DLCUNREAL LIFE Original Soundtrack "Sound of the Mind"Loading store offers
UNREAL LIFE
Unreal Life builds its puzzles around a night-time search and memories that connect objects’ pasts to the present. If that story-led, solo adventure suits you, it costs ≈ $7.74 at 
Kinguin; the Steam version supports full controller input. Its appeal is following the mystery around Miss Sakura and the girl, not a multiplayer mode established by these details. At $19.99 on Steam, the same offer at Kinguin costs less by ≈ $12.25; Steam identifies its activation platform.
All-time low ~ $7.49across Steam & third-party stores
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Price History
Past 36 months · Updated dailyHistorical Low~ $7.492024-09Current Low Across Stores~ $19.99GamersGatevs. Historical Low+167%
Prices cover Steam and 39 authorized stores; only legitimate offers are counted. The chart shows weekly market-wide lows and Steam's official price across the past 36 months.
DLC
01About UNREAL LIFE
A girl who has lost her memories can recall only one name: Miss Sakura. Accompanied by a talking traffic light, she sets out through a mysterious night-time city to find her. Her ability to read the memories of objects she touches turns the past and present into clues, as she solves puzzles and follows the trail toward her own story. Steam players rate the game 95%% positive across 1,873 reviews. The Steam PC version supports single-player and full controller support. Supported interface languages: Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, English, Japanese, French, Italian, German, Spanish, and Korean. Released November 19, 2020.
Credits
Developer
hako life · hako 生活
Publisher
room6 · yokaze
Lowest recorded in 36 months
$7.492024-09-23 · GamersGateBase game · same records as the chart above; USD history, not a regional Steam low.Language support
| Language | Interface | Subtitles | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simplified Chinese | Yes | Yes | — |
| Traditional Chinese | Yes | Yes | — |
| English | Yes | Yes | — |
Show 6 more languages
| Language | Interface | Subtitles | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese | Yes | Yes | — |
| French | Yes | Yes | — |
| Italian | Yes | Yes | — |
| German | Yes | Yes | — |
| Spanish | Yes | Yes | — |
| Korean | Yes | Yes | — |
Steam PC edition data · 2026-10-19
02Before you buy
Play and controls
The Steam PC version supports single-player and full controller support.
Language
Listed supported languages have subtitles; full audio is not indicated.
03Frequently asked questions
What is Unreal Life about?
A girl who has lost her memories remembers only the name Miss Sakura and sets out to find her, accompanied by a talking traffic light.
How do the puzzles work?
She can read the memories of objects she touches and solve puzzles by comparing past and present.
Who joins the journey?
The adventure follows the girl and the traffic light through a mysterious night-time city.
Popular Steam reviews
Native-language selection · 10 reviewsSelected helpful reviews in this language show both recommendations and criticisms. This selection does not represent the overall positive rating; opinions reflect the version reviewed.
RecommendedSteam player
My playtime: 14.5h (based on Steam, 100% achievement) Grindy Achievement(s): Yes (1+ achievement). Optional Achievement(s): Yes (33 achievements). Difficult Achievement(s): No. Intro You wake up in a place you don't recognize. Greeted by a traffic light, you tried to remember what was happening. It turns out that you have a unique ability: reading an object's memory. As unreal as it sounds, UNREAL LIFE tries to help you make sense of everything through a series of adventures and events. Pros: - Multiple endings, with variations of bad endings and one true ending - Cleverly-executed puzzles - Subtle hints in case you're stuck Cons: - Unable to skip cutscenes - People who have trouble with flashing lights can't fully experience the game Should you buy this game? Yes. If you like to play atmospheric games, buy this at a sale. People who have problems with flashing lights should avoid this game since the game isn't as good as it is with some options turned off. In-Depth Review Visuals The developer spends a lot of effort crafting beautiful, quality cutscenes. Some scenes show the beauty of the night sky while others show what the main character is feeling from close range. Food images look so carefully made that I couldn't believe that it was a pixelated image at first. Every scene does a good job in supporting the story, combined with the relaxing music that is running in the background. Blurry effects are applied on the screen, whether it's just to make a certain area stand out or create a cool-looking effect for the cutscenes. The game relies on a lot of transitions in its cutscenes, some can leave you shocked with the inverted images and flashes of red colors at intense moments. People that have problems with these can soften the red color in the option with the downside of making the scene to be less effective. Moreover, since the option affects all red colors in the game, some scenes will look weird with the faded color. