Review of 夏色のコワレモノ ”Summer Color Kowaremono”, Summer Shattering: summary, analysis, TOP routes, objective essay, opinions and thoughts
This is an analysis of the new game created by Shinachiku-Castella, 夏色のコワレモノ ”Summer Color Kowaremono” or Summer Shattering. It has the purpose of explain the plot, establish the pros and cons, talk about the mechanics, and create a forum of healthy debate.
Before the analysis there are some points that I want to establish:
1. This analysis is long folks, so take time to read it. I will appreciate so much if you accompany me in this journey until the end.
2. It is full of SPOILERS, read it at your own risk.
3. This review is completely my opinion, I’m not a top critic or anything else. I wanted to write this because Shinachiku-Castella is my favorite Hentai RPG creator, I like all of his games and this is a perfect occasion to write a review. Also, the game has many tropes and mechanics that are interesting to analyze carefully.
4. BUT, this doesn’t mean I won’t do my best to write this review the most objective possible (all the information, gameplay analysis, pros and cons are done with cold head and giving facts).
5. I’m not going to analyze this game with a mindset of “this is good but is something that we have seen before”. Yes, the game has some common tropes seen in past games, but all Hentai RPGs have it.
6. I made this review playing up to the Version 1.03 of the game, probably in future revisions more content will be added. Also, it was in Japanese and I used Textractor (Google translator) and a RPGMakerMVGame patcher to translate it. This means that I divided my screen into 2 windows to play it.
7. I played all routes, one per day since the release. This, to carefully analyze each scene of every character. In what I saw that were important settings and climaxes I even translate phrase by phrase to not misunderstand any part of the story.
8. I also used the walkthrough manual to not miss any of Keita’s voyeurism scenes and watch every DK channel messages (if you don’t understand this continue reading).
9. I wrote this analysis for those who haven’t played the game because of the translation problem.
10. English is not my native language, sorry for the misspellings.
With this set, let’s start.
Summary: The story so far.
It's the last opportunity to conquer the heart of your childhood friend, who lives in the countryside, and you must do this before the summer ends. Keita, the protagonist, is in love with the heroine, or at least that is what the author wants us to think. She is Ryoka, her childhood friend, a student that goes to high school and lives with her older sister Saki, also she is in love with the protagonist. Keita is invited to pass one month with both sisters before he goes back to the big city. He will use this time to approach Ryoka, live wonderful moments with her and try to confess his feelings during the Seaside School Trip at the end of the month. But he most act carefully, because many guys are going to approach Ryoka trying to take her for themselves.
Analysis: What is the game about?
夏色のコワレモノ ”Summer Color Kowaremono” or Summer Shattering, is a Hentai NTR RPG game. This is NOT a corrupt game like Kotoko or Tina, where the player controls the female protagonist and must achieve a certain score of corruption points to watch the next hentai scene. Also, there is no battles or fantasy tropes here. Take it into account before buying it. Here you control Keita, and with him you can be an observer, that watches how his beloved is taken away, or be someone that acts to protect her purity (in the case of the Pure Love route). The game is about letting the heroine being corrupted by other men or prevent this by following a nice romance route, nothing more. To achieve this, you have about 30 days to approach Ryoka or see how falls into the depths of pleasure.
There are some gimmicks that the player should know about the game and its unique mechanics:
1. Psychology Meter: Each time you trigger an NTR route it is activated. This is used to show which guy attracts Ryoka the most. Whenever Ryoka passes time with someone, that isn’t the protagonist, the hearts from the center will move to the corners, where the turn character is. You can trigger up to three NTR routes per game.
2. Smartphone call: Call the heroine and know what she is doing. Depending on circumstances, she can talk you something, OR you can hear her being with another guy. Unfortunately, in few routes you can hear the intercourse.
3. DK channel messages or SNS: Peek at your classmate's hidden chat any time. Hear about rumors or sexual activity. Great mechanic! It is activated in Masaru, Yasui and Vagrant routes.
4. Ryoka's diary: If Ryoka is approached by a sided-guy and passes the day with him, you can peek her diary to know what she did during that time. Here you see the hentai scenes with full CG.
