VN - Ren'Py - Summer's Gone [S1 Steam + DLC] [Oceanlab]

Summer's Gone is by far the game with the best writing on this site, that alone entertains me enough to give it four stars. The renders are top, and it is one of the few games where slow burning is justified.

Nika is a likeable MC, I like his kind, not a perfect Gary Sue, but not a weakling either.

Nice cast of girls, good loking with likeable personalities. Same with male characters, here you won't find out you average, every maleisuglyaf game.

One of the most captivating games I've played in six years here. Give it a try.

The renders of this game are really good but thats about it. The writing is not so great and the MC is a little bitch. It's extremely hard to have any empathy for someone who's "trauma" is such a nothingburger. It tries to hit you in the feels but fails miserably. People call this a slow burn, but after so much time nothing interesting is happening. MC can't get it up because his girlfriend disappeared when they were kids. Like he didn't watch her die or anything like that and dude acts like his entire family was killed before his eyes. That also means no sex scenes at all, "lewd" scenes are as mid as can be.
Edit: Also forgot to mention that you barely see the MC's past but the scenes with Summer in them really doesn't show how she's so great. I actually would go as far as saying that the scenes with Summer in them are the most boring ones. Maybe future scenes (if they ever come) can expand and make her more likeable.
TLDR:
This game is about a bunch of young adults who don't know how to get over things and move on with no sex scenes in it.

I don't understand the hype about this game. First, it's difficult for me to identify with an impotent MC. If you can, good for you.

Then, yeah, I get it, this game is about "slow-burn". However, there are intelligent ways to do it. You could see a girl masturbating, or fantasising, etc. Instead, the dev is deliberately hiding interesting stuff, like in the scene where two girls are talking about bush trimming, he hid the pussy with a bad angle. All the game is like that, letting you hope you're going to see something, then hiding it. After like 10,000 lines of dialogue, there is still no pussy in sight (you can nevertheless see a guy fapping with a buttplug in -_-). Even Darksilver in all his glory did not dare to do that.

Judging by the memes that the dev himself posted in the game's gallery, it seems that there isn't going to be any porn in the game, ever. As a result, I think Summer's Gone should not even be on F95.

Probably best 3D renders VN out there.
Tiiiiny bit too far on the edgy emo side, but still 100x more mature and serious than anything else I played.
Really nice writing, making usually boring slice of life captivating.

I rate it 5/5 due to rating inflation of awful abominations being praised here, but realistically - 4-/5.
At certain moment for some reason Dev forgot to hit the brakes on the plotlines creation, resulting in waaay to many characters being added. I'd much prefer to keep it in range of ~5 and giving the existing relationships more screen time.

Kudos for 0 (zero) sex scenes. It could be added anywhere, but wouldn't fit anywhere as well. The buildup is there though!

Slow burn which I am fine with , actually building up a great story and foundation. Does mean it’s slower pacing but has some of the most memorable scenes in AVNs I have yet come across. Ties in well with WIAB

Summer's Gone [Ch. 5 Beta]

Pros:
+ Characters feel alive, fleshed out, real
+ MC feels fresh, not your typical MC
+ Overall story is engaging
+ Emotionally engaging interactions, scenes
+ Choices feel like they matter with relationships
+ Choices feel like they have consequences or are rewarding
+ Music feels like it fits well and sets the mood for each scene
+ AMAZING RENDERS, MODELS, ANIMATIONS

Cons:
- Will probably be a long time before completed
- Main story progression pace, though interesting, feels a little slow
- Slow burn may not be for all, and no real sexual content (yet)

This is one of my top 5 favorite ongoing games. Please support Ocean!

Without a doubt the character development and progression as well as the game's visuals are its strongest points. I really felt an emotional pull during some scenes and I feel this game has a lot of potential going forward with more story progression and further anticipated character development and relationship building.

For those interested in more background story, there is a kind of prequel to the game. The overall story plot is further expanded by playing Ocean's other game, Where It All Began, which takes place before the events of Summer's Gone and involves some of the same characters in their earlier years. Not necessary but interesting for those who want to delve deeper!

Overall Rating: 10/10

The golden standard of the quality of renders and looks of the girls to the point that it even beats the best of the best in that department.

Highly recommend this to any AVN fan and definitely on my watchlist mainly due to the absence of lewd scenes with these absolute beauties that are yet to come, but the other aspects of this game support the main selling point well enough to not detract from the overall quality.

This is a jewel!
...and my absolute favorite so far...
Not only beautiful renderings but a captivating psychological story. Ive played over 2 dozen games all with approx 4 stars + review scores, but this game made my heart hop all over the place.

The characters are well thought through which gave them each a unique personality, something that is often forgotten in other novels. The way the characters are 'dancing around each other' in strategic and sharp dialogs ...trying to outsmart one another.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THAT! and that by itself made it a delight to read. ...and so much that all other games now seem somewhat lacking in dialogs .
Can't shake the feeling that the absence of lewd scenes only concentrated the story without really disturbing it.

