Our Life: Beginnings & Always
A downloadable game for Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android
A nostalgic visual novel where you design your own character and grow from childhood to adulthood with the lonely boy next door. Create an experience that’s all your own in this near-fully customizable, choice-heavy story.
Our Life: Beginnings & Always is a feel-good simulation, as well as a “feel-better” one, where painful emotions such as sadness, anger, stress, and worry can all be expressed, then met with reassurance, understanding, and support.
It’s a wholesome experience that faces large steppingstones of life, while having a focus on familiar everyday moments. With notable amounts of customization for even tiny details, you can enjoy pleasures as simple as having a preferred type of drink and a neighbor who cares enough to remember what it is.
| Price: | Free-to-Play, with optional paid DLCs |
| DLCs: | The first batch of DLCs are $3.99USD each with three available, a fourth DLC that is $2.99USD released in 2022 |
| Rating: | 16+, for swearing, crude humor, and suggestive content during adult-aged portions of the game |
- 4 different periods of life to experience: childhood, adolescence, young adulthood, and fully grown
- Name, appearance, personality, and pronoun (he, she, or they) customization for your character
- Change your character's details however you like as you grow, including transitioning to new pronouns
- Shape your personality, feelings, and preferences, then see them reflected in the story as characters remember who you are
- 1 love interest, Cove Holden, whose personality, interests, and appearance will develop in a custom way over the years based on his experiences with you
- Decide for yourself how quickly or slowly the relationship with Cove develops by setting a unique dynamic; from love at first sight to last minute confessions to always being friends and more
- A welcoming, sentimental story that can easily be enjoyed over and over using new main character qualities or different connection types with Cove
- Font style and size customization. Hit the "A" key to open a screen that has text appearance options
- 397,000 words, 16-24 hours of content in total
Plus, an optional feature of having a preset name for the main character that the love interest says out loud through voice lines. Download the free DLC to add that to your game build!
The main story of Our Life from beginning to end will always be free, but if you'd like to support our group and get new scenes you can purchase optional DLCs!
And if you want even more Our Life content, you can consider joining our Patreon! There's sneak peeks for future game expansions, extra update posts, bonus art, a private backer-only Discord, and so on.
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…
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Development log
- Our Life Ocean Hoodie Available Now!33 days ago
- Our Life: Limited Time Cove Pin Set!Mar 03, 2025
- Cove Step 1 Plushie Now Available for Limited Time!Nov 24, 2023
- Our Life: Beginnings & Always - The Last Major UpdateJun 23, 2023
- Our Life: 2023 GoalsJan 01, 2023
- Our Life 1.6.1Oct 06, 2022
- Our Life Version 1.5.4May 22, 2022
- Cove Plushie Now Available (Limited Time Only)!Apr 29, 2022
Comments
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PEAK GAME
hi, is there a way to turn on the high contrast text on android, since you have to press a to do it?
Unfortunately not. We are sorry about that, but thank you for playing.
that's okay, thank you
Tbh I don't really know where to start... There's a lot good things about this visual novel. Well, firstly, it's not that rushed like some of visual novels! Like, it took me around 12 hours to finish the free version and I enjoyed every single second of it... This game gave me so much comfort and I ain't lying! Tbh I didn't cry or anything even though kind of wanted to¿ BUT I kept smiling while playing this visual novel 🥰
It's not only about in-gamelove interest.. It's about life, family and friends. I felt strange and sad when I saw how our dearest people change not only in their appearance. Their lives changed as well :( Each of them had their own pathway. But we all ended up gathering together and making some new memories :)
I am now 16yo and tbh I don't really know how my life will be. I'm afraid of facing the future... Surely Im good at some school subjects and I could think about my future profession that based on them.. but I wouldnt say it's the thing I can really enjoy and do for the rest of my life. I still remember when Cove said something about this topic. That he doesn't want to follow a life plan that someone has come up with. I still think about it... Like, we all can build our lives in the way we want.. Okay, I just don't wanna upset my family by saying that I don't like studying. I guess that's because I still haven't chosen what to do with my life and what job would I really enjoy.. Maybe I just need some time and try different things, but I feel like Im running out of it :(
I'm trying to say that.. well, it was helpful for me to see how characters' lives were going
Ooh this game truly is cozy! I already miss those characters 🥺 I wish I had a life like in this novel. Imagine you live near the ocean, have the nicest friend group and a sweet family with loving parents, making new memories together every summer.. Fifteen years pass by so quickly and you still being with the guy u met on the hill when u were kids 🥺 This is very heartwarming! Okay now I want to live in that novel.