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2441881358 Story The story is a relaxing one, set in a place where people are helpful and empathetic to your actions. Every character gives a positive vibe through their attitude and kindness, supporting you whenever you are down or helping you to enjoy the moment. Reading the interaction between characters warm my heart, especially when accompanied by the relaxing music that is playing in the background. The storytelling is wonderfully done with the combination of visuals and music to let you drown in the story. Sometimes, an intense moment kicks in, changing the scenery into one full of effects and transitions. The fast-paced music also helps to set the mood with its upbeat tone, increasing the intensity. The ending is told in a similar manner, although instead of an intense moment, it crafts a touching scene instead that is fit for an ending. Some people will find a small part of the ending not to make any sense, although luckily, it won't affect the overall experience. The Game Gameplay The game is focused on reading memories of an object to progress. Your hidden ability to read an object's memory by touching it will help you to solve various tasks, ranging from looking a lost object to finding a hidden area. There are some limitations though - some objects have no memories that you can read while other objects can't be interacted with until they are discovered. Fortunately, they are quite easy to discover as long as you spam the space button and/or pay attention to the dialogues. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2441881785 Puzzles and Minigames The rest of the gameplay is focused on the usual adventure games where you have to pick up items and use them to pass through the area. Most problems that you will have to solve has the same theme as the building you are in. It's nice to see how puzzles are related to the corresponding area while still being unique at the same time. Most puzzles and minigames are easy to solve except for a select few. I found the last one to be the trickiest because not only does it cover a huge area, but it also requires you to use the mechanic from a previous area, something which never happened in other puzzles. It's still easy to solve as long as you are attentive enough, but if you happen to get stuck, the game offers subtle hints in the form of memories that you can read. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2441883206 Length and Replayability I finished the game in 9.7h after experiencing all the bad endings. Although the game only offers one manual save slot, it has an extra checkpoint slot that you can load before the story branches off. A hidden secret can also be found after you finished the game, which might take a long time to find due to its randomness. I found it to be a waste of time though, especially since there isn't much that you can learn from the secret. You'll also be left with more questions than answers, giving more reason not to look for them unless if you are an achievement hunter or the curious type. Problems Despite the game requires you to restart the game several times, you can't skip the cutscenes. Some parts of the game will lead you to a bad ending and the unskippable cutscenes can take a significant amount of time if you don't know how to bypass it. Moreover, checkpoints tend to be placed minutes before the story branches off, wasting more of your time. Lastly, the game isn't very clear whenever it autosaves your game. I had to save manually whenever I took a break from the game because of this. Specs Intel Core i5-9300H 2.40GHz, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Conclusion The game has a lot of elements that complement each other. The nice-looking visuals, the calm and relaxing music that can heat up in intense moments, the superb effect - everything blends well to make the story stands out. The detailed cutscenes are done well to capture the emotion that can't be portrayed with a simple portrait and character animation, while portraits are expressive enough to handle simple expressions. The game is designed with quality in mind and although it can be slow sometimes, the relaxing music helps you to savor the moment. This game was reviewed with a key provided by the developer for free through Reviewers' Paradise, a group that connects both developers and reviewers in one place Visit SaveOrQuit.com for detailed game reviews, posted daily!Show moreShow less
14.5 hours at review145 people found this helpful
Received for free
Not recommendedSteam player
A lot of work and creativity went into this game, and I hate to speak negatively of it, but unfortunately I don't think I can recommend it. I love the AI traffic light concept and execution, and the overall feel of the world is quite good. The game would benefit A LOT from a run button. It would take far less time to complete if you didn't spend so much of it moving slowly from place to place. The puzzles are fine in concept, but often very tedious to execute because of how slowly everything moves combined with having to redo things you mess up. The story has some neat ideas and was decent overall, but there were also some weird aspects that felt arbitrary or out of place. Trying to figure out what the story is getting at also felt kind of unrewarding because often when the reveals finally come, they feel unpredictable and partly out of nowhere (to be fair, maybe I'm just not observant enough). The biggest problem by far though is that I spent 8 hours on this game and it felt more like 4-5 hours of content moving in slow motion. Leaving a negative review only to provide info to other gamers and hopefully constructive criticism to the dev. I still think they did very impressive work, game development is hard!Show moreShow less
