you unlock aroun?d the map.

There are certainly folks this will appeal to, especially if they like the feeling of checking tasks off lists in a virtual world. But even then, there are other games that do this better. Between all of the hobbies and sidequests Naomi can pick up, there's a lot to do but not quite enough to set it apart. The quirkiness of its world and characters is the one aspect that really makes The Good Life feel its own, and it has to carry a lot on its shoulders. Even exciting aspects, like turning into a dog? or cat, feel mundane after a while.

The Good Life does many things, but they never felt like they coalesced together into an experience that could stick with me. I certainly enjoyed parts of it, and some of its stranger mom??ents really do land as big, enjoyable peaks. But there's a lot of valley in-between, and while I arrived in Rainy Woods eager for a pleasant countryside escape, I didn't feel like making a return trip after the credits had rolled.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

The post Review: The Good Life appeared first on Destructoid.

Destiny 2 and The Good Life are also on deck

Xbox and Turtle Rock Studios have announced that gory multiplayer shooter Back 4 Blood will be set to spill the claret on Xbox Game Pass from day one. The Left 4 Dead successor leads a new lineup of titles ?joining the subscription service in October.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fpkwFpPyjA

Back 4 Blood will arrive on Xbox Game Pass October 12, day-and-date with its launch on PC and PlayStation platforms. And it's not the only shooter coming to the service that day, as Bungie's sci-fi expansion Destiny 2: Beyond Light will also be made available to Game Pass subscribers. So whether yo?u're in the mood for blasting ethereal aliens or the urban undead, next week will get that itch scratched.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh4y6GQK0XI

Just two days later, on October 14, Game Pass will welcome Twice Different's creepy-but-colorful roguelike, Ring of Pain, as well as Exor Studios base-building mech battler The Riftbreaker. For those of you who prefer your murder and mayhem on the quainter side, then mark your calendars for October 15, which sees the long-awaited arrival of the mysterious "debt management" title, The Good Life. Yes, Swery's tale of moggies, money, and murder is finally ready to roll.

When you consider that Bandai Namco's "brainpunk" RPG Scarlet Nexus and Spike Chunsoft's acclaimed A.I. The Somnium Files joined the service just last week �there's no denying that October is a pretty solid month for Xbox Game Pass. Oh, and these titles will replace Heave Ho, Katana Zero, Scourgebringer, Tales of Vesperia HD, and The Swords of Ditto, all of which will l??eave the service on October 15.

The post Back 4 Blood’s head-popping carnage to hit Xbox Game Pass October 12 appeared first on Destructoid.

There's a demo available right now too

If you are a multi-console owner who's been wondering which platform you should get Swery's The Good Life on, I think White Owls and Playism just made that decision a lot easier to make. As announced this morning, The Good Life will be available on Xbox Game Pass when it launches on October 15. The debt-management RPG/life-sim mystery adventure game has hit a lot of bumps in the road on its way to release, and I'm just so happy that its actual debut is only a few more weeks away. With plenty of other titles on my plate right now, I am fine waiting for 15 more days, but if you want to try it out right now, a demo is available.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh4y6GQK0XI

With the addition of games like The Good Life or Scarlet Nexus or even Marvel's Avengers, Xbox Game Pass continues to prove itself as one of the better dea??ls in gaming. As somebody who greatly misses the ability to rent games since going all digital (pours one out for his defunct Gamefly account), I appreciate just how many different games I've been able to experience this year on my Series S thanks to Game Pass.

Of course, if you don't have an Xbox, The Good Life will launch on PC, PS4, and Switch on October 15 as well. Preorders for the game are available on Xbox and Switch, and if you're a PC gamer, the demo that's on Xbox right now will be made available tomorrow as part of the Steam N??ext Festival.

The post Swery’s The Good Life to join Xbox Game Pass at launch appeared first on Destructoid.

Welcome to The Good Life

It's been a long time coming, but this fall, The Good Life will finally be in town. The latest from Hid?etaka Suehiro, or "Swery," an??d the team at White Owls hits on Oct. 15, 2021.

