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…
Download
Development log
- Our Life ORCA Merch Available Now! 🐬✨15 days ago
- Our Life Ocean Hoodie Available Now!Nov 21, 2025
- 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
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
I'm trying to load the voice version (free) but it always crashes on my phone
Sorry to hear that! When does the crash happen? And is this an Android device?
Hello, I bought the wedding DLC (unfortunately twice), downloaded, and input the dlc into game but it seems to show as ‘Not installed’. Step 1-3 dlc works perfectly well as installed except the wedding dlc (All in a same method). I’ve reinstalling the game and getting out of the game. The wedding DLC (unlike the step 1-3 dlc) automatically gives me the rpa file without needing the zip file, should it be normal? Although, I am using a device that isn’t an android.
Yes, if you downloaded the Wedding DLC off of itch.io, it should come directly as the rpa file. What kind of device are you playing on? Hopefully we can help fix this for you!
The device I’m using is between IPadOS and/or IPhone IOS.
I would love to show you how I’ve done to give you a better visual experience, but I can’t access to post photos.
1.) I used an Ren’Py app for me to be able to access the game. I went into Mod Management, chose the option called, “Import Compatibility Mod” and clicked a rpa file. It did well for Step 1-3 DLC.
2.) I clicked a DLC wedding rpa file and it shows exactly what the notification gave me, “Compatibility Mod Import Completed; Imported dlc_wedding.rpa.” It said ‘Import Completed’, as it did say the same for the rest of Step 1-3 DLC.
3.) As I went into the game, clicked the DLC info, it showed me that the, “Cove Wedding DLC: Not Installed” while the Step 1-3 DLC is ‘Installed’.
Thank you for that detailed explanation, that is helpful. Unfortunately, Our Life: Beginnings & Always is not natively supported on IOS devices, like what you're describing. If you have some additional program that helps it work, that's great. However, if there's an issue on an IOS device, there isn't really anything we can do to help, since the game is not made to work on that platform. We're sorry about that! The DLC files do work on Mac devices, as well Steam, if that helps at all. If you'd like to refund the Wedding DLC, you can contact itch.io's support page and request that, and we'll approve it when they message us. Either way, thank you so much for playing!
I see, but thank you for your time of reading this and responding. I absolutely love this game regardless, really! 🫶
Hello! Just a good Samaritan here. I wanted to help my fellow MacBook users who are having trouble downloading this game. (This is probably more relevant to users with the latest MacBooks, but I'd be happy if it helps anyone else too!)
For reference, I'm using a MacBook Neo, but I'll assume the settings are generally the same across devices.
The issue I encountered:
First, open System Settings! (I think it's just called Settings on some devices.)
Then, locate Privacy & Security. In my case, it already showed me the app that had been blocked by Apple's security settings because it was from a third-party source.
Next, click "Open Anyway." You'll be asked to enter your password afterward.
Once that's done, you should be able to launch and play the game! <3
Hope it helps!!! ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و ♡
Thank you so much for sharing and helping others! We really appreciate you!
I have a question, is this in Spanish?
Unfortunately not, and we probably won't ever be able to add any translations to the game. But we appreciate you being here!
Hi, I just downloaded the game on Android but every time I try to start a new file the game just crashes
Sorry to hear that! Is there some kind of error message you get when this happens? Another thing that sometimes causes this is your device's in-built security features, which flags executables like our game as "dangerous". You can go into your security settings and give it permission to open. Hopefully we can get this solved for you.
I get no error message it just closes, and i don't see any problem with it in security settings
Are you able to get into the "CONFIG" menu before it crashes? If so, go into there and turn off animations before attempting to start a new game. Sometimes devices have issues with those.
Unfortunately still crashes, could it be not compatible with my device or something?
Darn. Yes, sometimes devices just aren't compatible, though this is uncommon. Thank you for your patience. Hopefully you can find some other way to play.
This game made me wanting more. I am an f2p player but I'm willing to spend or support this game someday if I had the money. The effort and love put in this game is undeniable ♡♡
I have a question, would there be anymore dlcs for the game?
probably not? since there's not really much more to add on.
There will not. Beginnings & Always is fully complete, but we're so grateful you're here with us in Sunset Bird!
I see, thank you for making a amazing game! If it's okay to ask, can people make mods/add ons for the game? I know some game creators don't like it or make it possible for it.
Hello! Yes, we do allow people to make mods or add-ons, so long as they make it clear that they are not official content, and they cannot be sold for money at all. So long as those conditions are met, it's totally fine. Thank you so much for following!
