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 ORCA Merch Available Now! 🐬✨85 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
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Me encanto la historia es fácil querer a cove y los otros personajes. Creo que la parte que más me gustó del juego fue la cantidad de opciones que te da ya que no se queda con una sola y eso hace que el juego tenga bastantes variables incluso sin los DLC. El desarrollo de las relaciones del juego no se sienten forzadas (cosa que amo) y tengo que decir que todos los personajes son atractivos cada uno de ellos,a mi en lo personal me gustó el papá de cove y me encanta los guiños que te permite la historia tomándolo de manera sana. Mi único problema diría que es que no esté en español y la letra del juego siento que al jugarlo en teléfono las letras a veces son difícil de distinguir lo cual dificulta el poder traducir lo aún así es muy buen juego 1000/1000. ❤️❤️
Me encantaría jugar está novela visual pero no puedo por hablar español y no saber tanto inglés:((😭😭😭
deberias usar traductores no sé si en celular funciona asi pero yo juego en pc las novelas q están en otros idiomas si buscas en youtube te dará varias opciones yo uso Luna translator
Esta fue de mis primeras novelas visuales, y de verdad me enamore de la historia y de los personajes desde el principio, sin duda la mejor de todas, siempre que vuelvo a jugarlo me emociono como si fuera la primera vez, lo amo!!!
I've been on a VN kick for the past month, and out of all the ones I've played, this is the only one that has me kicking my feet, twirling my hair, and smiling unknowingly. I don't even like beaches or summer in general, but this game has me romanticizing them now. 10/10 tell your friends bc this is peak.
I really wanted to like this game. The art is beautiful. I can tell the amount of love poured into making it inclusive.
Unfortunately, the amount of unnecessary choices this game presented me with detracted from rather than added to the experience. Too many times I found myself just wanting to read and enjoy the story but I'm presented with yet another choice about my hairstyle, type of phone strap, the flavour and topping of my ice cream.
hola, hice una fan traduccion en español, pueden verla en mi perfil!
so i have encoutered a problem whit the game audio recently after installing a new dlc and it echoes on itself and cannot be regulated (specifically the audio) ive tried closing the game and moving the dlc file but it didnt resolve the issue any help?
Sorry about that! What DLC did you install when this happened? And does all of the sound echo, or does it only occur at certain times? Hopefully we can figure out a fix.
the extra for step 1 , the echo follows the song no matter witch song is playing its constant so i often just turn the volume off
What operating system are you using? And have you already tried a fresh reinstall?
i havent tried to reinstall it so i will give that a shot but i dont quite get the operating sistem question , english is not my first language but do you mean if im using windows or linux because i am
Yeah sorry! Are you on Windows or Linux or Mac? And let us know if the reinstall works or not.
legit changed my life HOW COULD YOU END IT SO EARLY I'M DEVASTATED I'll never view love the same ever again I might genuinely need an irl Cove UUUGGGHHHHHH😭
this game literally changed me, everytime i scroll and see it on here i feel a sort of nostalgic sad/happy feeling at the same time in my soul, my stomach twirls because of how cute and beautiful it was no matter how sad it could get sometimes, it always got better. Everyone, down to that mean-spirited bowl cut kid, was so awesome in the end, and I don't know, I just can't explain how much this game changed me. was so good.
I masterfully completed the game, avoiding all the "controversial" moments. It's completely unclear why the author insists on a romantic relationship between two young children. In some places, it literally looks like a pedophile fantasy story (I wondering, how authors avoided to get a BAN on Itch platform. Such content is literally against itch.io rules). The theme, to put it mildly, is completely inappropriate for the characters' ages.
And then it's completely unclear why there's this fixation on one character (Cove), even if the player have no interest in him. I though there will be some interesting twist (they are biological brothers or something), but absolutely nothing happen. Overall, I'm surprised by how the protagonist's childhood is described. It is so dull and empty it almost put me in depression. And i thought my was boring. The rest of the story is well-written, but completely boring, lacking any intrigue or interesting twists. It's like reading an accounting book: income, expenses, debits, credits.
boooooo tomato tomato
maybe youd like the new one theyre making? plus its hard to describe different childhoods as different people might have different experiences mine for example was quite similar if not for the amount of people the same age like derek but overall games like these are rare and hard to create if you didnt like it that's ok but no need to be so angry about it
Enter the same swamp twice? Thank you, but no. I think reading the OS events log will be more entertaining than that. I already spent much more than adequate time to understand, such writing is not in my taste, And i am really don't want to find more inappropriate" content. That one was enough for me, to put that developer in personal ban.
This has GOT to be the most INSANE reach i've seen this year alone. There's nothing in the game that 'insists' in them having a romantic relationship as children, and equally, children having a childhood crush is literally normal?? I'm sure it's just not your cup of tea, but you're random assumption that "yea, this is pedophilia." is insanely damaging to a persons reputation, and It's honestly shameful.
Really REALLY wholesome, I love everything about this game.
You can't just come into my life, completely change how i view myself and my relationships, then make me feel bad for starting another playthrough
i love this game so much. thank u so much for sharing this masterpiec
I was really looking forward to this game, but every time I open it and play it for like a minute (on Android), it kicks me out of the game, and I have to restart.