To coincide with the news, publisher Playism and White Owls put out a new trailer, highlighting what The Good Life is. Playing as photographer Naomi, yo?u can run around the world taking pictures and interacting with locals, while also investigating the town's mysteries. Especially the whole cats-and-dogs transformation thing.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=wh4y6GQK0XI

The Good Life has been circling around for some time, with a relaunched Kickstarter and a few delays, the most recent one pushing it into this fall window. It's been a bit? of a ro?ad to get to this release date.

That said, it's also looking pretty interesting. Going back through old trailers and screenshots, the difference between each iteration of The Good Life that's publicly surfaced is pretty notable.

It's also a good time for photography sim-style games in general. Games like New Pokemon Snap and Umurangi Generation have really reignited my interest in virtual snapshots, and the promise of a mystery to solve and som?e weirdness to work through certainly intrigues me.

With just a few weeks to go now until its new launch date, I'm sure longtime backers are looking forward to seeing what The Good Life is like too. We'll get some answers when The Good Life hits Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, ?and PC via Steam on Oct. 15.

The post The Good Life sets a launch date for October 15 appeared first on Destructoid.

The new footage suggests a repeat of Deadly Premonition 2

The long road leading up to the release of The Good Life, the next game from Deadly Premonition director Swery, doesn't feel like it's getting any shorter – but it is. A bit. The game is now being published by The Irregular Corporation (Murder By Numbers) and it's aiming for a summer 2021 launch.

This latest footage looks further along than our last check-in, but the frame rate is struggling.

The Good Life is a slice-of-life adventure game about an American photographer caught up in a strange rural English town where people – the protagonist in??cluded – can transform into animals. If you're the type of player who enjoys really settling into a new place and poking around, you mi?ght be down.

As a game, I don't have high expectations for The Good Life. As an outlet for Swery's creative characters, worlds, and stories, I'm far more interested. I just don't want a repeat of Deadly Premonition 2. There's "forgivable" and "endearing" jank, and then there's "so busted it's nearly ??unplayable" jank.

I'm not sure what to make of this ??game, and I probably won't be until I'm literally playing it.

@Swery65 [Twitter]

The post Swery’s slice-of-life adventure game The Good Life is launching summer 2021 appeared first on Destructoid.

Team Pacey all the way

Development on the Fig-failure-turned-Kickstarter-success The Good Life is humming along toward its eventual release on PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Switch. In the latest update on the title, producer Swery gave us a listen to the official theme song for the title.  Recent releases from the Deadly Premonition creator have featured some amazing soundtracks with excellent original songs, and "The Good Life" fro?m The Bad Lives appears to be no exception.

Oh yeah. That is definitely a theme song to a long-lost WB teen drama about white kids with problems in some aff?luent town in New Hampshire. That is a song that should be the backing track to every moment Meredith Grey watches the patient she got to know throug??hout the episode get wheeled off to a surgery they'll never survive.

Swery's The Good Life will come out even?tually, but until that day arrives, at least we'll have the music.

The Good Life Development News - Sept. 2020 [Kickstarter]

The post The theme song for Swery’s The Good Life sounds like it fell out of an episode of Dawson’s Creek appeared first on Destructoid.

Sharapova sighting!

Remember The Good Life? The next game from Deadly Premonition and D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die mastermin??d Swery? It... kinda slipped my mind. And by "kinda," I mean "one-hundred percent."

The idyllic adventure game about turning into a cat or dog, paying off debts, and solving a murder in a small English town made an appearance during today's Indie World Showcase. White Owls and Grounding are bringing The Good Life to Nintendo Switch, in addition ??to the previously announced PS4 and PC versions. The studios haven't committed to a release date yet – it's just "2020" for now.

The new gamep?lay footage is a step above what I've seen before. Sheep riding, anyone???

The post Swery’s The Good Life is coming to Nintendo Switch in 2020 appeared first on Destructoid.

