The Use of Life
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About The Use of Life
The Use of Life is a narrative-driven RPG from Daraneko Games that dropped in late 2025. It blends textbook-style storytelling with branching choices that shape your character’s “attachments”, emotional or thematic states that shift based on decisions. Think of it as a choose-your-own-adventure JRPG where your path directly alters the ending. Set in a surreal world, the game avoids traditional combat, focusing instead on dialogue and moral dilemmas. It’s a single-player PC title that leans into experimental structure, aiming to make players reflect on their life choices through its abstract mechanics. The genre is hard to pin down, but it feels like a love letter to niche RPGs with a twist.
Gameplay
You spend most of your time reading dense passages and selecting options that tweak your attachments, values like “hunger” or “doubt” that influence dialogue and outcomes. There’s no real-time action; everything is turn-based and text-focused. Each decision feels weighty, but the lack of clear stakes can make some choices feel arbitrary. The game’s interface is minimal, with a top-down view of your character and a sidebar tracking attachments. Combat is abstracted into dialogue trees, which might frustrate fans of traditional battles. Sessions often last 30, 60 minutes, but the sheer volume of text can slow pacing. Replayability hinges on chasing different endings, though some paths are harder to unlock than others.
What Players Think
PlayPile users rate it 88%, with 74% finishing their first playthrough. Critics on Metacritic average 8.7/10, praising ambition but noting uneven execution. The completion rate of 62% suggests it’s polarizing, some get hooked, others lose interest. Average playtime is 14 hours, but 23% of players log over 25. Community moods are split: 42% curious, 31% intrigued, and 27% cautious. Achievement completion sits at 80% for the 37 total, with the hardest being “Achieve the ‘Futility’ ending” (12% success). One review says, “The writing is compelling but the systems feel half-baked.” Another calls it “a weird, beautiful mess worth experiencing once.”
PlayPile's Take
The Use of Life is a gamble. At $29.99, it’s cheap for what it is: a dense, philosophical RPG that works best on a surface level. Fans of experimental narratives like Disco Elysium or Oxenfree might enjoy the branching paths, but its abstract mechanics and slow pacing won’t appeal to everyone. Achievements are achievable but lack depth. It’s a game that asks more questions than it answers, which could frustrate or fascinate. If you’re into meta-commentary on decision-making and don’t mind a bumpy ride, give it a shot. But don’t expect polish, it’s more of a mood than a masterpiece.
Game Modes
Single player
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