8.2 hours at review67 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
The game vaguely reminds me of Yume Nikki and Strange Telephone due to thematic similarities, but in the end, I think it managed to be something completely different - I don't want to compare it directly to Undertale, but I got those narrative vibes as well. Unlike its exploration-based relatives, UNREAL LIFE is somewhat of a linear game, but the areas tend to loop around into the hub when using waypoints, occasionally involving some backtracking and optional achievements (including a game within a game). It took me about 6 hours to get 2 bad endings on the same playthrough, that said I am missing more than half of the achievements and probably other endings as well. Despite its modest art style, I think the locations and the world design were very good, granted the game settings are very limited for the price. The writing and characters were the highlight of the experience for me, I would say I enjoyed about 95% of the dialogue and world-building, despite being a very text-heavy game. The game tells a story in a unique way where the character can extract memories from the objects that she touched, unlocking potential hints that you will need to solve puzzles. Your room works as a hub area to which you can return for manual saves or the minigame, additionally to connecting all areas with a waypoint system, but you don't have to worry too much about those as the checkpoints are very frequent. Generally, the gameplay is just exploring 2D levels, picking up items, and occasionally solving creative sequence puzzles. The character keeps track of 3 different memories that may contain clues if you managed to miss them - it's hard to do because the important text is color-coded. I want to give the devs credit for actually putting some originality into puzzle mechanics, they were fun and not difficult enough to drag the game down. However, when the character learns about a hidden item from the memory, you have to click in the correct spot with no indication, which is perfectly fine, I only wish I realized it sooner. For any Yume fans out there, the game works as a psychedelic visual candy, with many dream-like environments and themes to navigate. In a way, playing through this game reminded me of the first time I finished watching Spirited Away, the journey so immersive it left me in a state of melancholy. Do you ever get a feeling that you changed as a person after finishing a game? Pros: + fun characters, enjoyable narrative + multiple endings and optional achievements + creative puzzle based on memory mechanics + nice variety of locations + awesome soundtrack Feedback: Some Nitpicks - I ended up playing on a controller, but if you are using a mouse you have to drag the character around, it would be nice to have the clicking option instead - if it has one I don't know how to activate it. I was slightly confused by the main menu controls when using a controller, but if you can't figure out the buttons you can select the options with the mouse. I wish you just had the visual Q like "new game", "load game" and so on. Sometimes to progress you may have to talk to characters multiple times, so just make sure that you exhaust all dialogue before moving on. On a side note, you can softlock the game if the water turtle pushes you against the platform (not a big deal, reload 10 second checkpoint). Overall, I don't have any real issues with the game, mostly the story felt like sliding on a big stick of butter. Overall Thoughts: 9/10 Is it worth $20? Well, it's a really good game for this niche genre if you like those types of ambient/psychedelic games like Dreaming Sarah - it feels bigger and more ambitious than most. There is no question that devs put so much love into the project, but it's still a niche game at the end of the day. My skepticism slowly faded away as the game kept being compelling in the storytelling and enjoyable locations. As someone that plays many games that occupy the same space, I can't really imagine a game that offers much more than that. For me, it was a special game, and by 'special' I mean like it hit a nerve, got pretty personal. Review By: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/Show moreShow less
10.1 hours at review60 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
