VN - Ren'Py - Summer Heat [v0.6.1] [Naughty Fox Games]

[SPOILER ALERT]

I will not make a long ass review since this game has less than 6 chapters. I'm just gonna say the good and the bad of this game. This review is also not final, it could change in the future depending on how NFG handles its narrative.

The Good
- Summer Heat's graphic is actually very spectacular. All of the characters' designs are original (kinda).
- Its gameplay is very good. Lots of new mechanics and different ways to play compared to other AVNs.
- I like the UI, not too simple and not too weird.
- It doesn't have too many sex scenes atm, but they look pretty great so far.
- The phone system is like a breath of fresh air. Kinda reminds me with BaDIK's phone system, but it lacks of apps. At least the UI is better.
- Tinder in this game is so good, sadly we couldn't meet them girls. Probably in the future.

The Bad
- MC is a little bit retarded, how the fuck this guy can enjoy around shady adults in a new environment for less than a week is very concerning. Dude can't even sense danger around him. He's 19 but he still acts like a 7 year old kid who got lured into an ice cream van.
- Mike is very, very underappreciated. I don't like the idea that he's just there as a "best friend" and not helping the MC very often and vice versa. Most MCs in every AVN have this friend who always help and stay in most conditions. BaDIK has Derek, Leap of Faith has Chris, Eternum has Chang, Race of Life has Cooper, FreshWomen has Dylan, etc and they're very useful to the MC. But, Mike is almost rendered useless in Summer Heat and he also has less dialogues compared to Miller. I expect him to be more involved in the future.
- To be honest, I don't really like how the story is going. I hope we don't get another Acting Lesson in the making, that fucking game gave me PTSD. Both Summer Heat and Acting Lesson happened because the MC is playing with fire, a fire that could've been avoided. Also, that damn "Horror" in the future tag is not helping either.

Update from August 23rd 2024:
Yeah the new update was just released and boy, is it a disappointment. We waited for almost a year for content that is less than 1 hour. This game is one of those AVNs which has bad work schedule. I feel like my three stars rating is getting more and more justified in the end of the day.

5/5 without hesitation. Perfectly written dialogues that don't bore, are not unnecessarily long and keep the plot brisk and fresh. The visuals are amazing too, very nice models. I look forward to the sequel, keep it up.

Quality game product. From renders to writing, all game aspects are top notch. Story is nice and charachters are likeable, mc isnt retard or pushover but a good slightly naive and inexperienced guy(in a best way). For me renders are godlike and their amount are insane for 2yo game, sometimes feel like game process more of a slideshow animation because almost every sentence, move, jest, interaction accompanied by new render, which makes scenes feel more alive.

Events sometimes felt a bit weird, but its doesnt annoy or ruin immersion and completely fine for AVN. In general storytelling in this game feels fresh and unique in compare to others AVN's.

There is not a lot of sex scenes for now, but they greatly done. Sexual tension here depicted and staged very well. There is no stupid and unnatural dividing on stages in comparing to IRL, if woman wants to fuck with mc, here she will go all the way when they get intimate, without "Im so horny that for now I will give you handjob, then leave unsatisfied and maybe some other update day I will give you blowjob" logical exception here only with young self respected and unexpirienced girls where its natural to take things slow.

Devs definetely worth their support and obviously put a lot of time and hard work in the game.

1/ Excellent renders quality
2/ Characters with lovable personnalities (=wifey material)

3/ Good plot

4/ Game mechanics = not why you'll go for this game, very classical choice based AVN.
Yet the "photograph scenes" add a little something.

5/ NSFW content: right now (v 0.5) the game has not much porn content but a decent amount of erotic / seductive content

5/5 Rating since for the first two points of my review, this game is not just "very good" but absolutely God Tier.
This game was released in february 2022 and back then this game was just WOW - a candy for the eye, a new milestone.

This game is beautiful. Renders are great and unique. Story is nice, humor is solid and the romance is *chef kiss* perfect. I can't wait to see how the game will pan out over the course of development.

Giving this game a 5 star, it has good graphics and got alot of potential,the story is there everything hope its not turned in to "abandoned" status like some other game after it become noticable by players.

I have been playing for a few hours but man... the game is so good. The renders, stunning visuals, dialogue are of top quality. It's a great one to look at.
5 out of 5

Five out of five stars.

Incredible renders, great setting, love the characters. While some feel a bit too eager to jump on the MC, they do have their own believable personalities.

Despite the length it is one of my favourite games on this platform.

Legitimately a top notch game. Every single love interest is interesting and attractive, which I personally find pretty rare in a game like this. And that creates actual internal conflict because you like them all but don't want to betray the trust of any of them.

An absolute must play with my only downside is I wish I had the whole complete game to play through multiple times to go through the various routes I expect to be in the final game based on how things are going. It feels like there will be consequences to cheating, based on how real the characters feel and the jealousy between them, and that helps make the game feel so much more real than yet another harem game where no woman cares what you do with anyone else.