Fur real

Swery's next game, The Good Life, promises nocturnal feline and canine adventures. That town gets wi??ld and adorable at nightfall. But, we'll have to wait a little longer for the sun to set.

In a Kickstarter update, Swery reveals that The Good Life has been pushed from the fourth quarter of 2019 to spring 2020. The reasoning is the same perfectly-acceptable logic that accompanies most delays. Swery best sums it up by saying "We only came to the decision due to prioritizing the quality of the game abo??ve all else."

And, as always, that's fine. Take your time, re??lease the game when it's ready. The added time does allow for some improvements, though. Swery points out that the visuals are significantly more detailed and the map has grown in size. Purrfect. Get them kittens lookin' as sharp as? possible.

The Good Life Development News - July 2019 / The Good Life 開発状æ³ã€€2019å¹´7月 [Kickstarter]

The post Not the cat’s pajamas! The Good Life pushed back to 2020 appeared first on Destructoid.

A silly game with a seedy side

Whether you're familiar with Swery's new game The Good Life or you've ??never heard that name before, you ought to watch this story trailer. It is a strange thing of beauty and it cr??acked me the hell up.

Deadly Premonition, D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die, and now The Good Life. We're home.

Since checking in on the Kickstarter yesterday, the crowdfunding campaign has seen quite a bit of movement. It's now up to $719K at the time of writing, with mere hours left to go. If The Good Life can get up to $800K in pledges, White Owls Inc. will also release a Nintendo?? Switch version of the game.

As I've said before, I'm happy this proj?ect exists. It's just so delightfully peculiar.

The post The Good Life’s story trailer has that trademark Swery humor appeared first on Destructoid.

Deadly Premonition and D4 creator's new game is happening

Well, that's a relief. After trying his hand at crowdfunding The Good Life on Fig last year and coming up short, Swery brought his "debt repayment daily life RPG" to Kickstarter in March. The fund drive has been a marathon, not a sprint, and I wasn't so sure it'd make its goal. But thanks to a lot of activity in the crowdfunding campaign's final days, The Good Life has surpassed its $619K funding goal.

Releasing a playable prototype for the game was a smart move, and if you haven't tried it out yet, it's not too late to do so. The Good Life revolves around Naomi, a debt-ridden photojournalist stuck taking jobs from offbeat locals i?n the small town of Rainy Woods.?? As another wrinkle, she's caught up in a murder mystery and, once a month, everyone in town turns into either a cat or a dog.

It's a mighty strange game. I'm glad it's coming to fr??uition.

As for stretch goals, White Owls Inc. has set a Nintendo Switch version of The Good Life at the $800K milestone. Barring a wild surge of last-minute pledges, that's unlikely t??o happen.

"If we do get f??unded and we miss the Stretch Goal, we will use the extra funds towards additional content for the game and we will share what these are with you in a post campaign update," said the studio. "To give you an idea, we are considering things like adding more music tracks, adding more seasonal events to Rainy Woods, creating more part time jobs/revenue generating activities for Naomi to repay her crippling debt, more outfits f?or our intrepid photographer, and so on. This way you know that whatever happens, you are building towards a better game."

Lastly, here's a photo of a very happy (and pr??obably very relieved) Swery.

Hey, Finally I am #DrinKING now.
Finished one bottle of GLENLIVET 12 years.
Ahhh I'm so happy. //t.co/Htf6Vg2klb pic.twitter.com/DwNgf5W98M

— HidetakaSwerySuehiro (@Swery65) May 2, 2018

The Good Life [Kickstarter]

The post The?? Good Life passes its Kickstarter goal with a couple days to spare appeared first on Destructoid.

Kickstarter closing soon

Hidetaka Suehiro, better known to his pals as "Swery", has released an image on his Instagram account showing a prototype build of his current project, The Good Life, running on Nintendo Switch.

Swery is quick to ma??ke clear that this isn't necessarily a confirmation of anything, just that h?is programming team are fans of the Nintendo platform and were apparently keen to explore the possibilities of adapting the unique title to the format.