The story is very good and as it develops it becomes emotional and very captivating.
Most of the main characters are very well detailed in terms of their personalities, although with several unknowns in their backstories that will be discovered as the novel progresses. I consider this to be the strong point of this visual novel, you really get attached to the characters and want to know what will happen to them in the next chapter. Although at first it is difficult to empathize with the psychologically traumatized and sexually inhibited protagonist, following his constant internal battle against depression and his small achievements supported by the beautiful friends he makes, can make you change your mind about him.
The graphics are excellent, especially the female characters are exquisitely represented. Awesome work.
I have played the first 5 chapters and there is still no sex, but I really hope that after this long introduction the best will come, because it has everything to become one of the best Visual Novels for adults.

Delving into 'Summer's Gone' is an enthralling experience, marked by a compelling and nuanced narrative that transcends the typical adult visual novel tropes. Unlike many in the genre, this game skillfully navigates the intricate landscape of human emotions, expertly manipulating perspectives through meticulously crafted images. This artistic finesse, coupled with a carefully selected soundtrack and a masterful interplay of colors and light, positions 'Summer's Gone' among the premier visual novels available.

Despite having only five chapters, each segment boasts a substantial length, ensuring a rich and immersive storytelling experience. The game introduces a diverse array of characters, each equipped with intricate backgrounds and captivating personalities. Noteworthy is the absence of major bugs, with only a few negligible orthographic errors that, given the riveting narrative, easily escape notice.

In essence, 'Summer's Gone' emerges as a standout VN, distinguished by its deep storytelling, artistic brilliance, and a cast of characters whose complexity adds layers of intrigue to the overall narrative

Another very good work by OceanLabs. The writing is very well made for most characters. You can see the MC changing with his interactions with people. I personally really like Bella's character, it's well made because you can really feel her personality through the dialogues and it passes my test of "could I recognize this character if every character had a basic skin". Nami also passes this test and Sonya but it's cheating a bit because she is the only very introvert character. The other characters need more development but I understand it needs time and it's normal Bella is the most developped character yet since you interact with her very early. In term of technique, I am not an expert but compared to some other Ren'py games, it's very clean. It's rare to see devs putting lots of time developing the characters so I am really happy that some devs take the time because the story is much more meaningful.

The following sentence is not really a spoiler but it's a guess of what will surely happens.

Just be careful when Summer will be back (I assume when you chose someone to have a relationship with) because it could be very cliche and already seen depending on how you write it.

I didn't put 5 stars because as a lot of people said, the game is very long to make. I assume it's because the devs decided to have 2 projects going on. I know quality take times and I am sure you are a very small team maybe working during your free time, I don't know but I think you should have focus on 1 project at a time even though "Where it all began" is also a very good VN.

This game is a loop, in each update we keep repeating every scene to scene and get close to nothing new. in 2019 we already played the basketball scene, we knew that bella and ayua are racers we did our hair like 10 times already at the barber with bella, knew that the mother character got a new boyfriend that Nami is into us, we stole the heirloom and went to therapy 10 times mc still impotent(which doesn't add anything to the whole story, just a nuisance), mila is still accused of stealing, saw victoria getting hit by a car on and on and on. And after 5 years of development, we are getting The Same story once again, but with better visuals. I'm usually not some1 to degrade some1-s work or anything, but the game states its a slow burn game, but in reality its a loop for the dev to improve his daz skills and not to tell a story. 5 years of visual updates and close to 0 new content. I wish the dev is not getting better at blender or we might repeat the circle. i honestly can't think of any story segment which we didn't see or knew in 2019 already.
As for the 2 star: this game has incredible visuals, but in my opinion 0 progression . The rating might change depending on the 2nd season.

All these new hardver and the updates are not coming any faster at all. 5-6 months for SG and 1 update if ur lucky per year for WiaB.

this game is shit

the only good thing about the game is the renders and models of nami and bella, the rest of the girls are copies of each other with no interest because they are untouchable, you can t ( you who plays) feel close to any woman besides nami , the only one getting some phyisical contact with MC is her and stop

I dont know what the fuck is wrong with the people, chapter 1 and 2 are short, i expected a lot of fucking text and nice story if the dev doesn t do sex scenes,but, what the fuck was this ? man for real, worst story than a lot of games with fucking trash renders. with sense of shortness in the episodes, girls are raining in and dont stop falling from the sky, and each of them are the same big tittied girl with same face and same body.

this fucking garbage is a 3dcg game with a girl in scene which have 400 angles of camera showing her butt or tits clothed while having bullshit of conversations, truly meaningfullness

damn, 5 episodes and so many years to this shit? i regret downloading this game, it didn t even make me hard, maybe if i were a virgin with social problems i would've find interesting this game of girls with nice bodies always clothed with a lot of shots of their bodies from different angles

