Game review - The Way of Life: Free Edition

Karl Smith
Aug 13, 2017
3 min read

[CyberCoconut]

Developer: CyberCoconut
Publisher: CyberCoconut
Genre: Simulator
Original release date: June 1, 2016
Platform(s): Windows, macOS, Linux
Reviewed on: macOS

Throughout the days of existence, we think about a lot of different things, but not so much about the way of life itself. Then comes a reminder in the form of a game known as The Way of Life, reminding us not only about life, but how video games can be viewed as an interactive art form.

This free edition of The Way of Life gives us a serviceable sample of whats to come with this project in the future, including three experiences, nine levels and twenty possible outcomes. Each experience is separated into an emotional theme, whether it's happiness, fear, or anger. The themes contain three levels each, with each one in the perspective of a child, an adult, or an elderly. Some of them would delve down into serious topics such as love and death.

The different points of view of each age is what makes this experimental game stand out, with each of them allowing the player to experience life as child, adult, or elderly. It can be bring out to a nostalgic childhood time where you pretend to be a superhero or overcome the nightmare monster, or cheering up your arguing parents. It can bring a desiring need for the stuff you dreamed of getting as an adult, or fearing for your family. It can bring the dread of elderly life and near-death with a close encounter with the devil. Combine those experiences with thought-provoking quotes shown on the loading screens, and you get an experience that is both fascinating and emotional.

[CyberCoconut]

When it comes to integrating the gameplay aspect into it's bold concept, Italian developer CyberCoconut were successfully able to come up with interesting game mechanics. The entire game is set in a first-person perspective to give the impression that it is you who is experiencing all these events unfolding. Each of the levels do vary with the tasks you do, whether it's a fetch quest to make your parents happy again, escaping from a evil nightmare, or immersing yourself in your dream.

One of the more unique ones is one where you pretend to be a superhero. As fun and nostalgic as it sounds, it does require you to choose whether to save your parents or the city people, hence bringing in some moral value that makes you think. The twenty possible outcomes of these minigames also provide some replay value. For example, if you do fail one minigame, you'll probably get the feeling of determination to succeed, like wanting to outrun the monster. My only criticism with these games that a few can bring in frustration due to difficult precision.

The Way of Life makes creative use with the popular Unity game engine. Although the character models look very blocky with no expression, the simplicity of the visuals work in the game's favour to provide an artistically-pleasing experience. The simple modeling make objects easy to distinguish, and the use of colour and lighting is used uniquely with each level to set a dream-like feel, further enhanced with nice music. One standout would have to be the happiness level in the adult's perspective, which features a long stairwell in the sky surrounded by floating doors, which symbolizes the many possible pathways you can take during your life.

With its creative design in concept, execution, and presentation, The Way of Life: Free Edition is a fascinating experimental game that makes you think again of human life, along with using it's thought-provoking themes in it's game design. The Free Edition may only provide about 30 minutes worth of content, but it has gotten me intrigued into checking out the upcoming expanded Definitive Edition which is releasing next year for Steam and the Xbox One. For now, give the Free Edition a try on Steam for free here and see what you think.