Visual Novel / Our Life: Now & Forever

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"A paper airplane, two new neighbors, four autumns, and a one of a kind life."

— Steam Page

Ten-year-old Franky Second (name changeable) and their mother are the newest residents of Golden Grove, a sleepy mountain town. As they explore the town on their first day, they're suddenly hit by a mysterious paper airplane. Deciding to find the culprit, this innocuous quest eventually has them meeting their two new neighbors: Tamarack Baumann and Qiu "Autumn" Lin.

Our Life: Now & Forever (also known as OL2 by fans) is a visual novel currently in development by GB Patch, and the second installment in the Our Life series. Taking place in a small town in Oregon, the game follows the MC's life, together with Qiu and Tamarack, over the course of twelve years. Like its predecessor, it uses the same 'Steps' format, with Step 1 occurring with the trio being ten years old, Step 2 at fourteen, Step 3 at eighteen and Step 4 at twenty-two. Now and Forever also introduces several new mechanics, such as linked Moments and opportunities to change your dynamic with either Tamarack or Qiu mid-Step.

The game is expected to enter Early Access in November 2026 with a full release in late 2027, with at least three waves of DLC including Step expansions as well as a Wedding DLC. A public demo of the game can be found on both Steam and Itch.io. A beta build of the game is available through subscribing to the developer's Patreon, but they have asked those with access to it to not discuss its contents publicly, including here. Please include only information from the public demo or GB Patch's social media on this and other work-related pages until the game's full release.

Our Life: Now & Forever contains examples of:

