​Our Life: Beginnings & Always

In Our Life: Beginnings & Always, players will embody Jamie Last and journey through a life of his own, encountering diverse friends and forging their own paths through life's events, ultimately forging their own paths to friendship and love. The game features four stages: childhood, adolescence, youth, and adulthood. Players will encounter various events, and their choices will shape the storyline in completely different directions. Download this game and you won't be disappointed.

Story:

Jamie Last (changeable name) has spent the last couple weeks on a summertime high. At eight-years-old, nothing is better than what feels like endless days of school-less adventures, especially when you live walking distance from the beach. While coming home under a scorching sunset one fine evening, Jamie is approached by a stranger. The man is looking for a kid who can do him a favor, and he’s even offering to pay for it. He wants Jamie to please be friends with his only child. The person is Mr. Holden, Jamie’s new neighbor, as well as the father of the odd, and oddly named boy, Cove. Whether Jamie wants to play along or not, Cove isn’t going anywhere. He's present in Jamie's life for far longer than they ever would've guessed.

And then the long days of vacation finally come to an end. Summer may not be able to last forever, but Jamie can take comfort in knowing it will come back again someday…

Features:

Customizable main character with changeable first name and surname. Shape your appearance, choose your pronouns, and express yourself.

Your character changing and growing in the span of three life stages is completely up to you; including transitioning to new pronouns, gaining new hobbies, establishing your preferences, etc.

397,000 words, 16-24 hours of content in total, with loads of moments to spend time with characters as they understand you (and you, them) every step of the way.

Affect the way the boy-next-door and your potential love interest, Cove Holden, grows as he spends time with you. Whether you want to stay as just neighbors, become best friends, or develop into something more depends on you.

Highlights:

Character Customization: Design your own character and personalize their appearance to create a unique avatar that represents you in the game.

Emotional Expression: Explore a range of emotions, including sadness, anger, stress, and worry, and express them freely within the game. Receive reassurance, understanding, and support to help navigate through difficult emotions.

Choice-Heavy Story: Immerse yourself in a choice-heavy narrative where your decisions shape the outcome of the story. Experience a near-fully customizable storyline that is tailored to your preferences.

Everyday Moments: Enjoy the beauty of familiar everyday moments as you grow from childhood to adulthood. Experience the joy of simple pleasures, such as having a preferred type of drink and a caring neighbor who remembers your preferences.

Voice Lines: Enhance the immersive experience with an optional feature where the love interest says the preset name of the main character out loud through voice lines. Download the free DLC to add this feature to your game build.

Changelog:

Today Our Life version 1.7.1 went live! It fixed the errors reported for Baxter's DLC and added a handful of improvements throughout the entire game. If there are any updates beyond this, they will only be to make minor typo fixes. Our Life has reached a definitive state of completion after almost three years!

Thank you all once more for the kind messages and feedback over the dozens of months of development. It was an incredible experience. And though Our Life: Beginnings & Always won't get further DLCs, GB Patch Games will still be around to make new stories (like an upcoming Patreon bonus event)! We hope to see you around again sometime.

To celebrate finally reaching this point, we had one last promo image made.

FAQs:

Is it fun?

Y E S. I once spent half a day playing this game, for 12 hours, and never once got bored. Again, if you aren’t into visual novels then it might not be for you but for someone like me who loves them, it was peace on earth. The replay value on this game is amazing as well. If you’re like me and like to create different scenarios and personalities, this game is perfect for you. I am currently on my 10th playthrough and I’m not bored yet (plus I still have some DLC I haven’t finished!)

Is it expensive?

Absolutely not. It is completely reasonable! When you play the game and you see the beautiful backgrounds, artwork, CGs, attention to detail, and listen to the soundtrack, you definitely get a lot for the price. The base game itself is free to play but there are a few DLCs you can download for an extra $3-$4 so I’d say it’s a steal honestly!

Is it difficult or easy?

There’s not really a difficulty for this type of game. After all, the main goal is to make the choices YOU want to make in order to get the story you want. As long as you’re willing to read and just bask in the comfy mood, the game is a breeze.

Is it family-friendly?

Absolutely! There isn’t anything too spicy going on (not unless you join Patreon and download the Patreon-only moment) but other than that, it’s pretty tame. There are some romantic scenes but as I said it never really gets NSFW.

Reviews:

I’m by no means a visual novel connoisseur, this is maybe my fourth or fifth visual novel style game I’ve ever played. It’s also the first that is more grounded in reality and not dealing with sci-fi or fantasy elements in the game. That said, I really enjoyed this game, more than I really expected that I would. I loved the story, the characters, the way the game is structured as a free to play game, and just the whole positive wholesome vibe this game seems to revel in.The game made me laugh, made me cry, just made me want to be a better human being. I know that it’s definitely not a game for everyone, but that doesn’t mean it’s not extremely well done and that I loved every minute of my time with it and will be probably going back to in in the future.

the first game I've played from this developer was Our Life: Now and Forever demo and when I saw they had another game I didn't think I'd love it even more,  But I was SOOOO wrong. I immediately fell in love with the characters, plot, and art style. Our life: Beginning and always is the first Itch game that I want to spend money on! Cove is also my husband, and I would sell my soul to get him in real life.

i love this game os much i had to delete it off my other android phone because of a situation and im still crying over having to delete all my progress. WHY DOESNT IPHONE LET ME DOWNLOAD APPS UGHHH!!! this game CHANGED my life. im risking my chromebook thats ab to explode for this game because i love it so much. I LOVE COVE!!!!!!!!! he is the perfect man!!!!!

Conclusion:

Our Life: Beginnings & Always - Derek's Story is a dating simulation visual novel that lets you create a unique love story in a small beach town. Create and customize your character and grow up in a beach town, making connections with other kids and some adults. Maybe the neighbor kid will be your destiny in the future? In the Our Life: Beginnings & Always - Derek's Story add-on, you'll be able to enjoy an additional branch of the story specifically for Derek Suarez.