Thank you so much for the reply as well GBPatch! :D
oky, im not the type of person who leaves comments (honestly idk how to give a compliment without sounding crazy LOL)
BUT this game holds a special place in my heart, Cove captivated me in an indescribable way, like, SERIOUSLY HOW CAN A CHARACTER BE SO SWEET AND ADORABLE??!! ugh, i love him so much its hurtss ;((
cof cof, anyway, when I finished the story, i was crying like a little child who had their candy stolen, it was so beautiful and at the same time so painful to have to say goodbye to him, but he lives in my little heart and i will never forget him
without a doubt, it was worth the time (and money) spent here, the DLCs are beautiful (the NSFW stuff too hihi), and if i could, i'd erase my memory just to play it again
Hi , I loved the game and wanted to buy the DLC, but the purchase never works for me. I don't know if it's an itch.io problem, but it's frustrating :(
How did you do it? Through Paypal or card?
I just verified my account and added my card to this page. It's really simple, actually. 😭
Hello! We are sorry you're having trouble. We just wanted to check, were you able to get it resolved OK? Based on your reply, it seems like maybe you did, but we wanted to make sure, in case there was something else we could do to help. Thanks so much for following!
I've already solved the problem, thankss
Great! Thanks so much for playing.
Please do a translation in Spanish 🥹
Unfortunately, we won't be able to have any translations made for the game; it's simply too big and complicated for that. We hope that isn't too disappointing, and really appreciate your support! Have a lovely day.
lurve lurve lurve lurve lurve :3
I don't know if I ever posted a comment on this, so just in case I'm doing it now. I have played OLBA since 2023 and I have replayed it countless of times. I have all the Cove's DLCs and I'm still thinking about buying the other LI's DLCs too. Let me say that this game made me really nostalgic and truly helped me during hard times, that's maybe why I have always liked it the best and still come to it to this day. I'm greatly grateful for this game and now also OLNF, both of these are dearly to me and I'm just thrilled to play them every single time. Thank you so much, GB Patch <3
Danggg i'm getting tear up! i just play this game for 8 hours but still it's not full played yet because i love replayed the moments with Cove, I'M REALLY REALLY INTO HIM<3, i might play it again and again! never getting bored!!! I love all of this, Absolutely peak. thanks to Developer for made this Good game, i hope you all always get happy as much as i play this game.
There will never be a more dear game that I've played than this one. It was such an amazing experience to behold in the week that I spent playing it. I hope for both sides of your pillow to be forever cold. <3
Will there ever be a new game like a continuation of the story? Also....did i miss the crude humor swearing and suggestive content? I mean kissing like them is not really suggestive
there are dlcs you have to pay for which continues the story a bit and one of the dlcs does include them being intimate but the free version only goes so far
Hello! There won't be any new content made for OLBA, but you may be interested in the DLCs (some include suggestive and 18+ content) if you haven't played them yet.
Theyre currently working on a second Our Life game but it takes place in a different town and new characters (a few exceptions (i.e. Baxter)) and a new MC w the same concept of growing up around your neighbors!
Hey GB Patch,
Fellow reader here, I just want to say how I ADORE this game so much! It made me really want to be in it so BAD! I fell deeply in love with the story and ESPECIALLY to COVE HOLDEN!!! 😭😭😭
You guys made me so attached to a fictional character so bad... I can't even explain how much I'm going through right now. This game has been in my list for a while now because back then it wasn't finished yet, and now I finally read it, for 2 days straight!! GB PATCH, I MISS MY HUSBANDDDDDD! 😭💔😭
You guys did an amazing job making this lovely game... It got CGS, Choices, Character Creation, and everything else (〒﹏〒)... Thank you for the comfort, memories, stories, and making Cove Holden ʕ ꈍᴥꈍʔ~💖
This visual novel deserves all the love and supports! Thank you again GB Patch!
Sending all the loves ~💖💕
Damn, I love this game, but lately I've been having a problem with it. The game somehow becomes unresponsive when I try to load a save file; it says it's some kind of Ren'Py error. I've already uninstalled the game and deleted all my progress, but it's still having the same problem. Is this a bug in the game or is it my laptop? 🚶♂️
Sorry to hear you're having trouble! What does the error message say, exactly? Can you get a screenshot of it?
I really like this visual novel so far, it reminded me of my old friend who is a bit similar to Cove. His name is Rain. He is also my childhood friend back when i was little, we met at like 3rd grade we used to play a lot he would tease me and i just get annoyed easily but no hard feelings. i really like him, we also go to the same elementary school for 4 years. i developed a crush on him when we were at 4th grade, and i always refuse that i have a crush on him...but i do regret t now that i was too late to confessed at the end of our school year in elementary. graduating and all that stuff, at that time it was valentines day. just before the lock down of Covid-19. I really did try to tell him my feelings while waiting outside the place we used to hang out and wait for our parents to pick us up. but when i got there he already gotten in their vehicle and drove off I caught a glimpse of him looking out the window and our eyes met for the last time. and just like that gone. it rained while i was staring at the direction they went to, watching the vehicle become smaller and smaller until they aren't there anymore. I told myself that maybe next year I'll tell him my feelings but that year didn't came. all schools have closed and only online class are available. i don't have any contacts with him and when i heard from my grandma (His grandpa and my grandma are friends) they moved out to their province, my heart shattered and the emotion I felt is a feeling that is hard to explain and find out at that time.
