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
Hey Blerdy Tribe, it’s Monday and that means it’s Melanin Monday here on Blerdy Otome! Instead of bringing you another Melanin Friendly Game, I wanted to shake things up a bit this week by spotlighting some of the game developers I love who always bring us amazing diverse titles! Each of these devs have consistently brought us games chock full of great representation, telling stories that feature characters a wide range of backgrounds, identities, orientations.
Our Life Beginnings and Always is the latest visual novel release from indie game studio, GB Patch; and their most ambitious project to date. While most visual novels focus on a very specific period of time, Our Life spans years, taking players through the ups and downs of growing up in the seaside town of Sunset Bird. Follow Jamie Last (name changeable), their friends and family over several summers spanning 15 years—from childhood to adolescents to young adulthood and beyond.
A twenty-dollar bill, four summers, fifteen years, and a one of a kind life.
A chance encounter with Cove Holden, a shy young boy who moves to Sunset Bird when Jamie is eight years old becomes a relationship that spans years and like the endless summer days that make up the story is full of infinite possibilities.
It was exactly a year ago that I played the first demo for Our Life and that was all it took to fall head over heels in love with the project. So, to say I was eagerly awaiting the full release is an understatement, and this game more than lived up to my expectations! With it’s breezy seaside setting, vibrant cast of characters and charming nostalgic story, Our Life is truly a one of a kind experience.
Hey Hey Blerdy Tribe, I’m back with another Behind the Games post! For those of you just joining the party, Behind the Games is a segment where I interview the folks ‘behind the games’ I review. Giving you guys a chance to get to know the developers that spend so much time carefully crafting the games you enjoy.
Last time, I spoke with members of the Meyaoi Games team—the developers behind the Voice Acting BL game Seiyuu Danshi & the upcoming BL ranch management/dating sim Banana Ranch. This time around, I had the chance to chat with members of GB Patch Games.
Founded in 2015, GB Patch is an indie game studio who has made a name for themselves creating one of a kind experiences with each of their releases. From horror to steampunk to high school romance, you’re guaranteed to find a game that will appeal to your tastes. I have been following the studio for awhile and I have never been disappointed by one of their games, which is why I am especially excited for their newest title, Our Life: Beginnings and Always—set to release in just a few days! So with their next release on the horizon, I wanted to sit down and chat with the team about their experiences as an indie developer.
Hey there Blerdy Tribe, it’s Melanin Monday here on Blerdy Otome and that means I’m spotlighting another Melanin Friendly Game! For those of you just joining the party—every Monday I spotlight games that feature Black and brown characters for anyone looking for titles with just a bit more representation. As a blerd and a gamer, I am always on the lookout for representation in my games. This is largely a personal project for me—there are almost no “diverse game” tags on major game sites—so, it can be pretty difficult find games with characters of color… unless you already know where to look.
I skipped last week, but I’m back and I’m spotlighting a game I’ve covered before, but when you come across a game this good it doesn’t hurt to talk about it again! This week I’m covering the horror suspense visual novel Lake of Voices, developed by indie game studio GB Patch. The game follows guard for hire, Kikka, and her companion Belleme as they attempt to cross Sinnlos, a lake that’s home to gruesome monsters. The creatures that dwell beneath it’s murky depths have claimed the lives of many unfortunate travelers. In order to complete the journey, Kikka and her companion must rely on mysterious Guide if they have any chance of surviving the treacherous two day journey. However, they are not the only travelers hoping to cross Sinnlos, but with a larger group, the chances of survival are significantly decreased…
This is yet another late review (I’m slowly working my way through all my game requests), but I’ve been following GB Patch for awhile and I LOVE their games so I was going to get around to playing the demo for their upcoming slice-of-life visual novel, Our Life: Beginnings and Always, eventually. I’ve played a few of their games before and I can honestly say that each of their games is a one of a kind experience, with each new title showing off just how versatile GB Patch is as a studio. They never tell the same story twice, so you can always expect something different from their new releases.
However, Our Life: Beginnings and Always is by far their most ambitious project, spanning several years, following its characters from childhood to adulthood in what promises to be a heartwarming coming of age story. The game is currently on Kickstarter, but the campaign is set to end on November 10th, so definitely check that out! The demo covers the first two stages of the character’s lives (childhood and adolescence), but the full game will cover four different periods of life (childhood, adolescence, teenage, and adulthood). And since Our Life: Beginnings & Always is set in the same world as their earlier game XOXO Droplets expect to see cameos of a few of the boys from that game from time to time. I played through the early demo and I am already in love with this game and its concept!
Whether it is weathering an on coming zombie horde or fending off malevolent spirit, in most horror stories the ultimate goal is survival. However, even in the most hopeful horror stories, not everyone will make it through alive. Some people are just not going to get a happily ever after, which gives more weight to the narrative and the actions of the characters. Each and every choice matters, and one misstep could be the difference between surviving and dying a horrible death.
Super reassuring…
GB Patch’s Lake of Voices is built around the idea that ‘anyone can be saved, but not everyone can be’. It’s a story that forces players to accept the fact that there is no perfect solution to every problem and that sometimes, in dire situations, sacrifices must be made. Lake of Voices follows guard for hire, Kikka, and her companion Belleme as they attempt to cross Sinnlos, a lake that’s home to gruesome monsters. The creatures that dwell beneath it’s murky depths have claimed the lives of many unfortunate travelers. In order to complete the journey, Kikka and her companion must rely on mysterious Guide if they have any chance of surviving the treacherous two day journey. However, they are not the only travelers hoping to cross Sinnlos, but with a larger group, the chances of survival are significantly decreased….
Hello all you wonderful Heroes and Travelers, it’s been awhile, but…. *drumroll* It’s Thrifty Thursday and that means another Thrifty Gaming post, the weekly post series where I spotlight three games/visual novels for gamers on a budget. Whatever your financial situation, I’m here to bring you affordable games that won’t break the bank!! All of the games on this list are $10 or less (does not include limited time offers and sale items), so no more weepy wallets!
This week’s post will include links to the games and a brief synopsis, but let me stress that these are not reviews, but recommendations… so your mileage may vary! Now that that’s out of the way lets get on to this week’s list!!
This post contains affiliate links. Any purchases made by clicking on one of my affiliate links earns me a small commission that goes back towards keeping the site running. Your support is greatly appreciated!
Edit (6/29): The Kickstarter for this game was successful at meeting its funding goal. The final funding amount was $4,112 with 158 backers! The game now has a tentative release date of Summer 2017!
Hey hey guys I’m back with yet another Kickstarter campaign! This time around, I’m spotlighting GB Patch’s upcoming comedy dating sim, XOXO Droplets. I have been following this game for awhile, but in order to reach a larger audience GB Patch wants to create a free to play version of the game, so, they created this KS campaign to help raise funds.
This game is in the final stages of development and the fact that GB Patch is willing to release both a free and paid version of the game is awesome!
Hey, hey all you wonderful Heroes and Travelers out there it’s Monday, and that means another Melanin Monday post!! For those of you just joining us, Melanin Monday is a bi-weekly post series that I started for Black History Month, where I talk about Black and Brown skinned characters in anime, manga, video games, etc., but you guys loved it so much I decided to continue it!
Since this is an otome game blog, I figured at least one of these Melanin Monday posts should be about Black and brown characters in otome games/visual novels. So I compiled a list of games that featured characters with darker skin tones. This isn’t a comprehensive list of every game with dark skinned characters, but it does the trick for now. Also, most of these titles are English language visual novels since they tend to feature more characters of color than Japanese otome games… but, that’s a discussion for another day.