I'm giving this game a 4.5/5 stars:

The Great:

• Renders are fantastic; the lighting looks really professional.
• The best models and skin texture I have seen in VNs.
• Wetness, sweat, red faces, and cheeks are on point.
• The way you depict character actions instead of describing them with text shows the care you are putting into the story scenes (e.g., when a girl is attracted: red face, looks at you, faint smile, etc.).
• Clothes and hair have almost no weird deformations (that's a plus).
• No oddly fitted shirts below the breasts.

The Good:

• Characters behave like what they are—a bunch of college students.
• Animations are really well done.
• The way you control the flow by running the story and then providing some much-needed freeroam is not bad.
• The story is just starting to develop, but I can see that it promises a good conflict in the future. There's still room for improvement.

The Bad:

• I'm not too much of a fan of dating-style VNs (which is what this feels like). After my second completion, it feels burdensome to go through everything again with all the girls, and most of the conversations are not that interesting.
• Freeroam: There's a little bit, but I'm dying for some freeroam inside the house to catch some scenes and funny moments. The setup is perfect, but it just didn't happen.

The Ugly:

• There's nothing visually ugly in this game (except for one character).
• The click-by-click sexual scenes are a nightmare; just let them run.
• Sometimes I miss the animations because I click too much, and there's no indication that an animation is running.
• Also, there are some blocked decisions in interactions, and there's no text on how to unlock them or if they are features under development.

In the end, it's a really good VN with a lot of potential to be one of the greats. I'll wait for your next update.

So, on the good side the art is fantastic. It's a beautiful looking game with distinct looking girls. That's pretty much it.

On the other side there's virtually no story, just a series of interactions between the MC and the girls, most of whom seem to be sexually inexperienced, at least the main LIs, as does the MC , despite claiming to be somewhat experienced. The problem is that they all behave like bashful children, especially the MC, until they get to some type of sexual situation (I won't say tension because there isn't any) at which point everyone starts talking like flirters and teasers extraordinaire from a B grade coming of age movie, despite using banter and innuendo-ing (yes, I know that's not a word) like they're immature 40 somethings at a pickup bar. There is nothing about the dialogue that seems appropriate to the ages and much of it that seems totally divorced from the normal social context of the situation in which the words are uttered. MC is also declaring his individual romantic interest in all of these girls as if the others don't exist, and saying he won't mention it to anyone, but in ways in which they could never happen with everyone under the same roof or in the same room. It's utterly ridiculous. The bar scenes are ridiculous. The cop thing is ridiculous. Honestly, you can apply that word to so many things in this game that I hesitate to list them. The choices don't matter with great frequency, and three dots is a default option in almost all conversations. That's just lazy. The dialogue is unimaginative and uninspired.

All is not lost. We're 5 chapters in a summer stay at an art school, and not a single arty thing has happened, but there does seem to be some kind of story emerging out of the bar. It's a slow process, but something is definitely happening. MC isn't involved in it yet, but it's out there. In the meantime we can live with the insipid conversations and beautifully rendered yet utterly vanilla and unimaginative sex scenes.

TLDR. This game is a technical masterpiece and a creative sinkhole.

An amazing game.

Beautiful renders, gorgeous girls with some ambitious proportions that stay believable (damn Mrs Hill I dream of you), good physics (especially tits) and engaging and well-paced story even if quite vanilla. Sex scenes take time to come with updates, but it's starting to get explosive with the last update, so there's hope for awesome content next !

At last, an actual contender for the podium of the best adult games ever with Pale Carnations and Eternum. What a breath of fresh cum air !

This one really suprised me with how it carried the story. With how the renders look i was expecting the worst writing possible thinking they just focused on the look only(and didn't pick up the game thinking it'd be a waste of time) but you can really get a long immersive nut to this one trust me the teasing and the character faces oh my the expressions are amazing there is nothing like it even comparable.
The ending for the v0.5.1 so far left me shook and wanting more but its making me nervous for replayability since theres no really brancing paths(although i dont enjoy mindless storylines with boring characters just so there can be "meaningful" choices). So you can mingle with all the cast which is kind of lazy writing imo how are all these girls coming to this camp are horndogs huge coincidence but also its hard to say what way would i enjoyed more like locking characters with choices so you can have multiple playthroughs. Probably would've made more sense but i am guessing thats a lot of work for this cast and seperate storylines with these quality render/animations.

Embark on a captivating journey in 'Summer Heat,' a delightful visual novel.
Navigating friendships and romance, it weaves engaging plot twists with charming characters and vibrant aesthetics, immersing you in the whimsical world of teenage adventures.