idk why i am venting. I just felt like it since the game reminded me of my own experience in childhood. LOL <3
Me encantaría que cove también fuera chica 😞
Es la novela visual más linda y hermosa que eh jugado, mi inglés es muy pobre asi que fue un poco complicado para mi jugar pero en cuanto inicié a jugar me atrapó, cada momento está hecho de una forma tan linda que te hace sentir reflejadas las emociones de los personajes, muchas gracias por crear este precioso juego, si alguien está dudando en jugarlo, que no lo haga más, vale completamente la pena y más
thank you very much much for this. This has been a great and lovely experience
I've been playing this beautiful game since release, i bought all of Cove's DLCs and have been replaying a lot of times i already lost track. I love how well written this is. Just wanted to say thank you! Congrats on this amazing hard work! Cannot wait for full release for OL Now and Forever :3
I am a little curious though, and no pressure at all- but is there any future project or DLC Cove related? I really wish to see him again!
Thank you so much for your kind words! We're glad you loved sharing moments with Cove. Unfortunately, there won't be any more content for Beginnings & Always. That story is complete, but we hope you can continue to enjoy visiting Sunset Bird whenever you want.
i just found out that Jeremy has the same birthday as me from the dlc LMFAO
Hi I loved this game but there is a problem-its because when I played it for the second time all the progress are lost. I really love this game tho🤭
i LOVED this
I love this vn sm and I love Cove :3
Hi I loved the game so much and recently purchased the wedding DLC however I just cannot get it to work :( I swear I followed all the steps even repeated the process twice with no luck, any tips?
Hopefully I can help! What platform are you playing on?
im playing through the itch.io app on my compute
Sorry for the delay. If you're on PC, could you share a screenshot of your "game" folder? That will let us look for potential issues. Thank you!
Man i restarted my 4th playthrough, and i'm wondering if there will ever be a plan to perhaps bring this out on mobile? i'd love to just play this in my bed hahaha
Yes! There is an Android version available here on itch.io. Thank you for playing.
oooh amazinnnnn!!!
This is one of the best otome games I've played. The characters are very interesting and colorful, especially Cove! He's very cute :3 Thank you ❤️
I love the game but I literally can't play anymore it won't even let me click anything before closing its self
Sorry to hear that! Hopefully I can help. Are you getting any error messages when this happens? What platform are you playing on?
I’m downloading and it’s just closing it’s not showing anything
Do you mean when you try to download it from itch.io, it fails? When this happens, can you click on the little download icon on the top bar and see what kind of error it's giving you? Usually it will say something like "Download failed", and this might help us figure out what's going wrong.
It's not saying that it's a download fail it's letting me download the game I'm downloading it from itch.io and it's letting me 100% download it but when I go to open the game it will open but as I click Start or continue it'll just close and if I go into the settings and change the stuff in the settings but the second I try to the settings out to go back to the main page will close the game
OK, I think I've got it: you can open the game itself and access the settings menu, but when you try to actually play, it closes without any messages. Thank you for that. What platform are you playing on: PC or Mac?
This game I already played a while ago and now I'm replaying! I cried a lot and I will cry again! <3
Is there any way to go back on the android version like you can using the scroll wheel on pc?
The Android version does not have a function like that.
This game is genuinely beautiful, I would recommend it to literally anyone. <3
You have no idea how much I love this game. I love that we can choose different options and advance the story based on our answers. Plus, we can customize both our character and Cove, which makes it even more amazing.
Eu amei, mais eu queria um idioma em português por favor 🥺
Hello! I translated this message, so hopefully it is correct. Unfortunately, there will not be any translations made, but we're so glad you enjoyed the game. Thank you for playing, and have a wonderful day!
esse jogo me fez chorar várias vezes, essa parte da gente "crescer" junto com o Cove me fez revisitar muito minha infância e é um sentimento agridoce. um parabéns pra trilha sonora, a arte e os diálogos desse jogo! todas as ações que você toma importam. obrigada por disponibilizarem de forma gratuita! <3
I hesitated for a long time before downloading this game, but it was definitely worth it, and I loved Cove's character as well as the way his relationship with the MC developed. I really had a great time, and I think the idea of the story unfolding over the years is so cool (even though it makes me want to see them in other seasons too.
Thanks for sharing this game !
Is there a way to transfer the save from windows to the android? I normally prefer playing visual novels on mobile, but I bought it on steam and didnt know there was a android version.
Also do I need to rebuy all of the dlcs if the original save had them?
Unfortunately, the PC and mobile versions of the game are not compatible, and the Steam version does not include the mobile version. However, the itch.io version does include both PC and mobile.
guys wtf...THIS GAME IS AMAZING HOW IS THIS EVEN FREE
i just finished it, and plan to also buy the dlcs's, i already miss it like STOP I FEEL LIKE THIS WAS MY SECOND LIFE FR