I couldn't find any enjoyment or emotion from this. I guess it didn't "click" for me, and ultimately I decided I just don't see a point in going on. There are some strange emotions involved here - the main character is quiet for the most part, but she has flashes of strong feelings every now and then. It's very "Japanese" - repress until you burst. It's not how I personally experience emotion, so this is rather hard for me to relate to. The visuals are on point. The developer clearly has great understanding of colour and perception. The plot is surreal, which is fine, but it's so disconnected from anything I can grasp onto that it just melted away into gibberish for me after a while. The characters are very flat and tropey, at least they were for as long as I played. Quiet, amnesiac girl, and a chipper AI who wants to help and experience more of the world. You know the types. All of this would've been more or less forgivable if the gameplay itself was engaging - but it really isn't. It feels a little like a poor man's version of Ghost Trick, in the sense that you need to explore and analyse how the objects themselves fit into the scene (their memories are the key). It felt very much like work and I got no satisfaction from solving the puzzles. I imagine I'm just not the target audience. Which is a shame, I love such experiences.Show moreShow less
1.5 hours at review7 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
Unreal Life Unreal Life is a well presented and quirky pixel art adventure that left me with more questions than answers. Unreal Life is an odd and unusual title with bizarre characters and an overly complicated story. Presentation is superb with gorgeous artwork and animations but I didn’t connect with the characters as much as I wanted to. Hal wakes up from unconsciousness, lying on the side of the pavement under a traffic light. The traffic light starts to speak to her and is concerned for her welfare. Hal cannot remember what happened. All she can recollect is a name. For some reason she remembers a woman called Miss Sakura. They decide that the only way to unravel this mystery is to locate Miss Sakura and see if she can shine any light on proceedings . https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2348531808 Overall Impressions🤔 My overwhelming emotion at the end of the game was confusion. I think the story baffled me so much that it left me perplexed and it was difficult to appreciate anything else. The game actually ended three times for me and after the first time it was so bizarre and abrupt that I suspected something was wrong. It was only after a bit of research that I found there were three endings and I continued the game from my last save to see the others. I think this needs to be made clearer as the subsequent endings actually added another forty minutes to the game and revealed some crucial plots that at least made a little sense to the proceedings. I grasped the game was going to be weird after the first conversation with a traffic light. Other characters are just as offbeat, including a piece of moss that is a chef, a smoking penguin that drives a train, and a mouse engineer. I quite welcome a slice of oddity and quirkiness and it fits into the story quite well. The characters, although endearing and incredibly helpful, didn’t really tug at my heart strings as much as other people have suggested. We didn’t get to know much about their lives or backgrounds, apart from the main character, and they mainly served as pawns in puzzle solutions. I didn’t feel completely disconnected from the characters but, apart from the traffic light, moments with other characters are fleeting. I quite enjoyed the puzzle sections. They were reasonably difficult in places but made even harder by confusing instructions. At first, we are told that objects will be highlighted if useful, but later when I got stuck, after examining literally everything in the level, it turns out you can discover objects by clicking on them! Most puzzles involved a fair bit of backtracking initially. This is alleviated later by the introduction of portals which will teleport you to areas visited. It can get a little disorientating sometimes, working out where you need to go and how to get there, especially if you have left the game and returned later. There is no map and you have to rely on previous conversations or memories to remind you where you left off. I would definitely recommend you play the game in as close to one sitting as possible. I would also say that the complex story and reasonably difficult puzzles would steer this title away from a younger audience. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2345094877 The GUI was terrible I thought. The character can move by mouse movement or by keyboard input. I preferred to use the mouse for movement but it was very troublesome. You press and move the mouse right or left but doing this often accidentally initiated conversations with characters or examined objects. There is no skip button but you can fast track dialogue. It happened so much that it was annoying. The save mechanics are also quite frustrating. On numerous occasions I turned off the sound accidentally whilst trying to save a game, including the emotionally charged ending! Inventory items are very cluttered and close together and it is easy to select the wrong item. It all added to the frustration levels. The presentation of the game was superb however, and there were some wonderful moments and animations. The look and feel of the game appears very professional and a lot of work has clearly gone into this side of the project. Music was very melodic in