Seriously, it gave me so much joy... I really love how relationship between mc and Cove was slowly developing.. from friends to lovers 🥰 Their feelings manifested themselves gradually.. And it all grew into deep affection and the purest love. It's a little difficult to express my thoughts. Love is such a gentle thing what is shown in this visual novel. I am very glad that we were given the opportunity to feel all this comfort. Need ocean boyfriend who's names Cove Holden ASAP
OKAY THE GAME IS AMAZING!!!!! THANKS YOU SOOO MUCH DEVS 😭😭😭
well i cried while playing this. WHY I DIDNT PLAY THIS SOONER?!?!?!? so good
i need cove in my bed right now
It's me again... I'm back in the house. I first played this game in middle school, and now I'm in college, insane to think that I keep coming back to play this game over and over again, and each time it's such a different experience as I can relate to a different step more and more than the previous or even the next. Yes, the characters are growing up in the hours that I play this game, but in the years outside in real life, I am too.
this game, is something else. I loved every second of it and am not even done just bought the "step 4" dlc aka the wedding, ASSDFSNHFNDSNE i love this game
played EVERY aspect of this game + DLCs,, the wedding had me SOBBING. truly felt loved with gen callbacks from previous moments <33 The hubby Cove
Ok so I tried downloading the game on my phone, tried to open it and it instantly disappeared, I can't find the game anywhere, not even in my Chrome downloads😞 I encountered this like a few months ago but I brushed it off thinking it was because of my old phone. But now I have a new one and I'm completely confused on what's happening
Sorry to hear that! Do you have any anti-virus/security features on your phone that might try to block "suspicious" programs? This is a problem many mobile uses face. Otherwise, do you get any error messages at all when the game closes?
I don't think I have any security features, it just instantly disappeared the moment the game downloaded, it vanished literally 😭
That does sound like an automatic security response, but I don't know what your phone might have. If you could try to see if there's some kind of "quarantine" program, or something like that, might be what's causing the issue. If not, we'll have to look into something else. Thank you for your patience!
i recently changed computers and all the saves i did are gone, i had saved the game on an usb, why exaclty is my progress gone?
Sorry about that! Actually, on Windows, there's another place where the persistent data for the game is stored other than the main folder. If you still have access to that other computer, you can find it under this file extension: C:\Users\[Your Username]\AppData\Roaming\RenPy. There should be an "OurLife" folder in there, and that has all of your progress data. Hopefully that helps, and thank you for playing!
I don’t have my old computer , we bought a new one because the other one was destroyed and we couldn’t even get to complete the startup before it died again,so I guess I lost everything but thanks for the reply, love the game!
Darn! I'm really sorry to hear that. But we appreciate you so much for playing!
amo este juego la verdad me encanta pero alguien sabe como activar los DLC en android ಥ_ಥ
I love this game, honestly, I really enjoy it a lot. But does anyone know how to activate the DLC on Android?｡°(°¯᷄◠¯᷅°)°｡
This game is sooo wonderful!!! It's one of the only romance-based visual novels I've played that doesn't feel too "rushed"...I can pursue Cove as fast/slowly as I want. The art style is beautiful, and I adore the wide range of customization. It is also very replayable as there are SO many different pathways you can take. Overall, I highly recommend it. I wish I could have discovered it sooner!!
Definately one of the most beautiful vns i have played <33
its been exactly 1 year now since i dowloaded this game, and i thought now would be a good time to finally post a review for this game. I love this game so much, its my favorite thing ever in general. I would recommend this game to anyone and i have to all my friends. I love the OST, the art, the character and the writing all so much. This game has had such a big impact on me and is easily a 10/10 for me and my favorite game ever.
Also the GBPatch youtube channel is great too and i love the Our Life shorts on there so go check that out if you havent yet
Its AMAZING! even without the DLCS, whoch i plan on buying next. :3
If you had to guess how many times was this game rated 5/5 stars by adult males?
Очень жаль, что я не могу купить дополнения к игре в моей стране! Когда-нибудь итч.ио сможет это исправить, и тогда я сыграю во все дополнения и послушаю музыку)) Бакстер мой муж 🤭
Can someone please help me?
I've been trying to buy the DLCs for two days and I simply can't. After entering my card information, the site says I will receive both the PC and Android DLC downloads, and then it says nothing. I receive nothing, nothing appears in my email or on my card statement/invoice. I would appreciate a response.
after u purchase dlcs it usually will appear on your collection page
The problem is that I don't think the purchase goes through. After entering my information, a screen appears saying I will receive the product... however, nothing else appears and nothing arrives. :(
Hello again! If you aren't seeing any invoice from your payment provider, then it does seem like something must be going on there. Unfortunately if it is a payment issue, there might not be much we can do on our end. Do you have any alternative payment methods you can test?