"Experimenting with the Switch. We love the Nintendo Switch," says Swery of the photo. "While w??e cannot commit to making a Switch version for now, our main programmer ?couldn’t stop himself from doing a few experiments... They have been surprisingly successful so far, much to the whole team’s enjoyment… It gives us extra motivation and more drive than ever, and the will to make the campaign successful. I hope it excites you too!"

The Good Life, the story of a young woman's attempts to rid herself of debt through photo-journalism (and the ability to change into a cat or dog at will), is currently struggling on Kickstarter. As of this writing, it still needs to make a few hundred thousand dollars in its final week, so tha??t development can begin on PS4 ?and PC.

A demo is currently available for the PC version, which you can download right here. You can check out our own Ray Porreca's thoughts on the game in this preview.

The post Swery image shows The Good Life being te??sted on Nintendo Switch appeared first on Destructoid.

Sheep and stuff

With nine days left and a few hundred thousand dollars remaining, The Good Life's Kickstarter campaign's succe?ss seems questionable. The project has all the quirks of a Swery-led project: an outlandish story, nutty cha??racters, and if its prototype demo is anything to go off of, some rough edges.

In what appears to be an effort to drum up additional attention for The Good Life before its second crowdfunding stint ends, developer Swery65 released an early demo for the public. The free download (available here) comes with a note from Swery, stating while there a handful of bugs in the prototype build, he "[hopes] you'll enjoy this chance to visit the world of The Good Life much earlier than scheduled."

The prototype functions as a proof of concept more than anything. The Good Life's elevator pitch revolves around Naomi, a photojournalist, who winds up in a town that seems perfect save for the fact that its residents a?ll turn into animals. It's weird, but the premise is just out there enough to make it sound p??romising. In the demo, players can guide Naomi through a small section of town and interact with a few villagers, and offer to help them with some small-town drama. One character, for example, recruits Naomi to document an extramarital rendezvous. By searching out the couple, sneaking a well-timed photo, and passing the shot along, Naomi gets to not only be a hero but presumably also break up a marriage. Weird. 

It's worth noting that despite being rough, the prototype is rather charming. Naomi's a bit of a grump; almost to the point of being endearing. She's a fish out of water in a town overrun by sheep, and the little tidbits of dialogue present in the demo serve as a nice introduction to The Good Life's fiction. How it all comes together—if at all—remains to be seen. But for now, at least you can download the prototype and see if it warrants a contribution to the gam??e's Kickstarter.

The post As its Kickstarter winds down, The Good Life’s prototype is made available appeared first on Destructoid.

How did I get off the track?

With The Good Life's Kickstarter campaign still on-going, director Swery will be holding a Reddit AMA this Thursday to let fans get any questions in about the game. Running from 8:30 to 10:30 am PST, it won't be limited to just his upcoming game, but literally anything you want to know. Will D4 ever get a conclusion? What does FK in the coffee mean? Do you ??love me, Swery?

Oh, sorry, this isn't Reddit. I got carried away, but feel free to use my sugges??tions come Thu??rsday. I'd love to just talk to this guy, considering how insane his games are, so I'll definitely be posting something in the thread.

SWERY is going to do an AMA on Reddit! - AMA SWERYをRedditにて開催します！ [Kickstarter]

The post Swery will be holding a Reddit AMA this Thursday appeared first on Destructoid.

I go for mine, I gots to shine

Swery's The Good Life is still facing an uphill climb on Kickstarter, but Limited Run Games is hoping their pledge to make physical copies will help fund the game. White Owls, Inc. has teamed up with every physical copy buyer's favorite company to produce limited edition bundles for the $130+ tiers of The Good Life's crowdfunding campaign.

This new edition will feature the game on physical media, a tourist guide, an art book, some trading cards, a postcard autographed by the dev team and a soundtrack CD. The edition will be available for both the PC and PS4 versions of the game, so players sticking t??o one platform won't need to worry about? missing out.