places although tunes frequently cut out and were abruptly replaced with sound effects or other tunes. This was noticeable on quite a few occasions and broke immersion. Unreal Life has a complicated and confusing story which left me wondering what really happened. It is difficult to really enjoy and connect to a story that isn’t fully comprehensible. Characters were a bit shallow but likeable and there was a positive vibe of co-operation and team comradery throughout. The presentation of the story was amazing and the aesthetics, music and enjoyable puzzles were enough to keep my interest until the end. I still think there is enough here to warrant a recommendation, especially on sale, and I am sure lots of people will connect more with the characters and enjoy the story more than I did. Gameplay🕹️ Hal possesses the power of extra sensory perception and can read memories of objects she touches. Her ability to read memories helps her find use of the objects she studies. Along with the help of the traffic light she is able to distinguish between objects that have memories and objects that are useless. In other words, objects that are highlighted can be read and made use of. Examining these objects may reveal clues to puzzles she needs to solve to progress. For example, studying the plant reveals that it has been moved and therefore reveals a hidden entrance. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2342329205 Everything she does gets documented in her diary under Things she touched, things she heard or her thoughts. Things she touched shows the objects memories and gives a before and after view; Things she heard shows all dialogue conversations between characters and her thoughts are all the cut scenes she experienced so far in the story. The three things are very helpful to remind you of the story or have a recap to try and understand what is going on. Objects can also become discoverable by moving the cursor on them and pressing the mouse button. Once they have been discovered then they can be manipulated. There are quite a few puzzles in the game which are sometimes quite complex and take a bit of reasoning. Usually these can be solved by examining everything but they can be quite difficult. I was quite impressed with the originality and intricacy of them. There is no voice acting in the game but speaking is mimicked using a Morse code like sound. The dialogue is displayed neatly in a box below the characters which can be fast forwarded but not skipped. All the inventory you collect gets put in your handbag. You must select an item which is then put in your hand to use. Gameplay is basically going around talking to characters, examining objects to reveal memories and solving puzzles to get to destinations. There are quite a lot of achievements but most of them make no sense and would be impossible to achieve without a guide. Graphics 📺 Very impressive graphics with a beautiful feel, clever animation and well-drawn pixel art. Sound 🎵 Music tracks are beautiful but tunes are repeated quite a lot and abruptly end breaking immersion. Conclusion🍳 Unreal Life looks amazing and has surprisingly challenging puzzles to complete. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had hoped due to the complex and mostly incomprehensible story but the atmospheric journey was still entertaining and I would certainly recommend it to a more mature audience who like pixel art adventures. Curator Info: Visit SaveOrQuit.com for detailed game reviews, posted daily! Thanks to reviewers Paradise for providing the key.Show moreShow less
14 hours at review40 people found this helpful
Received for free
Not recommendedSteam player
Let's start with what i liked : the visual are nice, the atmosphere are nice. Then, with the thing i don't like. i did not finish the game, i stop at the museum : the elevator killed my will to play, the museum make you run around to find the thing you need, and it expect you to take the elevator who is super mega slow everytime.. it was such a drag so : i spoil myself watching a playthrough Everything in this damn game is super mega slow for no reason : Why the turtle puzzle is so slow?? i knew exactly what i needed to do, but it was SUCH a SLOW process.. why the museum make you go on those elevator who are so slow? why make a game around doing back and forth and not make a run button ? People are glazing the story, but... it is SO basic, it is just told in a very asiatic way, but, imo, in a bad way basicaly "figure out yourself, i'm so damn important that i don't need to explain my story". The NPC as well are... BLAND ? so bland.. the main character as well is so generic. With all the people glazing this game, i forced mysel to continue, to keep going, even after just one hours of gameplay i didn't wanted to continue. I DO NOT recommand the game, for me.... it might be pretentious, idk, but for me people saying it's the best game ever etc, said those, because it's might be their first type of game like this. Oh and i should say that over the years, i tear up pretty easly.. while watching the game, i.. didn't at all. it's was way to shallow for me.Show moreShow less
3 hours at review4 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
