The Use of Life on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information

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The Use of Life is a multi-ending adventure book style JRPG. The main character’s various attachments change in accordance with the choices the player makes, and the ending changes depending on “the use of life” you choose through your journey.

The Use of Life is a choose your own adventure, crpg and turn-based strategy game developed by だらねこげーむず/Daraneko Games and published by PLAYISM.
Released on November 26th 2025 is available only on Windows in 4 languages: Japanese, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and English.

It has received 433 reviews of which 393 were positive and 40 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.4 out of 10. 😎

The game is currently priced at 19.50€ on Steam.

The Steam community has classified The Use of Life into these genres:

Choose Your Own Adventure CRPG Turn-Based Strategy JRPG RPG 2D Turn-Based Combat Story Rich Dark Fantasy Fantasy Adventure Quick-Time Events Singleplayer Indie Early Access Multiple Endings Replay Value Choices Matter Class-Based Controller

Media & Screenshots

Get an in-depth look at The Use of Life through various videos and screenshots.

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The Use of Life screenshot
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System requirements

These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.

Windows
  • OS: Windows 10 / 11
  • Processor: 1.2 GHz
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM
  • Graphics: DirectX 9 compatible graphics card

User reviews & Ratings

Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.

Dec. 2025
10/10 Well written, and engaging pacing throughout. From what it says on the store page, this game delivered on everything promised. It reminds me of the ps1 era of experimental rpgs, with The Use of Life setting new standards for narrative and "active turn-based combat". Not many modern games put the work in to make the story branch appropriately to player agency, let alone offer so many unique chapters and scenes based on your choices. This is a clear example of what rpgs can be.
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Dec. 2025
The Use of Life is the game which reminds you that your choice matters. Nowadays you rarely can find games that pursuing something outside of changing dialogue line or character's reaction to the options you can chose from, while in the end it all leads to the same result. This game tries to escape this concept by providing you with variety of choices how to approach most events while using DND style dice roll for skill checks with unique outcomes. No matter if you passed the check or not, game still tries to compensate you in some way so the player doesn't feels like he got completely robbed by RNG. There also options that are locked behind other stats but I not gonna go into details on how they work to avoid spoiling the big part of the game. Just remember, your choices will be following you till the very end. Yea game has multiple endings and each of them follow their own philosophy with unique outcomes, both narratively and gameplay wise. Visuals and Music Game mostly uses approach of visual novels with static images, but quality of those art-pieces and illustrations on really high level. Great variety in characters design too. When it comes to soundtrack there is good mix of classic JRPG music, powerful orchestra and some ambient. Combat, classes and stats Might be part of the game that surprised me with how engaging JRPG combat system can be. Instead of being another game where you spam same move over and over for 50 encounters between story segments, this game took a bit different approach of turning every fight into a mix of puzzle, resource managment and deffensive use of QTE. For each turn, you and your opponent have 3 slots for actions. You put 3 actions in whatever order you think will be most effective in current situation and amount of info you have on opponents attacks. How you get info? There is a stat responsible for revealing some parts of enemy slots, and the higher stat is, the more info you get. It can reveal the name of action, number of attacks, or even direction of these attacks . You can either dodge or block them. To do so you have to hit sliding marker from one corner to another right in the middle of QTE bar. While block requires just timing, some damage still goes through it. Dodges can avoid damage completely, but not only you need to time it right, you also need to hit correct direction . Attacks can be unblockabe, fast, or contain combo of multiple hits that require their own direction for dodge. Most moves have unique paterns, so you can memorize them and save limited deffensive skill options for unknown or more dangerous attacks, while not forgetting to push your own offense. And you gonna need to learn these paterns, because game isn't shy to challenge player even on normal difficulty. My first playthrough was on hard and it took me 31 hours to beat it. Final boss alone took me about 6 hours of constant memorization of every attack and direction it had, to be able to overcome the challenge. Game also has some variety in classes which are unique and plays differently. And later into the game you can combine 2 clases into more advanced one with even bigger arsenal that utilizes strength of both. Verdict This game will be a great choice for people who either wants to experience a story with actual branching and no split on "good" or "bad" endings. Or people who wants to experience challenging and fresh view on old formula of JRPG games.
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Nov. 2025
Intriguing story? Interesting world building? Check. Moral questions, giving the player something to think and debate on, like what's most worth living (or dying) for? Check. Inspirational? Emotional? Check. Decent characters? Each with their own story and depth? Check. Nicely drawn characters? Check. Incredible music to set the mood? Check. Also, gameplay, combat that's engaging and encourages both strategizing (at least in most boss fights) as well as good reflexes/timing? Check as well. And lastly... Indie game made by a passionate person who worked on it, for multiple years of their life? ...Check indeed. Thank you for doing so, it's a great game, great story, I loved it. ...If it wasn't obvious, I most definitely recommend it.
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Nov. 2025
It's simply a great game! It's like a mix of Dark Souls difficult gameplay and dark themes, and a fun and coloured Tabletop RPG with many interesting characters. Also, the story is way too good! It's a revenge story with multiple endings. Each of them sending the protagonist (Goshe), cursed with a powerful but deadly power, in a different sort of journey. How will he use this power? For revenge? For himself? For the world? Or just to find a way for survival? The journey you take, the friends you meet and the enemies you make depend exclusively on your choices and each ending has a different map and final boss. I hope you can enjoy the game as much as I did!
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Nov. 2025
yeah this is probably the best jrpg i've played in a while. satisfying, fun, and full of interesting decisions and characters... ...plus, one of the endings has a really cool reference to the story of how the rabbit earned its place alongside the other animals of the zodiac. so that's rad!
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Frequently Asked Questions

The Use of Life is currently priced at 19.50€ on Steam.

The Use of Life is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 19.50€ on Steam.

The Use of Life received 393 positive votes out of a total of 433 achieving a rating of 8.42.
😎

The Use of Life was developed by だらねこげーむず/Daraneko Games and published by PLAYISM.

The Use of Life is playable and fully supported on Windows.

The Use of Life is not playable on MacOS.

The Use of Life is not playable on Linux.

The Use of Life is a single-player game.

The Use of Life does not currently offer any DLC.

The Use of Life does not support mods via Steam Workshop.

The Use of Life does not support Steam Remote Play.

The Use of Life is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.

You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for The Use of Life.

Data sources

The information presented on this page is sourced from reliable APIs to ensure accuracy and relevance. We utilize the Steam API to gather data on game details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and user reviews. This allows us to provide you with the most up-to-date information directly from the Steam platform.

Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.

Last Updates
Steam data 20 January 2026 07:00
SteamSpy data 20 January 2026 19:15
Steam price 28 January 2026 20:35
Steam reviews 26 January 2026 23:52

If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about The Use of Life, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.

  • SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about The Use of Life
  • SteamCharts - Analysis of The Use of Life concurrent players on Steam
  • ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck The Use of Life compatibility
The Use of Life
19.50€ Buy Now
Rating
8.4
393
40
Game modes
Features
Online players
1
Developer
だらねこげーむず/Daraneko Games
Publisher
PLAYISM
Release 26 Nov 2025
Platforms
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