My only concern is that there are 18 days left in the campaign and it still hasn't hit 50% of its goal. I'm not sure how striking a deal to make physical copies was a priority when the campaign isn't even a guarantee, but I suppose this is a last ditch effort to drum up interest. I know a lot of people respect Limited Run Games for its quality standards, so having another box from them could be enough to get that last push needed to successfully develop The Good Life. Here's hoping, because the game looks like a? trip??.

The post Swery’s The Good Life to get physical edition thanks to Limited Run Games appeared first on Destructoid.

Shaking booty, making sweet love all the night

The Good Life was an ambitious looking game helmed by Swery65 (of Deadly Premonition fame) that took to crowdfunding site Fig to get backing. It failed pretty damn hard and it seemed like the end was nigh. Swery then said he'd try again on Kickstarter the following March. If you were?? miffed the game failed and wanted to pledge support, today is your lucky day!

The game is now available on Kickstarter and has a much lower funding goal than before. The graphical style has also been overhauled and looks much better than the previous version. While the?? first two pledge tiers don't include the game, you can end up saving a few dollars on the title if you pledge $25 and land your name in the credits. The game is still scheduled for PS4 and PC with a potentia?l release date of 2019.

HidetakaSwerySuehiro [Twitter]

The post Swery’s The Good Life is relaunching its Kickstarter today appeared first on Destructoid.

Better than the life I live

Last fall, quirky game developer Hidetaka Suehiro, better known as Swery, launched his first Fig campaign to fund The Good Life, his first game since D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die. It did not go well. The campaign failed. I mean really failed. Like less ??than 50% of his lofty $1.5 million goal was met when it ended fai?led.

It was an ambitious campaign for an ambitious game. Rather than let the funding fiasco weigh him down, Swery promised to bring the game back for another shot at crowdfunding on Kickstarter. Though he said he'd launch the campaign before the end of 2017, that didn't happen. Today on Twitter, Swery gave us an update on what's happening ?over at White Owls.

Hello everyone. I have a good news for you guys.
We decided that we will relaunch of crowdfunding campaign of "The Good Life" on 26th March 2018 (PST).
See you AGAIN soon, and I love you all!!
SWERY#TheGoodLife #SweryNewGame pic.twitter.com/ANwfz7KNID

— HidetakaSwerySuehiro (@Swery65) February 8, 2018

I'm happy to see Swery is learning from the experience ??when planning this new fundraiser. As you can see from the second image he posted, a few of the refinements we'll see to the campaign include a lower initial goal, providing actual gameplay footage, and enhancing the graphical style.

I know that last point was one of much contention over the course of the game's first campaign. The Good Life's art director is Noboru Hotta, designer and director of the delightfully charming Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword. If the header image for this story -- taken from the White Owls website -- is any indication of The Good Life's redesigned art direction, he might just have a real winner?? on his hands because that is gorgeous.

The Good Life is coming to Kickstarter [White Owls]

The post Swery is? tak??ing another shot at showing us The Good Life appeared first on Destructoid.

'The only way to truly fail is to give up'

[Update: Fig has sent us a reply to explain things from its perspective. A Fig representative says that the company advised as to the risks of such a ?high goal, but that Swery "unfortunately still decided to go for the $1.5 million." Also, the email wasn't sent prematurely, but rather part of Fig's Backstage Pass program where investors are given an early heads-up about projects that are soon to be announced. The recipients are told the emails are confidential, but most everyone involved expected this one would probably leak given Swery's?? passionate fan base.

Fig's representative a??lso added "We love Swery, and we'r?e all really sad this didn't hit the goal."]

[Original story:] Barring a surprise injection of approximately $950,000 in the next five hours, Swery's crowdfunding campaign for The Good Life is going to fail. Over a stretch of 40 days, the ca?mpaign managed to raise something around $556,000 at time of writing. That really can't be considered anything other than a disappointment, as it's merely 37 percent of t??he $1.5 million goal.