5. Voyeurism and NTR days: If you want, you can control Keita to see Rioka’s corruption from the distance. In NTR, if days her relationship with side-guys progresses, they monopolize her for a day. You can only watch these scenes with Keita, and do not have a Ryoka’s point of view nor CG. You need to move around the map to find them.
6. Special day events: Events such as the basketball tournament, the festival, the camping day and Ryoka’s birthday will trigger different scenes (hentai in the side-guys routes) in which the player can interact. There are also daily events, but these are from the Pure Love route (no hentai).
7. Ryoka’s Birthday: The most important special event in the game, depending on who Ryoka spends her birthday with, it will depend on who she gets pregnant and the ending of the game.
8. Seaside School Trip: Last scenario of the game. Place where you confess your feelings or know the truth about your childhood friend.
TOP Routes: Which character, story and dynamics are the best?
First, I want to clear out that all routes are really great and well developed (each one in their own way). The author is an expert in his work and gives, in most of the cases, more than you expect. This TOP is to show which ones I like the most, and why. Talk about their tropes, why are good and what I think could have been better to improve the experience.
8. Normal Ending
Summary: The time passes, and Keita don’t care about the guys that approached Ryoka, or, at least, he didn’t have the time to remember those days he spent with her during his childhood. If you finish the game without the four memories or Ryoka is not a virgin before the School Trip, you trigger the Normal Ending. Here, you blame yourself for not ending with Ryoka, watching how she forgets you and continues her life. (This is not counted as a route)
Pros: It can be considered as a Game Over for the game. You can spend the time, getting this ending, to obtain the Easter eggs (games for the videogame console) and the scenes of Saki.
Cons: It doesn’t have a specific CG. It would have been nice to have at least one sex scene.
7. Vagrant Route (Homeless man)
Summary: Unable to afford to attend summer classes in the city, Keita decides to study on her own in the library. At the same time, Ryoka decides to attend this school to impress her childhood friend at the end of summer. Near the building there is a vagrant who stalks high school girls. After seeing the heroine, he decides to approach her. Soon, Ryoka will discover that she and the vagrant have more in common than she thinks.
Pros: Good story with decent voyeurism and erotic scenes. Homeless men always have been one of Shinachiku-Castella’s best tropes and routes.
Cons: Short story and few scenes. Is really strange that the character CG and, comparing with higher positions, is not so well developed. In past works, the vagrant route was one of the best. In this one, it feels unfinished. Also, no sex scene at the ending.
6. Nobuo Route (Rich kid)
Summary: Nobuo's family is the richest in the village. They own a large part of the land and control the decisions made in the town. One day, it is decided to demolish the constructions of the place. Because of this, Keita and the heroine decide to convince Nobuo to avoid the destruction of Ryoka’s home. The rich kid proposes a bet. If the protagonist wins, he will prevent this decision to happen. Otherwise, if Keita loses, Ryoka will become his sexual slave.
Pros: If there is something that makes Nobuo route different (in a good way) from others, is the card game. This is the reason why this route is not available in the demo. This is the only route where you need to be with Ryoka so the story progresses. Here you are responsible of your failures. Good details (bondage rope marks in Ryoka’s body) and gimmicks (Camping event).
Cons: At the beginning of the route, the interaction only occurs on Wednesdays and Fridays. Because of this (I suppose), it becomes the character with the least scenes in all the game. Things escalate to quickly in this route, Nobuo has sex with Ryoka on the third scene.
5. Keita Route (Pure Love)
Before everything, I want to express that this route is special to me. Completing it was an incredible journey and was nice to accompany its characters during all this journey. It was the last route that I played, and finishing it made me feel happy and completed with myself. What you are about to read is totally my opinion, this is only what I think. I repeat it again, I’m NO ONE to stablish what is right and wrong, nor say how the author must do his work.
Summary: To confess your feelings, you need remember your past with Ryoka. For this to happen, you must recover the memories of your childhood, while spending your last summer days with her. To this to happen, Keita must prevent other guys from approaching her, and realize what she truly means to him.
