There are many RPG adventure games, but The Good Life is memorable in its own right. It’s set in seemingly picturesque rural England, has a snarky protagonist, a cast of eccentric characters, and a bizarre story. With all this combined, you get a collection of memorable moments. Many of these are crazy, but you also get moments you simply weren’t prepared for. There’s nothing like a strange-yet-engaging story that throws all kinds of surprises at you. There are lots of moments like this in The Good Life. Let’s look at 15 of the best moments, taken from the game’s story.
The Good Life is available now on PC, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S, PS4/5, and Nintendo Switch for your regional pricing.
It goes without saying that the following contains spoilers for the game’s story. These moments are listed in the order they occur in the game.
1. THE STORIES OF DICK WHITTINGTON AND KING CHARLES’ SPANIELS
These are shown as animated storyboards, complete with a narrator. The Dick Whittington tale is told at the very beginning, while the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel story is told later. You might think that these segments are a bit random, but actually, they’re not. In each story, it talks about a particular animal. The Dick Whittington story talks about his faithful cat, while the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel story explains how the breed of dog became popular. In each of these stories, it explains the importance of the animals, back then and now. It foretells how cats and dogs are important in The Good Life, why they are central to the game and its story. The stories are interesting, and it’s nice to watch and listen to them before you dive into the game.
The two stories gives an insight into the importance of cats and dogs in the game.
2. DISCOVERING THE SECRET OF RAINY WOODS
This is one of the first crazy things you learn about Rainy Woods. Naomi Haywood, the protagonist, is a photojournalist from New York. She’s in Rainy Woods to find out why it has the title of “The Happiest Town in the World”. She’s been sent there by the Morning Bell, the newspaper she works for. She wouldn’t normally accept the assignment, but she’s got a big debt to pay off, so she has little choice.
You don’t have to wait long to find out Rainy Woods’ secret. When night falls on your first day, the town’s secret reveals itself. You’ve probably already seen the residents going about their business in town during the day. When you see all the residents as cats or dogs at night, it’s pretty bizarre. What makes it more crazy is that it’s treated like it’s something completely normal, when it’s far from it. It’s when you make this discovery for the very first time that you know you’re in for a very strange ride!
Is the answer to the Happiest Town in the World everyone turning into cats and dogs?
3. TURNING INTO A CAT AND DOG FOR THE FIRST TIME
As soon as you learn that all the residents in Rainy Woods turn into cats and dogs, you’ll probably want to do that too. Well, there’s good news: you can! In fact, the ability to transform into a cat or dog plays a big role in The Good Life.
In order to unlock this ability, you need the help of some of the town’s residents. The crazy witch lady, Pauline, gives you a special potion to turn you into a cat. To turn into a dog, you have to eat a special dish.
You’ll get used to this, but the first time is special, not to mention pretty cool!
The first time you turn into a cat and dog, it’s a special and exciting moment. When Naomi first turns into a cat, there’s a creepy scene of cats all around Naomi, meowing eerily, and then Naomi starts meowing herself before transforming into a cat. When Naomi first turns into a dog, she can hear dogs barking in the distance. Then she suddenly pick up smells that she couldn’t detect before. Then she suddenly feels full of energy and starts running around in circles, first on her two legs, then getting down on all fours, finally making her transformation.
After that, the ability to transform into a cat or dog can be done whenever you want at the press of a button. It’s something you get used to, but the first time it ever happens, it’s pretty cool.
4. BERSERK BADGER
Wait, a badger that goes berserk? What’s that all about? Early in the game, when you’re chasing answers, you encounter a badger. Looks cute, doesn’t it? As it turns out, looks are deceiving. This badger is not friendly at all, and he chases Naomi away. You have to defeat it, and the only way to do that is to transform into a dog and attack it, but it’s not easy. The badger puts up a good fight, and he packs a nasty punch.
You’ll quickly learn that these cute-looking badgers are actually big meanies!
If you think this is the only psycho badger in the whole game, like a mini-boss, think again. Badgers can be found across the map, usually in woodland areas and forests, but also near places like the big quarry. They’re quite small and hard to spot, so it’s easy to get caught out and suddenly get ambushed. You don’t want to go near one. Badgers are fast and aggressive. There’s even dramatic music that plays during a badger encounter. They will ruthlessly attack you, draining your health to zero in a matter of blows. Also, you sometimes get not one badger, but three at the same time. Now, how is that fair?! Shaking off a badger is hard, and so is defeating one, but you need to attack them for crafting and cooking ingredients.
Badgers are something you learn to dread while playing The Good Life, as much as Naomi getting sick and DrinKING battles. If you want to be ready for those bully badgers, you’ll need to pump up your defense and attack stats.
5. ELIZABETH’S DEATH
Although this moment was shown in the trailers, it’s still shocking when it happens. Elizabeth Dickens is one of the first characters you meet in the game. She’s a mysterious woman who uses a wheelchair to get around. She’s certainly a strange woman you can’t ignore. She keeps disappearing off, to Naomi’s annoyance, as she has a lot of questions for her. Elizabeth seems to be hiding something, but what exactly?