I love this game. but it kind of gets on my nerves that it's strictly one love interest. oh, you want another love interest? PAY for it, even if you can't afford it. Me. Real man..
Hi, I'm trying to buy the DLCs but nothing has arrived. I enter everything correctly and then nothing appears in my email or on my card statement... help
Does anyone have an idea as to why the download isn't working for me? I'm using the android download and I made pure I had plenty of space but it's not working when I click on it and and sometimes it doesn't even show up as a game. I have it on my laptop but it's currently broken so any advice? :(
Sorry to hear that! Hopefully I can help. Do you get any error messages when trying to download it? Does your device have any security features that might block downloads from "suspicious" sources? That is something that frequently comes up on Android devices.
It did download but when I tried to open it, there was an error message. I don't really remember what it said but my phone doesn't have any security features like that and the other our life game downloaded just fine
Sorry if that doesn't make any sense!
It makes perfect sense actually sense the last bulid of the game android users have reported this force close bug multiple android users yet nothing is done to fix it goes back months idk what they did on the start screen for android to force it to close but I've only got passed it once for a second it lagged then closed again i even turned off animations.
I do hope they fix this next year or after our life 2 is done because it's extremely disappointing to see a game advertised for android yet not work on it.
It kinda makes me a little bit mad but GB is a small team I just hope they eventually patch the android bug.
Yep i get an error as well whenever i open the game after a few seconds it force closes and then errors I've tried everything on my samsung galaxy they said they would look into it but it's been awhile and idk if they'll ever fix it i wish they would because I've never played this one.
The android version is completely broken alot of people are having trouble downloading it i gave them so much info and still haven't heard back on if their gonna fix whatever is causing the game to crash on android it's a shame considering this one is more popular then the second everybody talks about cove yet I can never get passed the start screen.
So sorry you're still having issue. We are aware of the problem and are looking into what can be done. If you did get an error message, could you potentially check what it was and tell us? That might help us isolate the problem. Thank you for your patience.
I think it said there was a problem passing the parcel or something?
The best visual novel on here.
*SOBS* COOOOOVEEEEEEEEEE
AHHH this game made me sob its amazing and I feel like anyone could relate to the aspect of growing up. I grew really attached to the characters and they are all written so lovely <3 I played this game for two days in a row lol. I'm so happy we have many routes so I get to replay over and over never getting bored but all these characters have a special place in my heart now.
I loved this game so much, still one of my faves ♡
Please release a DLC to add languages :(
"Maybe one day we will be related, leagally anyway." Yes, Elizabeth, yes we will. I didn't buy the wedding DLC for nothing.
Man... that game rules ! ✨
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how do I install on iPad?
Unfortunately, the game is not supported on Apple mobile devices, like the iPad. It's something we want to do in the future if we can, but aren't able to right now. Sorry about that, but thank you for your interest!
don’t worry I’ve installed it on my phone and (currently broken) pc but I found a way to stream it on the iPad ! Thanks for the reply anyway!
Wonderful! We're glad you found a workaround. Thank you so much for playing, and have fun.
I’m super into visual novels, been playing ‘em for a while now.. but dude, I’d never played one this good before. This game’s insane, like amazing! You can play it a bunch of times and it still feels like the first run. I didn’t even finish it yet and I was already restarting just to feel it all over again! You really get attached to the characters, it’s like you’re right there with ‘em. When you finish, bro, that EMPTY feeling hits hard, you’ll 100% wanna dive back in. Straight-up masterpiece, easily the best visual novel I’ve ever played <3 I LOVE COVE MY OCEAN BOYYY <33 (((warn tho; u will cry, nojk 🩵
this is so reall lmao
coveeee
I don't really like visual novel games (save for class of '09) but this is SUCH A FIRE GAME!! i love this game so freaking much! i also really liked picking songs from different game soundtracks and playing them over certain scenes, it was so fun! (in case you were wonding i mainly picked; persona 5, persona 4 and timespinner's OST's). also this game really helped me get better with wording certain things and flirting with my boyfriend which i (formerly) sucked at! the story is compelling, the characters are likeable and deep, i LOVE the amount of choice you have in this game, the customization is amazing, the amount of heart and world building this game has is amazing! would recommend totally!!
omg my heart <3
Why other devices has less downloadable size than the Android?
I literally just made an account to write a review and holy shit hands down the best visual novel I've ever played. I spent almost 7 hours playing this and I don't even know HOW to explain on how much I love this game sm I really wished I could deleted my memory and play this game for the first time again
this game is so good I cried and I'm definitely gonna cry again
This game is so amazing and I love everything! I appreciate all the work that was put into the game and all the DLCs! I wish I could go back and play it all again for the first time or lose my memory of it just to rediscover and play again <3 Cove is so precious 😢
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This game great thanks !