This is top quality work. Beautiful characters that are deep and complex and believable, excellent writing and narrative that doesn't feel scripted or contrived, animations that I've seen are very impressive.
There's a lot to like about this VN, it's an excellent start. I hope the storyline doesn't spiral out of control, that would be my only concern.
Otherwise, good job dev!

+ renders
+ game give horror vibe
+ Mia is beautiful

- mc is scared passive dumb when it comes to girls. He never take the initiative, it's the most annoying thing in this avn
- conversations are really boring, sometimes childish and they lead to nowhere
- sex scenes are boring too, thanks to passive idiotic mc
- cockblocking
- no story, mc just walking and talking with girls, that's all

Girls give you hints the whole game - that they want you to do something, even a simple kiss (there is also a scene, where one girl tell him directly and he still doesn't kiss her xd) he is too clueless to make any move, they need to guide and tell him what they want. Pathetic
I can't recommend this avn, is totally overrated, 2 stars from me

Overall, excellent VN. The MC is a bit slow when it comes to taking the initiative, and he is not as charismatic as other MCs, but he's alright. I personally find all the girls beautiful, and as far as I know, none of them are the stock models/characters you see in all Repny VNs, which is always appreciated. The game doesn't have music but just great ambience sounds that are on point, and really help with immersion, Imo. You have free roam sections, which allow you to use a dating app and talking to people. The dating app mechanic is better than the one in Being a DIK, since the conversations are longer (maybe a bit too long) and feel a bit more “real”. and you have more girls to talk to. The interactions and moments with the girls are very nice; they feel casual, realistic and intimate. The story is starting to get interesting, hopefully it will have some mystery and crime stuff, and the quality of the renders and models is 10/10. I generally don't care about the sex scenes and just skip them, cause well, if I want to see a naked woman, nothing beats the real thing, right? But I've to admit the scenes of this VN are among the most arousing I've seen. I thought this VN was abandoned, and it was a great surprise seeing I was mistaken. I hope the dev(s) will keep up the excellent work in future updates, 'cause I can't wait to try'em!

Wow, what a stellar experience this AVN is so far! The renders and models are really world class, among the best I've ever seen. The story and plot are pretty standard porn fare, but the writing is solid enough that I'm happy to roll with it. The phone chat and photography side activities are enjoyable and contribute to the erotica. Hope this one gains in popularity!

This is one of the best AVN's out there, the quality of the renders and the details are top notch.

Facial expression are also pretty cute.

Let's see where this goes. The potential of this game is just *chefs kiss*


Edit:

0.6

All that wait for this... wow.

Of the games I've written actual reviews for I tend to talk glowingly about the story, dialogue and/or character dynamics. I also am biased towards good use of animation and direction.

Most of that still holds true here: the storyline is pretty solid and we've just received what one might call the first 'crisis' point of the game; the dialogue has been smooth and feels organic and unique to each character.

But my highest praise has to go to the character dynamics so far (and I'll get to the animation in a moment). The models used and the art direction (angles, lighting, etc.) really capture the intensity of the intimate/lewd moments: the knowing glances, the playful smiles, the inviting touches and the body language along with the dialogue create captivating chemistry between not just the PC and girls of the game, but the girls with each other as well.

Thus far I think Bree and Sophie have each had the best star-turns to date, with the pool scenes with them stealing the show. I have enjoyed that intense, barely contained fire between Bree and the PC, but also loved that more subdued smoulder with Sophie. In games that allow harems or more 'open' relationships, this is one of a couple (along with Artemis) where I've been genuinely conflicted about pursuing multiple romances at once or just focusing on one (if I had to I'd likely pick Sophie, but that's just me!)

As for the animation and the models I have to say that I like the decisions made in this game. For awhile now even with the games I've reviewed and heaped praise on I wondered why the insistence on an overly-large phallus for the PC. I mean, I get it, I guess? For erotic media that ostensibly cater largely to a heterosexual male demographic (sorry, don't have any supporting peer-reviewed data set for that! ) there's a reticence to having a PC with a...uh...normal-looking large phallus? My biggest problem with this in most games is that the models clearly...um...struggle with it during fellatio. They do this immersion-breaking anaconda-like thing where the jaw clearly dislocates and all that's missing is the tearing of tissue in the cheeks.

With Summer Heat, however, Naughty Fox Games went with a more 'realistic' porn penis that allowed for some of the best oral scenes in any 3D erotic game I've played, at least so far as I can recall.

The combination of the camera angles, facial expressions and posing/animation all lend themselves equally to creating delicious lewd/intimate scenes.

And I can't say enough about the models used. Some of my favorite, and ones that I can't recall ever being re-used in other games. While the models are all genuinely beautiful, they also all look different and fit their respective characters. The use of freckles, of not being afraid to use smaller bust sizes and hips, as well as some of the best hair I can remember seeing all create alluring eye-candy.

All in all, well done! Can't wait for more!