This game just suddenly got very, very interesting.
Determined to get to the bottom of it, Naomi chases after her into the woods. There, she makes a horrific discovery, something that’ll shock you to the core. Elizabeth is found floating in the river, a sword in her chest. If that wasn’t bizarre enough, Naomi captures something moving on her camera, and finds glowing footprints. This adds more intrigue to Elizabeth’s supposed murder, creating a confusing and bizarre situation. If this game wasn’t already strange, it’s just gone to the next level. Naomi’s investigation into Rainy Woods has just turned into a murder mystery. The investigation is split into three parts: A, B, and C, which you can complete in any order, and they’re all as action-packed and bizarre as each other.
6. LEARNING TO RIDE A SHEEP
Yep, you read that right. Riding a sheep. Not a horse, but a sheep. That’s one of the many quirks of The Good Life.
You get to learn to ride a sheep during Route A in the middle of the story. This is all thanks to a strange man called Samuel S. Bergman, who oddly looks a bit like a sheep himself (hint, hint!) You’ll be thanking Samuel eternally, as sheep riding is one of the best things in The Good Life. Once you get on a sheep you’ve tamed, you’ll never want to get off it. It makes travelling across the map so much easier, if you don’t have access to warping between shrines. Plus, it’s fun!
Riding sheep is one of the best things ever in The Good Life.
7. ENTERING THE OLD CASTLE
The old castle is situated east of Rainy Woods, just south of Eccles, the only other town in the game. The castle is your main goal to reach during Route A. To get there, you’ll need to pass the sheep trials, set by Samuel and Douglas McAvoy, the big armor-wearing constructor. The trials include doing obstacle course races. As you pass the trials, you’ll get closer to the castle.
When you reach the castle, you’ve got one more obstacle: a barrier that only the Legendary Sheep can go fast enough to break through. Once you tame the Legendary Sheep (who you might recognize!), it’s time to go through the barrier. What happens next is one of the coolest moments in the game. Mounted on the sheep, Naomi – and us! – are taken completely by surprise when the sheep suddenly shoots off like a rocket, so fast that he sends Douglas and Lonette Burley (the local farmer) literally flying, breaking through the magic wall. The Legendary Sheep certainly earned his title!
Is that you, Mr. Bergman?
8. DRINKING VAMPIRE’S BLOOD
The finale of Route A ends in the cellars of the old castle, where you find some vampire’s blood (aka very rare whiskey). The vicar arrives, and challenges Naomi to a round of the DrinKING game. Oh, no…!
The DrinKING game is notorious in The Good Life. It’s one of the hardest mini-games in the whole game. You have to complete five straight rounds of balancing a ball on a seesaw. If the ball falls off, you have to start all over again, and you have to skip through dialogue to do that, which takes roughly 30 seconds. Also, you get no pause in between rounds, and you can’t skip it. It’s a tough one, but practice, patience, and staying calm is key. When you come out on top as the DrinQueen, it’s a truly glorious and victorious moment!
The DrinKING game is notoriously difficult.
9. MOUNTAIN VENTURING
During Route B, you get access to a cool new area: the snowy mountains! You’ve probably been itching to enter this area since you first set your eyes on it. It’s not unusual to find snowy mountains in the UK (a bear is more unusual though!) Even with your mountain guide, David O’Reilly, navigating the mountains is not easy. As a dog, you really need to use your scent skills to stick to the right path and find your way. If you go too astray, you have to start again from the last checkpoint. It’s hard to see much because it’s thick with snow and fog, and your guide runs off ahead. It’s tough, but once you get to the top and break through the storm, it’s a good feeling. Watch out for the bear though!
This is what happens to people who don’t properly prepare to venture up the snowy mountains.
10. NAVIGATING THE OLD MINE
Venturing into any old mine is pretty creepy, but this one especially. It’s dark, abandoned, and you feel like something’s going to jump out at you. The tunnels are a maze, and you have to rely on your doggy scent to navigate. If that wasn’t bad enough, there are electric fences you have to watch out for. You sometimes have to jump over them, and if you touch them, you get points knocked off your health.
The trip into the mine is well worth it though. It’s a cool place to explore. You can find crates of dynamite (yikes!), plus a big old computer. You can do some mining there too, for crafting resources.
It’s very easy to get lost in the old mine.
11. FINDING RAF STONEHENGE
When you finally emerge from the mines, you’ll be met with an incredible sight that you will not be expecting and will blow you away. All you’ll see stretching before you is a forest of beautiful pink cherry blossom trees. It’s not that you don’t get blossom trees in the UK, but you’ll think you’ve been transported to Japan in the blossom season. The blossom trees actually have a purpose. Their presence tells you that there’s something very special about this new place you’ve found. There’s more surprises in store that lie just ahead.
