Hey there
I've gone through a single playthrough of version 1.5.3 without DLCs and thought I'd leave an honest review (skip to summary if seems like a rant).
First off, the devs did an all-in-all amazing job with this game.
The base game's biggest selling points would definitely have to be its down-to-earth realism and the amount of influence and control the player has through the even greater amount of choices you're offered. It really does feel like you're 'living a life' so to speak, with all the emotional attachments that entails. This, I believe, represents the true essence of a visual novel, and the Our Life embodies that really well. And the fact that they're still working on improving the game makes it that much better.
Moreover, I couldn't really point out major flaws in the gameplay or story even if I tried. But if I were to truly be a nagging nancy about this, I think that, though it is probably not planned and never will be, the story itself could have really done with at least a DLC of 'school life' considering how important it is in shaping a person - as much as that is annoying to admit. I think the dynamics between the player, Cove, and the other characters at school would have done well to fill in that 'gap', so to speak. With that said, I'm not really expecting it considering the way the game was designed and how much of a hefty undertaking it would be to actually forcefully include something like that at this stage.
There was one other nit-picky thing I wanted to say about one or two lines of text somewhat neglecting the choices I had made almost entirely during steps 1 and 3 (I think), but I honestly forgot what those lines were. I might leave another review after another playthrough or two, and I'll let you know what the lines were after my next playthroughs, which I definitely plan on considering I'm super excited to see Derek and Baxter action when their DLCs come around.
Speaking of, I sure hope that, at least with Derek, we could influence their personality and appearance through our interactions with them (or by force) like we do with Cove. That would be really neat.
In summary, even without DLCs, this game is amazing and would recommend to anyone interested in the concept of visual novels. It is, in so few words, the ideal I think VNs should aim to be.
Thank you, GBPatch!