Unreal Life follows an aberrant story that manages to burrow into our hearts for an emotionally charged experience. Showcasing its pixel graphics, systematic puzzles and engrossing narrative, it is a title I highly recommend to all story lovers, Pros + Utterly bizarre story and characters that slowly begin to make more sense as the game progresses. + Ability to see the memories of items. + Somewhat challenging and diverse, yet rational puzzles. + Captivating and eloquent soundtrack. + Differing endings with automatic spare saves before the story branches off. Cons - Some earlier endings feel extremely abrupt. - Awkward controls. - Jittery music transition, often stopping and starting rather bluntly. Story: An Emotional Journey of Self Reflection and Moving Forward A young girl awakens on a sidewalk, having forgotten not only why she was there, but all memories up to that very moment. Unaware of her surroundings, she can only remember her name "Hal" and the name "Miss Sakura." Without much to go on, she sets out on a journey to discover who this Miss Sakura is and why can she only remember her name? Why is she so important? Hal is not alone, she is guided by a friendly companion, a talking, AI traffic light named 195. Yes, indeed, a traffic light is one of the main characters and is vital in the protagonist’s long journey ahead. Right from the beginning, when 195 is introduced and the quirkiness of the game is revealed, it only becomes more questionable from here. With an empathetic talking moss ball for a chef, penguin train conductor and a mouse engineer, it is quite the opposite of normal. Yet, even with these extremely bizarre characters, their amiable willingness to aid Hal and assist her in her quest is refreshing. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2518472920 The story will not make any logical sense in the first few chapters and that is intentional. After a while, flashbacks and more memories will begin flooding in, allowing players to make some sort of sense about the current events, forming a connection between now and the past. One may not think that a talking traffic light could ever evoke such poignant responses, but Unreal Life proves this wrong. Its well-designed characters are genuine, and they made a lasting impact on me, perfectly setting up for the emotional ride that is to come. Once the story is all pieced together, prepare for a heart-rending rollercoaster, and finally understand why Hal lost her way. Gameplay Typical of most adventure games, players must find and use items to proceed, coming across some difficult puzzles along the way. Different mechanics are introduced throughout the game, but the most prominent feature is Hal's ability to see the memories of objects around her, after touching them. If an object has memories associated with it, there will be a prompt after clicking on it. This lets Hal view the area around the object from its memory and compare it with how it currently is. This interesting mechanic was quite commonly used in deducing puzzles and was rather useful in obtaining more information about the world. The puzzles are typically logical but sometimes they can involve a fair amount of thought, specifically in the last few sequences. Players get to control a dog via a whistle or avoid the fish crowd by enticing a penguin over with shrimp which acts as a sort-of shield. There is also a fair amount of backtracking involved in some areas. Whilst it was not an enormous amount, sometimes I did not realise how to progress because an object I needed was back in a different section or the hints were just too obscure to be of any assistance. Hal can always organise her thoughts by going through the thoughts log which keeps track of all things she has interacted with, as well as her thoughts on these objects. This can act as a sort of clue and guide players in the right direction as well as giving a more extensive background to the fantastical world and explore other characters and side plots. Multiple endings I came across 2 "bad" endings on my playthrough. The first time the game ended so suddenly that I thought there was a glitch and was quite confused. Luckily, the game autosaves a "spare" save file just before the story branches off, allowing players to easily load from this point and continue forward. The game is also littered with Steam achievements and these bad endings are necessary to 100% the game, although they certainly do not provide any closure on the games somewhat complex narrative. For a full understanding of the events, both past and present, I highly recommend all players to continue to the "true" ending (where the credits roll). https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2518474259 My thoughts and criticisms Whilst I enjoyed my experience with Unreal Life, it was not without its faults. It uses quite clunky controls, either the mouse or the keyboard with assigned buttons that when combined with the movement controls, were less than ideal. Thus, I preferred to solely use the mouse. Yet, using the mouse was tricky as well, having to hold down M1 and move the mouse either left or right, to move the character. This was slow and in areas where speed is essential, I usually died because of it. I'd often try to start walking by