Swery isn't giving up, though. In a lengthy post on Twitter, he ??explains all the things this first push got wrong. Here's the tweet (the message is spread across three of the images):

This is my final message of the FIG campaign of The Good Life.
Little bit ling, so I attuched pic.@yukiof @ryanpayton #Thegoodlife #supportswery #supportcreativedevs pic.twitter.com/VPAS2M48tI

— HidetakaSwerySuehiro (@Swery65) October 12, 2017

There's plenty of blame to go around. First, it seems as if Swery thinks that the initial leak caused a lot of confusion as to what The Good Life actually is. That's Fig's fault as a premature email blast outed the game's existence a full two weeks before it was set to be revealed. Then, Swery sa?ys that the concept trailer only added to that confusion.

Other sources are: They could've better messaged all the notable people working on The Good Life; no one rea??lly understood what the reward tiers meant for the various contribution levels; and the game suddenly featured all dogs instead of al??l cats. Swery is clearly not happy with almost all aspects of how this campaign was executed.

So, he's going to try again, but he's ditching Fig for Kickstarter. It's unclear if this is because there's already a negative stigma of failure between The Good Life and Fig, or if it's because he views Fig largely responsible for the first campaign's missteps. "The only way to truly fail is to give up," Swery w??rites.

There will be key changes this time around, though. The Kickstarter will feature a decreased goal "due to some great partners that are joining production." It's also going to better message all the unclear stuff from?? the first campaign. Swer??y's studio is even teaming up with Limited Run to produce a physical edition.

It won't be long before the Kickstarter goes into effect. The second campaign is set to launch before the end of 2017. It's clearly a game he believes in. "We refuse to give up on bringing you The Good Life," Swery?? says. He's not going to let a botched crowdfunding campaign bring the ??whole ship down.

@Swery65 [Twitter]

The post (Update) Swery’s The Good Life failed on Fig, so he’s gonna try Kickstarter appeared first on Destructoid.

The Good Boy Life

When I interviewed Swery, director of Deadly Premonition and D4, at Tokyo Game Show he told me one last thing that I couldn't include in the interview. The big update I referred to was this: The Good Life will have a dog version. Instead of turning into cats, ?dog lovers can play as dogs instead.

Swery (real name Hidetaka Suehiro) loves both dogs and cats, and when asked told me his favorite breeds are retriever and Labrador because he owns each at his temple home. If you follow Swery on Twitter, you may have seen a few hints suggesting this dog version. Multiple times when going to sleep he tweeted a GIF of an in-game dog sleeping.

I don't know if this will be enough to power the Fig campaign to completion; it currently sits at about $270,000 out of the $1,500,000 needed for funding with 15? days left to go. Swery has made excellent work in the past so I'm crossing my fingers, though he told me that even if it doesn't work out his new company White Owls has other unannounced projects in the works.

The post Swery’s The Good Life, now with dogs! appeared first on Destructoid.

Big update coming this week

At Tokyo Game Show 2017, I finally got a chance to meet and talk with one of my favorite game developers, Hidetaka Suehiro aka "Swery." He directed the masterpieces Deadly Premonition and D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die while at? Access Games, but after a leave to become a Buddhist monk he has started a new company called?? White Owls.

Their first title is The Good Life, a game that hovers between RPG, life simulation, puzzle??, and adventure genres. In it you play as a journalist named Naomi who must pay off debt while simultaneously uncovering a murder. The extra twist is that people turn into cats at night. Sound s??trange? Welcome to the world of Swery.

One of the questions I had planned to ask but considered whether or not I should really ask was what they may do if The Good Life does not get funded. Turns out I didn't need to a?sk that as it was covered in the answer to my simple warm-up question of how things are going.

"We're mostly proceeding as planned. We are a staff of 13 right now, and we are planning to do a variety of different projects. Those include both The Good Life and other projects we have not announced yet. We're doing all these at the same time and it's mostly going as planned. If The Good Life is a success, things will be perfect."

The only real question anyone in QToid presented when I asked if anyone had questions for Swery was what his favorite type of cat was. His answer was "Hachiware," which doesn't have an English equivalent to my knowledge. It's the common black and white cats, with "hachiware" meaning a symmetry shape (or in this case division of colors) on the face. You can see one below, but as to whether or not Swery's favorite cat will appear in The Good Life, he can only say "I hope so."