Sorry to hear that! One thing you might try first is turning off animations. This can be found in the game's "Config" menu at the title screen. If that doesn't help, then do you receive any error messages when this happens? Is it at a specific point?
I turned off animations, but it still crashes, sadly. Usually it does after I'm almost done with the tutorial or at the part where you design your character. The screen just turns white, then the game crashes.
OK, thank you for that. We'll pass that along to our lead programmer and see if we can't figure something out.
Edit: OK they got back to me very quickly with a couple of suggestions. Firstly, they wanted to know what kind of device and Android version you're using. They also suggested trying to free up some storage space to see if that helps.
I wish you could make a Spanish version; Spanish-speaking fans would definitely appreciate it. This game is very good, but some people don't fully understand English
Hello! We're so grateful for all our players. Unfortunately, we are unable to do any kind of translations/localizations for the game, as it is too long and complicated. But we hope everyone can enjoy the game as much as possible. Have a wonderful day.
this was the first VN i ever played and i feel like it's the equivalent of trying to get into drugs but starting with fentanyl. i seriously don't think it can get any better than this.
This was the first VN I have ever played. What can I say? It turned me into a complete VN freak XP So yeah, this game is very special to me.
I had a pretty bad childhood but thanks to this game I got to experience a bit of a happy family life. It's peaceful and healing, it feels like a warm fuzzy blanket. I love it with all of my heart ❤❤❤
Dont buy the game on steam, GB doesnt let you prove ownership and give you access to APKs, but here you get both versions. Very lame move GB. especially to those who support on patreon, should be easier to get access to the mobile version if i own it on steam.
Edit: As stated below by the devs this comment is a bit ignorant as I do not know the industry like they do. Sorry for sending the frustration your way instead of at the way the industry operates.
Hello, we'd like to provide some context here. We aren't able to gift a key to the game on one platform if it was purchased on another platform. This is a standard practice across the industry and would complicate our relationship with Steam if we acted against it. Players can download the game on PC and mobile from itch.io if they'd like to play on both platforms. Thanks for your understanding!
Would be nice to see the dlc added to the patreon eventually then.
Thanks for the suggestion. We'll pass it to the team for consideration. Thank you so much for playing, and have a great day!
This is one of, if not, the greatest visual novel I have ever played <3
Just replayed the game after a few years and I truly didn't think I'd be so attached to Cove Holden again, but I was so wrong. I purchased all the DLC for this playthrough too and it was worth it. Thank you again for the excellent game!!
summer means replaying the ultimate summer game!!
It turned out to be an interesting story...I want to erase my memory and go through it again!
Jogo maravilhoso, adorei cada segundo. Uma das melhores e mais longas visual novels que já joguei. Todos os personagens são muito cativantes e a história é incrível e muito bem escrita :)
ALDOXITO? JJSJSKA
This was genuinely one of the most heart warming games I have ever played and it has to be my favorite RPG I have ever played. Cove is such a sweet character and every memory made was so beautiful, I could not stop smiling at every scene. Thank you so much for this game <3
Meu deus, simplesmente perfeito 😭
Hiii, So im on MacBook Neo and im having a reoccurring issue.... Every time I launch the app it shows the loading screen for around 2 seconds before it just dissapears but the background music works. Like the game is running but it isn't visible. ive been trying to fix it but I cant find a way. :(
Hello! Sorry you here you're having issues. Hopefully I can help. Are you able to see the game's title screen at all, or is it on the initial loading screen where it fails?
I need more of this, maybe a fifth dlc
preeeeeettyyyyyyy pleaseeeeeee!
unfortunately (but understandably) there wont be any more dlcs for our life: beginning & always but u can always check out gb patch's other games, such as our life: now and forever which is similar and imo super amazing <3
THANKS! I already played it and it was cool too, this is my absolute favorite, but yeah, good things have to come to an end T_T
This is my FAVORITE game in the world!!! I played it some time ago and recently I tried the dlcs and they were PERFECT ♥. I love Cove so much, I never get tired of him
I KNEW THIS WAS GOING TO MAKE ME CRY! Wonderfull project! <3
Hi! How do I download the DLCs into the actual game? I used Steam before, but it won't let me play OLBA on there anymore. I own all the DLCs and I know they're connected to the game, but I don't know how to download them. Can someone help me please?
Yes, I can help! If you still have access to the Steam version, you want to navigate to the game's directory and find a folder labeled "game". This can be reached by right clicking on the game in your Steam library, going to "Manage", and then "Browse local files". That will take you to the main folder. Inside of the "game" folder, you should see the DLCs as .rpa files, like "dlc.step_1.rpa". Take all of those files from the Steam version, and put them in the "game" folder of the itch.io version, and it should work. If you need any more help, just let me know, and thank you for playing!
Hi! are this DLC'S compatible with the Steam game or they can't be mixed?
They are compatible! You can put the .rpa files downloaded here from itch.io into the "game" folder of the Steam version, and they will still work. This includes mixing and matching from the two different versions; it's all the same files. Thanks for playing!
Awesome, thank you!
The entire time while playing this game, I did not stop smiling :) thank you making such an amazing game <3
this is a masterpiece
this game bro fuhhh such a masterpiece i will never get over it