Hidetaka “Swery” Suehiro is one peculiar game designer, up in the ranks with Yoko Taro. Both of these designers’ games have a very particular charm to it, enough to garner a cult following though failed to achieve critical and commercial success.
Though Yoko Taro broke that streak last year with the release of Nier Automata, Gamer Malaya and Gamer Matters’ Game Of The Year for 2017.
Swery’s luck was not as hot. After taking a break from game development, he came back to found White Owl Studios and his first pitch post-hiatus is The Good Life. In this PS4 and PC game, players take on the role of New York journalist Naomi as she found herself in a quaint British town of Rainy Woods, working to pay off her debts. And then a murder happens. And all the townsfolk can turn into dogs, or cats.
If it sounds quirky and a little bit familiar, you’re not wrong. Swery’s past games, Deadly Premonition and D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die, all have a murder being central to the plot. And other odd shenanigans that range from creepy to goofy.
The Good Life was on Fig last year but failed to achieve the targeted funding of $1.5 million USD, only reaching 45% of the goal at $682,864- all the money being pledged returned. Swery didn’t give up, however, as he vows to take the campaign to Kickstarter, taking lessons from the failed Fig campaign.
The campaign on Kickstarter was on the verge of failure again, only raising $330,300 of its $623,759 goal as PC Gamer reported with nine days left in the campaign. An early prototype demo was then made available to drive up interest.
The last remaining days saw various Youtubers playing the prototype demo to drive up interest by the last minute, and all is well as The Good Life reached its funding goals with two days left to spare. Surely the prototype demo, however rough it may be, is enough to catch the interest of more people.
You can download the prototype demo yourself on The Good Life’s Kickstarter page.