On the topic of game characters, I just had to know about FK. In all of Swery's games thus far (Spy Fiction, Deadly Premonition, D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die) there has been a character called Forrest Kaysen. Not the same person, but rather different, unrelated characters in their respective titles which just so happen to have the same name. Will there be an FK in The Good Life? "Maybe, you might be right."

That opened up a small discussion about his games and the rights. Although Access Games owns 100% of D4 and Marvelous owns Deadly Premonition, neither of them prevent him from using ideas like Forrest Kaysen or connecting them all in the same world which he c?alls the "Sweryverse." 

There is a lot to take in from the Fig page on how the game works, so if for no one else I wanted to ma?ke sense of a few things for my own sake. The g??ame is part murder mystery solving and part debt payment, and of course at night you turn into a cat. The murder mystery looks to be the main focus of the story, an you uncover evidence to advance the story both as a human and as a cat.

When you're a human, Naomi takes photos and talks to villagers to make reports to the newspaper firm she's employed at in order to pay off ?her debt, but she can also find clues and evidence in her photography as well as from talking with the townsfolk. As a cat, you can reach places inaccessible to humans by climbing to high locations or squeezing into narrow paths. This allows you to obtain items and evidence that you can't acquire as a human.

I asked Swery if the cats recognize each other, and while that answer wasn't clear he did reveal to me that they don't speak human languages, but only "meow meow" without any translation via subtitles. "Of course they understand each other, but you can't understand them maybe. I can understand them because I'm a cat lover." I guess it's confirmed that Swery is ??trilingual: Japanese, English, and Cat.

Although the debt repayment appears to be relatively separated from the murder mystery, Swery confirms they are "totally connected" and adds "You'll use photos and conversation notes to report to the newspaper, which is the base gameplay system and how you get paid. As you pro??gress, if you don't repay back the loan people won't talk to you because you won't be on good terms with them. As you repay the debt, you'll get along with people more and be able to talk more which advances the story b??y getting more information."

There are also part-time jobs you can do to help earn money, but you must spend your time wisely and make sure to rest by eating and sleeping or else it will negatively affect Naomi. If she is too tired, she won't be able to work and may even end up in the hospital. The cycle of "work, rest, work, rest" is crit??ical.

The last thing I was curious about with regard to uncovering the murder mystery is if the player takes on a passive role as the story unfold automatically, or if we play an active part by solving puzzles or answering questions a la Ace Attorney. "The story mostly progresses au??tomatically by showing pictures to villagers and talking with them, but sometimes there are puzzles where you will ?have to think to solve it."

Swery had two major reasons in choosing Fig over Kickstarter or approaching a larger publisher for funding. The first is what you would imagine: they don't have any say over the games design; "it's 100% Swery." The other reason, he explains,?? is that you have to pitch a game to Fig and they only start a campaigns they choose (as opposed to Kickstarter where anyone can start anything apparently). He explains that creates confidence on all sides that when a game is sele?cted and its campaign started "this is definitely an interesting game."

As a final message and pitch to those unfamiliar with Swery and his work, he says "I hope everyone loves cats, even if they don't love me. Cats are more famous t??han Swery. We're raising money from users and investors to make games that we want to make, even if?? they're not accepted by everyone. People seeking weird/bizarre experiences, we hope you support us. We want to make a great product."

He also said that there is a big upd?ate that will be announced next w?eek (i.e. this week, the last week of September) so be sure to check the Fig page every day.

The post You can’t talk to cats, but Swery can appeared first on Destructoid.

Who says work can't be fun

Swery decided to do some motion capture for his studio's, White Owls, first title The Good Life as the protagonist, Naomi. In the video he's mostly just goofing around and even a caption suggests they're not going to use the animations. One involves "sheep shearing" where he uses his stuffed monkey Public Relations Repr??esentative, Sharapova,? as the sheep.