If the blossoms took you by surprise, then that’s nothing compared to what you find at the end of the path. You’ll enter a secret big open area, hidden away from the world. There, you’ll find a circle of ancient stones, chickens that lay golden eggs (but only during the full/new moon), and – wait for it – a UFO! The Good Life might be full of bizarre twists and turns and eccentricities, but this takes it to another level. That tricky navigation through the creepy mine is definitely worth it, as this has to be the coolest place in the whole game.
This is the first thing you see when you emerge from the mine.
12. ALIEN SHOWDOWN
Once you discover the UFO, you’ll want to go in and explore it, and the great news is, you can! Getting in is not easy, but you find a way using your doggy abilities. It ends up with a huge plant growing out of the ground, giving you a way to reach the UFO. You have to use your nimble cat form to climb up, giving you a great view of the stone circles below and the blossom trees.
Once you’re inside the UFO, things get even crazier. You’ll be in an endless space of green grass and an eerie sky, plus hundreds of chickens. You’ll then end up in a showdown with – of all people – an alien-possessed Emma Macauley, a child from Rainy Woods, plus the ranger David O’Reilly, who’s also possessed. Emma will spawn chickens, and you have to reach her. If you hit a chicken, you die. Once you’ve done that, you then have to fight David as a dog, who is now an alien cat. As if The Good Life wasn’t bizarre enough already!
Get ready for a classic cat vs. dog showdown with a twist!
13. FINDING THE OLD SWORD IN THE ROYAL TOMB
This moment comes at the conclusion of Route C. This quest is all about a descendent of King Arthur and a legendary sword. With help from detective Norlock Homeless (and his cute parrot), you find yourself at the Royal Tomb. Here, you have to solve a puzzle to enter the tomb. There are four pedestals, and each one has a riddle. You then have to place the object the riddle is referring to. There are objects scattered around the area, and you have to work out which object goes on which pedestal. Once you manage to enter the tomb, this chapter ends with a confrontation. It’s quite funny when the spirit inside the sword starts talking to you. It’s got more sass than Naomi!
What a cool old sword.
14. DR. NICHOLAS ANDERSON THE MAD SCIENTIST
So, what happens when you finally complete all 3 routes? You get an email from the Morning Bell, telling you to go to town square. That’s when the scary debt-collector man turns up and carries you away to a strange, sinister place. You’re taken to Dr. Nicholas Anderson, a strange sinister man. He’s actually a scientist hired by Morning Bell. This guy is seriously creepy, even compared to psycho badgers and aliens. When he demonstrates his cat-dog-transforming gun to Naomi, you know this guy is seriously warped. You’re then forced to help kidnap three different residents, including a kid, for Dr. Anderson’s experiment.
This is a dark point in the story, up there with Elizabeth’s murder. You feel helpless against the mad scientist, and it’s awful when the whole town turns against you. By this point, Rainy Woods probably feels like home, and the residents have become good friends to you, if not family. Poor Naomi blames herself, feeling responsible for the mess she created for herself and the town. It’s sad seeing her so low. She’s usually cynical and snarky and sarcastic, but now she’s guilt-ridden and defeated.
Dr. Anderson is a proper mad scientist.
15. THE FINALE
It’s always a good feeling when you reach the conclusion of a game’s story. It’s interesting to see what will happen, how it’s all wrapped up, what everyone’s fates are. So, how does The Good Life end?
With Naomi feeling responsible for Morning Bell and Dr. Anderson’s meddling, she gets help from an unlikely ally, Daniel Miller. Who’s he? He’s the guy who hassles Naomi throughout the game, a rival photojournalist who likes to say, “LOBSTAH!” They cook up a plan to humiliate shady Morning Bell and take them down to save the town. This culminates in another round of DrinKING (NO!), and kicking Dr. Anderson’s butt (or more specifically his face). Watching Naomi save the town is so satisfying, not to mention heartwarming, even if it does cost her job.
By the game’s conclusion, Rainy Woods is really starting to feel like home.
At the end, you have to make a big decision; stay in Rainy Woods, or return to New York. Regardless of what you go with, you still get to play in Rainy Woods after the story’s conclusion. If you choose the second option, you get a cool new outfit!
If you thought that was the end, you get a startling surprise you probably never saw coming. Elizabeth suddenly appears, alive again, and no longer in a wheelchair – WHAT?! Then, you get another look at that photo of Elizabeth’s body that you took. Instead of Elizabeth in the photo, it’s Flora Kelly, the corrupt Morning Bell CEO! Just when you thought nothing could surprise you anymore.
Right at the end, Elizabeth’s appearance delivers not one, but two shocking twists.
That rounds up the biggest moments in The Good Life. The fact that there were 15 moments altogether shows what an action-packed game it is. Quoting from Naomi, you’ll either be saying, “Yeah, baby!” or “Seriously?!” when these moments happen. Perhaps they’ll make you question what “the good life” really means.