Pros: YOU DO SOMETHING. The route with the greatest number of special events and gimmicks. It has the feel of the common RPG game (entering dungeons and monster fighting). A very nice story that keeps you interacting with the heroine to achieve the main goal: LOVE.
Cons: The ending. (If you get all four memories and go with Ryoka to the Seaside School Trip, while she is still a virgin, the story ends with the heroine confessing her feelings to the protagonist. After completing the game, I ended up with mixed feelings. The problem that I have with this conclusion is that it feels incomplete. It finishes with the confession and that’s all. Maybe to some of you this could be fine but isn’t enough for me. I don’t know if a sex scene is what this route needs, it seems that the author wanted to show the importance of chaste love above all, but, for me, this route will be better by showing an After Story scene. Maybe with Keita and Ryoka being a couple or getting married. An event that rewards me that protecting Ryoka’s purity was worth the effort, even if the game isn’t difficult to accomplish.)
4. Daisuke (Virgin)
Summary: Keita decides to work at a video rental store to earn money during the summer. Here, he meets Daisuke, the muscular virgin manager whose hobbies are watching porn and fantasizing that someday he will find the girl of his dreams. After convincing Keita to spend the afternoon watching AVs, he meets Ryoka. He falls in love at first sight and decides to win her heart at all cost. Soon, he will confess his feelings to be corresponded by the heroine.
Pros: Love story with sex included (Vanilla-NTR). Good relationship development and nice ending. The date event is a nice gimmick for the story. Great amount of intercourse scenes. The protagonist express anger of losing Ryoka.
Cons: If you want to see hentai scenes from the beginning, you will be disappointed. There are no erotic CGs until Ryoka falls for him. When this happens, both have sex ON THE FIRST DATE (Don’t misunderstand me, relating to number of sex scenes and relationship escalation this is great, but in terms of NTR storytelling it needs some “approaching” first; maybe this is because of the route).
3. Masaru (Bullied boy)
Summary: Like Keita, Masaru is Ryoka’s childhood friend. He works at the public bathhouse of the town and attends the same school as the heroine. Shortly before summer, Masaru leaves the school because of the harassment received from his classmates. One afternoon, after being bullied by some girls, he is saved by Ryoka. However, one of the bullies gets hurt, and the threats her to repair the damage done. After this, Masaru must defend Ryoka, gaining her love in the process.
Pros: Excellent use of the DK channel, decent gimmicks (football mini game and festival), great sex scenes with many CGs and positions. Nice relation development. Surprisingly, a really good story.
Cons: The public bath scenario could have been better (only one sex scene happens here). The story fits big for the number of scenes that has.
2. Yasui Route (Delinquent)
Summary: Yasui is the delinquent of the institute, he is a pimp who has the reputation of corrupting girls to turn them into prostitutes. After being threatened by Ryoka, about a past incident, he seeks her to obtain her body. For this, he sets a trap to Keita to get closer to our heroine. After a sexual assault on a female student in a nightclub, Keita is accused of being a sexual assailant and leaking false information to school authorities. To save his childhood friend Ryoka must do what Yasui tells him to.
Pros: The route with the most scenes in all the game. If you like corruption and prostitution, here you have it. Have some scenes that involve all the gimmicks of the game. Good use of DK channel. Besides voyeurism, you can find out Ryoka’s actions form other people. Best gimmick of all the game (Love Hotel).
Cons: The Ball game tournament event could have been better. The scenes and tropes in the Love Hotel are so good, that overshadows other scenarios (Karaoke, School).
1. Oyama (Middle-aged man)
Summary: Oyama is a middle-aged man who lives in a hunt. He knew heroine’s father and is an old friend of the family. He desires heroine’s body for himself. After telling Ryoka to talk with the village chief, it is revealed that every certain time the village celebrates a ritual where a virgin girl is offered as a fiancée to one of the town’s old men, this, to spend 3 nights with the chosen in the countryside’s shrine. In this situation, Oyama proposes Ryoka to choose him, so she does not end with a pervert. But for this to happen, he must taste her body first.