It's not really clear if this is just a funny snippet of a longer, serious capture sess?ion, or if they just decided to goof around for a littl??e while. Either way, you have to kick back and have fun every once and a while to keep yourself sane.

The post Watch?? Swery goof around in motion capture fo??r The Good Life appeared first on Destructoid.

If they hate then let 'em hate and watch the (FIG) money pile up

Allow me a m?omen??t to tell you about a quaint little town known as Rainy Woods.

Nestled in nature and surrounded by forests in England, Rainy Woods is a happy village with happy people living amidst charming architecture fr??om the Middle Ages. The residents say they’re the happiest people in the world. They also turn into cats at night, waking the next morning with no memory of the transformation. It’s the type of place a Yank would picture when asked to describe a small town in England, complete with cobblestone streets, five pubs, and a babbling brook where the bloody body of Elizabeth, the pastor’s whe?elchair-bound daughter, has just been found; stabbed through her heart with a medieval sword.

Yes, Rainy Woods is quite the curiosity, and you know what they say about curiosity, don&rsq?uo;t you?

From White Owls, the studio founded by Deadly Premonition creator Swery, The Good Life is a Murder Mystery Debt Repayment Life Simulation RPG – probably hobby grade too – that puts players in the shoes of Naomi, a photographer from New York who is deep in debt. Her ticket out of the red is this gem of a town and the people who live there. I’ve been following The Good Life since we first got?? word of it not too long ago and I wasn’t that entertained by the initial reve??al. Now that I’ve read about its intentions, I’m in awe of its ambition.

Obviously inspired by Twin Peaks, it looks as though Swery is doing everything he can to give people a real sense of what it would be to live in a town as odd as that one. The life simulation aspects of The Good Life sound intricate. Players will have to monitor Naomi’s health and well-being, her finances, her alcohol intake and more. Apparently, you can turn her into a straight-up alcoholic if you so choose. Naomi makes money by taking pictures of residents and filing reports on the town, as well as doing odd jobs for the people who live there. The townies of Rainy Woods operate on their own 24-hour schedule similar to Deadly Premonition that can change depending on th????e weather and season.

The photography mechanic also sounds incredibly detailed with aim and focus fact??oring big into the picture quality. There’s also camera upkeep to?? worry about like buying new film, charging batteries and cleaning it. You’ll also have to buy toiletries so you don’t get sick, get a bite to eat once in a while so you don’t starve, strike up conversations with the weird-ass people of this town to solve Elizabeth’s murder, and, oh yeah, turn into a cat at night for some goddamn reason.

Of course, all of this will come to fruition if White Owls meets its fundraising goal. Swery is seeking $1.5 million in funds through FIG and honestly, with everything this game is looking to accomplish, I’m surprised it’s that low. White Owls is developing the game with Republique developer Camouflaj and G-rounding, a studio founded by Phantom Dust creator Yukio Futatsugi. 

?For non-investment backers, rewards for the campaign start at $29 for a digital copy of the game. The next tier is at $69 -- nice -- which nets you the digital download, wallpapers, soundtrack, digital concept art portfolio and digital storyline overview. Now, if you have $35k to spare, you can become a resident of Rainy Woods and eat dinner with Swery in the game. Your avatar can also be brut??ally murdered, which would be the highlight of any yearly Christmas letter.

Oddly enough, if you want to have a real dinner with Swery, that's not availa?ble in the highest tier but it is in the Swery Super Fan tier at $15k.

I am a little shocked that, at this moment, there is no physical copy rewards for the game. I imagine that will change when a publisher picks this up because we all know that's what is going to happen here. Currently, the aim is to launch The Good Life in the later part of 2019 o??n PC and unnamed cons??oles, so feel free to ready your “Switch Port Please” comments for below. [Update: It has been confirmed this game will launch for PC and PS4 first, with a Switch version maybe possibly coming via a stretch goal.]

The post Swery’s new game The Good Life promises cats, murder and mystery in 2019 appeared first on Destructoid.