Our Life: Now and Forever Demo – First Impressions

We all fell in love with GB Patch’s emotional and heartwarming visual novel, Our Life: Beginnings and Always now the team is back with a brand new game, Our Life: Now and Forever. Begin your life anew in this second installment to the lovingly nostalgic “Our Life” series. This time around, you and your mother are the newest residents of a close-knit cul-de-sac in the quaint mountain town. Make your own path through life as you grow from childhood to adulthood with your two closest neighbors. Even in the chilly autumn weather, it’ll be a truly heartwarming time.

Game Details

Genre: Slice-of-Life | Life Simulator | Heartwarming
Demo Length: 30 mins – 1 hour
Where to Play: itch.io | Steam

Story

Fall has settled over a quaint town high on a mountain as the story begins. But it isn’t only the leaves that are changing. You and your mother were leaving behind everything you knew before, having just moved into that well-worn house in the middle of a tight knit cul-de-sac. It’s there where a delicate paper airplane lands at your feet and leads you to unanticipated crossroads…
Make your own path through life as you grow from childhood to adulthood with your two closest neighbors. Even in the chilly autumn weather, it’ll be a truly heartwarming time 💕
Official Synopsis

Characters of Our Life: Now and Forever

In Our Life: Now and Forever you have the option to befriend/romance two characters: Tamarack (female – she/her) and Qiu (gender fluid – they/he). Just like Cove and the MC’s relationship in Beginnings and Always, Tamarack and Qiu’s dynamics with you will develop in a custom way over the years based on their experiences with you! You can decide for yourself how quickly or slowly your relationships develop–from love at first sight to slow burn romance or you can choose to keep things platonic and just remain friends or something different.

Our Life: Now and Forever Demo Review

New setting, the same warm cozy vibes

I fell in love with Our Life: Beginnings and Always, with it’s nostalgic, heartwarming story and characters, and immersive gameplay, I really didn’t think there was any way GB Patch could improve on the concept… and then I played the demo of Our Life: Now and Forever. The team took the feedback from the first game and put them into practice in this new title, creating another one of a kind experience.

This time around, you’re the new kid on the block, when you and your mom leave the hustle and bustle of the city for a warm rustic cul-de-sac in the cozy mountain town of Golden Grove. While out exploring you’re hit by a mysterious paper airplane with a cryptic note; curious you decide to find the owner of the airplane. The resulting adventure leads you to a fateful meeting with two neighbors who are just your age–unbeknownst to you, this is the first steps down the path of your lives. Like Beginnings and Always the story follows you, Tamarack, and Qiu the various stages of your lives, spanning twelve years from your first meeting at 10 years old all the way up to adulthood (22-years old).

Customize your own character for a truly personalized experience!

Just like in Beginnings and Always, in Our Life: Now and Forever you can fully customize your own player character for a truly one of a kind experience. There are the usual customizable features like, hair, skin tone, eye color, but the team really went above and beyond with the number of options–there are a few natural hair options, the ability to give your character heterochromia, choosing your pronouns (and being able to add in custom pronouns), your dominant hand, height, body size, and more! When I played the game on stream I legit spent 30 minutes just creating my player character and while some folks might be a little overwhelmed with the sheer amount of customizations, I really have to give it to GB Patch for striving to make Now and Forever an inclusive experience for all players. And one of the big changes between games is that your character is visible throughout the game!

Tamarack and Qiu are precious beans!

I love Cove from Beginnings and Always–he will forever be my precious soft bean, but Now and Forever‘s Tamarack and Qiu stole my heart from the first moment they blessed my screen! The demo gives you ample time with both characters and trust me when I say it’s not nearly enough time–I need more of these cuties in my life! Over the course of the story you can choose to romance or befriend them and regardless of what you decide it’s sure to be a blast.

Tamarack is just an adorable ball of sunshine and rainbows and I just wanna give her a big hug! While Qiu is a bit of a charmer, he’s the cool kid in the neighborhood everyone wants to hang out with! Also, Qiu begins the Now and Forever identifying as a boy and over the course of the story begins to question their gender and ultimately identifies as gender fluid (he/they).

This is your life, make the most of it!

Like the previous Our Life game, players can make the most of their experience by interacting with the game in the way that is most comfortable for them. There are a lot of choices in Now and Forever that shape your personality and your relationships with those around you. But, unlike most visual novels where there are obvious “bad” choices, that inevitably lead to negative there aren’t any bad choices in Now and Forever. Make whatever choices you want without fear–be blunt, be a little mean if you want, it’s okay to be yourself!

I am in love with Our Life: Now and Forever and I can’t wait to see what more GB Patch has planned for the game in the future! If it wasn’t already obvious, I highly recommend giving this demo a play if you have a bit of extra time–you won’t be disappointed. Much like its predecessor, Our Life: Now and Forever promises to be sweet, emotional story that will stay with you long after you’ve finished it and I for one, can’t wait to dive back into this cozy story!

About GB Patch Games

We’ve been around since 2015 and love Visual Novels! The team we’ve got consists of a diverse array of people. Having our projects reflect that and feel inclusive to players is a definite priority. Our games are markedly different from one another in terms of style, tone, themes, and just about every other way. We enjoy expanding our horizons, trying new things, and sharing those experiences with others.
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