• Age-Appropriate Angst: Compared to its predecessor, Now and Forever's Step 2 has more focus on both Tamarack and Qiu dealing with the insecurities and drama that can come with teenagehood as they enter their freshman year in high school. Depending on your choices, your MC can go through it too.
• Anachronic Order: Each Step comes with a total of ten Moments, with half of them being unlockable through DLC. They can be played in any order of the player's choosing.
  • Linked Moments take this a step further - they can be considered branching paths, with the alternative option being free to select at a later time or right after the current Moment is completed.
  • The Moment selection screen can also be rearranged to the player’s preferred order.
• Ballet Episode: Qiu dances ballet, which Step 1's "Fancy Fun" and Step 2 "Assistance" highlight. The MC can also optionally dance ballet, or be taking other kinds of dancing lessons at the same dance hall.
• Bisexual Love Triangle: Crushing on both Qiu and Tamarack simultaneously results in one of these, no matter what gender the MC is.
• Character Focus: While each Moment features both love interests, some give more spotlight to one rather than the other. For example, "Fancy Fun" gives more narrative focus to Tamarack, while "Assistance" is mostly about Qiu.
• Childhood Friends:
  • Depending on player choice, the MC can be friends with Qiu, Tamarack, and several other characters from Step 1 onwards.
  • Qiu starts out with the Boys' Club together with Renee and Baxter at the game's start. Notably, Renee is Qiu's best friend since they were young, while Baxter has been with the group about two years at that point.
• Close-Knit Community: Everybody knows everybody in Golden Grove, as lampshaded by Yusuf at the start of Step 1.
• Coming-Out Story: If the MC changes gender identity between Steps 1 and 2 and hasn't told anyone yet, they come out during Step 2's prologue directly to their mom, Qiu and Tamarack, and then indirectly to the rest of the school.
• Cool Kid-and-Loser Friendship:
  • Qiu is the most popular kid in Golden Grove, something that stays consistent throughout the story. On the other hand, Tamarack tends to hover around the lower end of the social ladder (at least in Step 2), while the MC's popularity is determined by the player. Still, the three of you can still be close friends regardless.
  • Qiu and Renee as well during Step 2, with Qiu being popular and Renee being an outcast.
  • Popular girl Vianca keeps trying to initiate one of these with Tamarack in Step 2, but Tamarack isn't quite sure how to feel about it.
• Dance of Romance: Occurs twice in different occasions:
  • Downplayed on the account of them being ten during Step 1, but the MC can dance with Qiu in Fancy Fun.
  • Four years later, in Step 2, Qiu will invite the MC to be their dance practice partner in Assistance.
• Darker and Edgier: Downplayed. While not necessarily darker, things definitely skew more serious this time around. Step 2 is of particular note, with Tamarack and Qiu mired in teenage insecurities and having drifted away from their previous friend groups, the MC being the only thing they have in common now (and possibly not even that).
• Dashed Plot Line: The story takes place over twelve years, starting when the main characters are ten and ending when they’re twenty-two, but all events shown are from four specific autumns, each four years apart.
• Developer's Foresight:
  • The opportunity to come out as trans or non-binary to Tamarack in Step 2 occurs after the phone call with her mom, so she still refers to the MC by their Step 1 pronouns while on the phone.
  • The player can decorate the MC's room to include a bike helmet. If you choose to wear a differently-colored helmet during the beginning of the Wheels Moment, the narration will mention that the one in their room is just a spare.
• Dialogue Tree: As a visual novel, the player is able to choose from a variety of dialogue choices when interacting with the world or with other characters. The save file's sticker will also appear on the choice box.
• Disappeared Dad: The MC was conceived by Opal via fertility treatment because she wanted to be a mother, but wasn't in a relationship and wasn't interested in starting one. The only details the MC knows about their biological dad is his race and nationality. They can have many reactions to this, ranging from desperately wanting to know more about him to not caring about him in the least.
• Easily Accepted Coming Out: The MC changing gender identity/expression between Steps leads to the option of coming out to family and friends in the next Step's introduction, who all take it in stride and are happy for them, though Step 2 Qiu takes the opportunity to sarcastically welcome the MC to their level of Hell.
• Everyone Can See It: In Step 2, while setting affection levels within the group, the player also can set each love interest's acknowledgement of the nature of the relationship. If the MC and a love interest both accept their crushes on one another, they essentially act like a couple already, just one that hasn't made it official yet.
• Everytown, America: The game takes place in the fictional mountain town of Golden Grove, Oregon.
• Evolving Music: “Flutter” has a different arrangement depending on the Step, reflecting the age that the main characters are currently at.
• First Day of School Episode: At least half of both the Step 1 and 2 prologues are devoted to a first day of school. In Step 1, it's the first day of fifth grade as well as the MC and Tamarack's first day at a Golden Grove school, while Step 2 has the first day of high school.
• Free-Range Children: Downplayed and subverted. The MC and their friends are generally allowed to roam around Golden Grove freely, exploring the town and the nearby forest as they please. However, their parents and guardians are usually aware of their whereabouts, and there are curfews and restrictions set.
• Friendship Trinket: The paper airplane the MC gets hit with at the start of the game can be seen as this. The MC can choose to either trash it, give to Qiu or Tamarack, or keep it as a memento.
• Friend Versus Lover: During Step 2, having one love interest as a crush and one as a friend can lead to this, as the narration points out the tension between them in regards to the MC, particularly if the player sets either or both to being jealous.
• Gameplay Randomization: Some elements of the story are left up to chance, such as whether Qiu and Tamarack share a homeroom or are locker neighbors with the MC.
• Greasy Spoon: The Diner Table acts as this to the people of Golden Grove. It's not a super-popular place, and it's noted that the food isn't amazing, but the MC and their mom take a shine to it.
• Literally Loving Thy Neighbor: The game is about growing up alongside and potentially romancing one or both of your two next-door neighbors.
• Love at First Sight: As in Beginnings & Always, the MC can immediately fall in love with either, or potentially both, of the love interests at first sight.
• Mess of Woe: Qiu's room is an absolute mess in Step 2, owing to their combined woes of teenage angst, Trans Tribulations, and complications arising from undiagnosed ADHD. The MC can have a messy room as well, but whether that indicates anything about their mental state is up to the player.
• Noodle Incident: Between Steps 1 and 2, Opal had to replace the mailbox after something happened to the first one. And that's all you get to know about it.
• Parents as People: As in Beginnings & Always before it, the parents of the MC and their love interests are fully fleshed-out characters, and their personal lives and how they affect their interactions with their children (or grandchild, in Tamarack's case) are heavily explored. They're all Good Parents, but that doesn't mean it's always smooth sailing.
• Passive-Aggressive Kombat: During Step 2, the MC trying to hang out with Qiu and Tamarack at the same time often results in this, as while the two aren't enemies, they don't enjoy one another's company anymore, but don't want to hurt the MC. This can be optionally cranked up by using the between-Step jealousy mechanics; if they're both jealous over the MC, they'll be much more snippy and combative towards one another.
• Platonic Life-Partners: The Family relationship status will cement the MC as being this with Qiu or Tamarack.
• Polyamory: It's possible for the MC to end up in a relationship with both Qiu and Tamarack, although the two remain Just Friends between themselves. This doesn't actually coalesce until Step 4, as the three have a lot to work out between themselves before settling into this dynamic.
• Punctuation Changes the Meaning: Qiu will happily invite Tamarack and a potential non-male MC into the Boys' Club during Step 1. When Darren objects to this, Qiu invokes this trope by shifting the apostrophe over one space to the left; it's a single boy's club, and that boy (Qiu, prior to some later revelations) says it's fine.
• Shared Universe:
  • While this is his native home, Baxter first appeared in Our Life: Beginnings & Always as a visitor and a potential love interest via DLC.
  • Pran is one of the love interests from XOXO Droplets. His best friend, Jeremy, also makes an appearance in Beginnings and Always as a visitor to Sunset Bird.
• Shout-Out: One of the available stickers for save files is a blue feather.
• Shown Their Work: In Walks (Step 1), while buying snacks, the narration notes that the purchases are tax free. Sure enough, Oregon is one of the few states in America that doesn't impose sales tax..
• Teachers Out of School: Can be discussed by the main trio on their way to school in the Step 1 prologue. Tamarack is shocked at the idea.
• Teens Are Angsty: During Step 2, Tamarack is wracked with insecurity, and Qiu is withdrawn and moody. In general, teenage angst is explored to a much greater degree than in Beginnings & Always.
• Trans Tribulations: Qiu doesn't attach themself to any specific gender identity in Step 2, only knowing that they certainly aren't a boy. Step 3 resolves this, as they identify as genderfluid.
• Time Skip: Unlike its predecessor, each Step is four years apart in this game instead of five, taking place when the MC is ten, fourteen, eighteen and twenty-two chronologically.
• Unknowingly in Love: In Step 1, any crush on Qiu or Tamarack is generally played this way, as Puppy Love is in full effect. In Step 2, while setting affection levels during the prologue, it's possible to keep this going into the MC's teenage years, with the narration routinely questioning why they feel butterflies in their stomach, or affirming that these are totally normal feelings to feel towards one's friends.
• We Used to Be Friends:
  • In Step 2, while still on speaking terms, Qiu and Tamarack no longer consider each other as friends.
  • This can also be invoked by the player by having the MC drift away from characters between Steps.
  • The boys' club disbands sometime before Step 2, with Qiu's friendship with Ren becoming strained while Baxter prepares to leave town for college.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: You can technically skip or avoid completing Linked Moments. However, if you're friendly with any one of the love interests, they won't entirely be happy about it. Tamarack in particular gets upset about not visiting the "Special Place" during Step 1's epilogue.