The Use of Life is a single-player, adventure-book-style RPG centered on Goshe, whose outlook and attachments are shaped by the player’s choices. Its endings present different ways of living rather than sorting outcomes into good and bad. That gives the story’s decisions a personal focus: the question is not simply how to reach a successful conclusion, but what kind of life Goshe will lead.
Its events use narrated scenes and, at times, TRPG-style dice rolls, so choices and chance can change how an encounter unfolds. Battles pair turn-based planning with quick-time-event reflexes: each side selects three actions per turn, then the actions are performed in sequence. Goshe’s abilities and stats matter outside combat as well as in it, while class progression opens skills and spells. Together, these systems make the adventure a mix of branching role-playing decisions and tactical tests, rather than a purely narrative book or a conventional turn-based RPG.
Its distinctive appeal lies in how those elements connect, with choices influencing Goshe’s character and stats able to affect events beyond combat.