Pros: The best voyeurism in the entire game, it has also CG! Threesome with the sister. THE ROUTE where the pregnancy mechanic is best developed. Great storytelling, with a congruent corruption process. In this route, the author is himself. Is what you can call, Shinachiku-Castella at its best. You can feel the love of the creator for the NTR genre in this one.
Cons: It is not explained so well how Saki fell for Oyama. Besides the voyeurism, this route does not have any other gimmicks (like special day events or a mini game).
Extra. Saki scenes
Ryoka’s sister doesn’t have a route for herself, but you can activate and directly see her erotic scenes by interacting with certain NPCs and giving them some items.
Objective essay: What is right and what is wrong?
Right
The game’s beauty resides in its original and unique system for the NTR genre. Has everything that an NTR lover could wish. It is so well executed that it surprises you in every route. Is incredible the attention of the author to every detail (most are hidden, and you need to find them): from Ryoka's character model, dialog, GIFs, clothes, expressions, and the scenario. Of all things, the CG is the best improvement. It’s so well done, and polished, that it contrasts from past works. Also, the soundtrack and background sounds are amazing, from the title screen to the scenes, the whole environment has a dark atmosphere (even on the first couple of days there is a feeling of bad things are going to happen). Even if it hasn’t voices actresses, the BGS invite the player to use his imagination. The game absolutely shines when the protagonist interacts (directly or indirectly) to prevent or trigger the NTR, like playing the card game with Nobuo, react with envy against Daisuke or working at the love hotel.
Wrong
Some stories feel unfinished, mostly, because of the few number of events. Each character has more or less 9 erotic scenes for almost 30 days. Surely the days can be filled by playing multiple routes, but in a matter of paying attention to every detail, is better to trigger only one character per game. Because of these, there are some routes that have a feeling of "something is missing" (the vagrant is in which you can appreciate this the most). Analyzing past works of the author (Kotoko, Tina, Until her amorous body corrupts), you can notice that the Oyama route is the type that the author likes most doing, writing and giving his charm, that’s why this is one of the best routes. It has what you could call the “classic essence” of Shinachiku-Castella's works. However, there are other tropes that don’t repeat in the same way. If you check past games, these had a homeless route, and in each one it was very good. Here, the number of scenes aren’t enough to equalize the development. Another thing is that there are some plot holes. Like the fact that all NTR characters can impregnate Ryoka but only in 3 endings you can see the direct consequences of this (Oyama, Nobuo, Daisuke). Probably this is indirectly stablished (and because of the machine translation it can’t be appreciated so well), but not in all routes is settled, either by a scene or a specific conversation.
Conclusion: Opinions and thoughts
Until now, Summer Shattering or 夏色のコワレモノ ”Summer Color Kowaremono”, is the most ambitious game of Shinachiku-Castella. It doesn’t have so many scenes like Tina, but it makes up for by creating one of the greatest systems for the genre. You can even consider it as one of the best Hentai NTR RPG in which the player controls a male character. It can be seen that the author took a very experimental route creating the game and its mechanics. Probably he spent more time creating the environment and mechanics than the scenes itself. In the previous games, you were the heroine and your actions result in her corruption, therefore it was quite linear. This is not the case.
The game is so full of content, that probably the author struggled to balance the environment with the events, perhaps this be the reason why the erotic events are a less than past games (comparing the recollection room sizes), also, the length of the scenes is shorter as well, but has more original CGs than past works. Is because of this new system, that there is a lot more to develop in order to improve the interactions with the heroine, so the corruption becomes believable to the player.
Besides this, everything in every aspect has been improved: the art, dialogue, sounds and a bigger length overall. Surely, the game needs to fill the remaining days with more events and sex scenes, but this is the less important. You have here a product in a position close to a perfection that can be achieved only by filling these holes with content. There is no need to change anything, just adding.
I wonder how much the author researched to come up with an incredible and original system. It’s so great that will not be weird that the author repeats these mechanics in future works, or watching other developers trying to copy them. It won’t be strange to think that the developer is planning to add more content to improve the game and is probably that the game will receive an addition of contents or a DLC in the future. I wish this to happen.
Thank you for reading.