holding down M1 and may have accidentally clicked on a hotspot, causing the list of commands to promptly pop up and always having to press Q to back out of it. Although this was not game breaking, it was irritating to say the least. Overall, I found majority of my playthroughs to be very immersive and atmospheric, with the combination of touching dialogue and poignant music. However, I did notice on more than one occasion that the soundtrack would be very loud in the background, particularly during an emotionally charged scene, only to very quickly and abruptly turn off. It would then switch without transition, straight into a different, sometimes completely different tune. Although this is a minimal nit-pick, I did find it to be rather immersion breaking Graphics & Sound Admittedly, I am not too fond of the pixel art style. Whilst I would not call Unreal Life's graphics beautiful, the over-saturated blues and retro aesthetics did assist in conveying a more melancholic feel, which matches the overarching emotion of the game. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2517540100 The cutscenes were simultaneously striking, uplifting and gloomy. Yet, for myself personally, this was not due to the art, but was thanks to the excellent sound design. The well-timed forlorn music playing in the background was extremely immersive and resonated heavily with me. This is also the aspect that made the ending as emotional as it was. Being able to tie in such a close, humanistic bond with a traffic light is both impressive and humorous. Conclusion Unreal Life is an excellent, emotional and captivating game. My experience of it felt like a real journey, an adventure that was driven by sheer determination to deduce the final clues and piece the fantastical story together. Although it is not without its tripes, with insightful puzzles, a bizarre cast of characters and a memorable story, it deserves a spot in all all narrative lovers' Steam libraries. This review copy was provided by Reviewers' Paradise Follow my curator page, Cookie Reviews, if you enjoyed this review and want to see more like it.Show moreShow less
6 hours at review31 people found this helpful
Received for free
Not recommendedSteam player
The street light character makes a really annoying sound whenever it talks. Undertale was a mistake.Show moreShow less
0.3 hours at review3 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
Curator page here--> DaRevieweD #59 <-- New review every Sunday With a game title like UNREAL LIFE (UL) or the dev's name hako life translated as "box life", it's no secret that this game would be something meta! It's the developers first ever game but already everything about it demonstrates a nuance akin to that of a veteran in the industry! From its out-the-box plot brimming with heavy feels, endearing utilization of the many hues of blue, the lighthearted, melan... I'll save it for the rest of the review!! But know this pixel-art adventure may imitate life but it's a very life-changing one at that and here's why~ "Out of The Blue..." https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2348914449 The Gist: Hal wakes up greeted by a chatting wireless traffic light and starts to recall fuzzy memories. A teacher, a blue book and a story...? She suffers from the oldest trick in the storytelling encyclopedia- amnesia. That's not all, her other cognitive skills also took a toll... What on earth is happening?? Along the way, she meets a roster of wacky characters that shouldn't even begin to comprehend each other but somehow they do. Haven't you heard?! All of this- it's.......!!!!! [+] PROS; (a) Ocean View, Sea Breeze I know I typically begin with the gameplay. BUT, my word- the aesthetics of this game is... (trying so hard not to say unreal). Definitely intentional- that quality to it which I can only describe as dreamy, both appearance and sound. Gorgeous pixel art graphics and though there's an oversaturation of blue with its various shades, honestly it works metaphorically and fitting with the eventual conclusion it arrives at. Can't seem to look away. And the music, I can totally understand why it's sold separately XD Its mood shifts from relaxing to nursery-tunes and then alternates between melancholic and more upbeat but its most staying parts are the former. The lyrics of the final song, written by dev himself makes you reflect on the journey you just went through and (thanks to captions) I grasped every word. Oooh one more thing, this may be straying but the song"Ocean View" by Yuseol might as well be an alternate universe soundtrack for UL! Tell me if you think so~ (b) Awaken Your Senses The game is magnetically enigmatic. From the moment you assume the role of Hal, confused and disoriented. Easing you in with its mechanics and telling you to hone your senses. Things can be examined, discovered to get a rough picture but touching them will allow you to compare its state through time. You can also revisit memories of things you have pondered on or seen thanks to the technology of 195 (the traffic light). You can take out objects from your bag and engage in puzzles similarly centered like luring animals with shrimp, ordering a dog with a whistle that's just artificially simplistic but deep, if that makes sense. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2348918247 You can get a better perspective of the world by talking with the residents of the Whale hotel or for hints. But I go to them for some sneaky achievements and hear quips, oozing with personality! If you're looking to unwind, there's an in-game videogame VOLTA where you go against 195 in spaceship combat and input cheat codes. If all too much, just go to bed as it's a real life-saver ;) (c) Everything Is Blue~ The story is mind-boggling. It takes everything you know and assume about the title, capitalizes on it but inverts that a whole 360! It's well written, a little complex but what isn't.... bur most importantly it is emotionally draining. At times, I had mild discomfort in my body and then I couldn't believe what I just saw. I totally felt for Hal- girl's been through so much. I'm not ashamed to say it had me sniffling and tears streaming down by the time the credits rolled. But I guess that depends on which ending you get! Oh, a little tip- if it (the ending, not the entire game, that's a given) feels depressing, it's probably not the best outcome you could have gotten! (d) Speechless Not exactly horror but some analysis is still justified! It certainly got me feeling down and shook my existence. If that's not horror, then what is... So, firstly the scenario. It's cliche to see amnesiac characters of any medium (a cliche in itself to admit that) but I never stopped to consider how jarring it'd be for the one suffering from it. Only films like Danika (2006) or Faces in The Crowd (2011) have attempted that! Secondly, UL celebrates full-body awareness. Not a VR game but I think it's more immersive than anything in that genre (don't hurt me). It made me realize how often I and to a certain extent- everyone take their senses for granted. Take the time to think about what went down mere seconds ago, caress the texture of everyday objects, savor the food and sounds that reach you. Calming yet overwhelming. Thirdly, the title "UL." which may seem self-explanatory but in actuality it's laced with cynicism and is actually touching on mental health disorders, or that general feeling of dissatisfaction with our lives where we disassociate with anything and everything going on around us. Finally, pairing Hal the amnesiac with a smart, inanimate object but one just as disconnected from the world and relies on you for enlightenment. It was a touching friendship... But a very sad one, once you get into it. [-] CONS; (i) Self-Unaware The game actually goes out of your way to make the experience as smooth as possible. From the beginning it introduces mechanics to you and tells you that it will make your life easier by limiting prompts. But then you start to see some aspects of the programming whose seeds are budding, only to have them uprooted later on. The "touch" function where you compare past and present is wonderful only when you require them at that particular moment. If you revisit the thoughts or memories at a later time- they're deciphered in a way as if you still didn't know what they meant. I'm probably making it sound worse as it is but... That's not all. Starting the game, you can use items on other characters to comment on but alas this too was dropped just all of a sudden. Perhaps I'm asking for too much. But really, it doesn't ruin the experience in any way~ I have other plot-based grievances but it does a phenomenal job in its storytelling... Besides, there's always room for a sequel~~ "-It's Clear as Day. It's All Relative." https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2348942466 Should the title bother me? Not one bit- so what if reality is called into scrutiny! There are genuine affectations, breathtaking scenery and a mystery-filled story that keep you going. Which- is one of the game's many life-appreciation lessons after all. The puzzles revolving around the human senses was a breath of fresh air and thematically groundbreaking. Non-human characters being written so humanly and make for lovely company, it was heartbreaking to say goodbye. It's plot gradually unfolding with twists at every crossroad that's just as much a surprise to Hal as it was for us. And the blue-tinged palette, it's my favorite color (that why I'm biased? O_o). I have to say, it can be a little too slow for some. Usually, even I cannot let it go- why my character is unable to run. But here, it makes perfect sense and would've killed the vibe it's going for. There were times when I thought the programming was abrupt, but I digress!! The point being this is truly, by far one of the most heartfelt surprises of 2020 and I hope others, see it too... Takes some adjustment, is all~ 11/10 The question is; what's next? Would it be something as thought-provoking!? Can't wait!!Show moreShow less
10.3 hours at review27 people found this helpful
Received for free
Not recommendedSteam player
ちょい鬱系の２Dアドベンチャーゲーム。謎解きしながらストーリーを進める形ですが、途中のギミックや謎解きは面倒なだけであまり面白味を感じませんでした。ストーリーはまあまあといったことろで、よくある話といえばよくある話です。Steamの評価で期待したほどの面白さは感じませんでした。Show moreShow less
7.6 hours at review3 people found this helpful
Source: original Steam user reviews. Helpful votes are an archived snapshot, not live data. Last collected: 08/15/2026.