But no, that doesn't make it anymore for me, and this story is so stupid that i wonder if people has lost their minds or were high when rating this

Like for real, a lost love who dissapeared? okay that's sad but where is the fucking story besides that? we don t fucking advance, we dont know nothing after years of milking, jesus , my respect to the dev, he managed to fool all the supporters and even made me download this pile of shit

The first thing is that the name of the game is about a character that does not exist, but exists in memories
The second thing is because the developer built the game and it does not have scenes for adults, and I think the reason is that the developer is ashamed to add any scenes that involve relationships.
All you will find are beautiful girls wearing clothes that reveal their bodies, or after waiting, perhaps you will see moments of some girls completely naked.
If you were hoping to see sexual relations, no, you will not see anything in this game. In fact, it is a frustrating and time-wasting game that only has the quality of cinematic animation, pictures, and a lot of dialogue between the characters.

I've never played such a good AVN in my life. Sex is not that important. The story is so good, so perfect, I was hooked. The animations are extremely high quality and the music playing in the background puts you in the environment very well. The story is extremely interesting and I'm looking forward to the second season right now, I'm extremely curious. I started creating all kinds of theories in my head and reading on forums. Definitely play this masterpiece.

An excellent VN, here are some of my impressions:

1. Story: It was pretty good, a litle "far-fetched" at times but still interesting and engaging. Something I didn't like is that we are pretty much kept in the dark about MC's background story, I think the developer is trying to build up expectation for what's coming next but at same time this makes some dialogs incomprehensible, also is taking too long (5 chapters already).

2. Characters: The MC is a bit annoying at the beginning (kind of a drama queen Emo and then turns into a psycho xD). Most of the Girls are great though(Bella, Nami, Zara, Mila), Personally I'd like to see more of Nadia in next chapters. Overall very well written characters.

3. Renders: One of the best renders I've ever seen, only a few could compete with this VN in this category, except for that chapter 2 but Ocean already mentioned it wil be updated.

4. Animations: Excellent as wellSadly Non-lewd yet.

5. Music: Songs are great. I already added some of them to my playlist.

So, to be honest this VN is pretty dam good but It is not "legendary" yet (might be... depending on future updates). As of now.. I'd give it a 9/10. It is a great job. Totally worth checking out.

Summers gone.

Visuals 5/5 stunning visuals, beautiful characters and fantastic audio

Story 2/5 Ocean seems to focused on the visuals and the story seems scrappy and doesnt seem to be following a structure. theres too much going on for the MC and earlier developments seem to have been forgotten, theres too many love interests for the speed of development and no one can really tell you what the story is about and with the introduction to yet more characters from his other work its only going to get messier. I suggest Ocean really focuses on getting his story into order so it matches his incredible visuals.

Development 0/5 Im sorry Ocean but your speed of development is painfully slow and the fact that you decided to work on 2 projects side by side is an insult to your summers gone fans, you have developed a cult following for summers gone because of how beautiful it is and your paying customers deserve your full attention, my advice keep your other project on ice and fully focus on completing this novel, then give them the prequel. your rivals are catching up fast with their visuals and audio and it wont be long until you lose the edge in the visuals department.

final words: your visuals are keeping me interested but its not in my top 5 of novels because of your story and development speed.

The development process is very slow. The content so far is not interesting enough. The problem is not just that there is no adult content. The story is linear, not gripping or with enough choices for the player to make an impact. The beautiful visuals are all that's left, but they're not enough to keep me investing this much time. At some point, the developer will probably realize that he can't get out of it and that he's messing everything up and will abandon the project. You can look at all the similar games and you won't find any of them with more than one or two episodes that are extended to set up the story. In the case of Summers Gone, even after a whole season of this slowness, we still don't have a clear story with a beginning, an end or a middle. Season 2 will probably add what needs to be added, but considering that five episodes have been released in four years, the second season needs at least four more years. Nothing is worth waiting so long for.

This game is top notch. Yes it is a slow burn but so perfectly done, along with a real good written story. I love the interaction between mc and the other caracters. This is not a game where he drops his pants and all the women are instantly dropping their knickers to get fucked, but you can sense the tension building up and that is some perfect writing right here.
Only thing i am worried about is that i`ll have to choose at a certain level who is going to be the one. Thats gonna hurt because i love all of them.
Take the attraction which is building up between mc and Bella, mc and Nami and actually between mc and every other woman he meets, you really dont want any of them to be left out, so it is going to be a lot of diiferent paths to play and a lot of women to disapoint.
So if you want a game that has a great story and beautiful women but is a very slow burn, this is it, you cant find a better one.
Thats why i gave 5 stars and wished i could give more.

The dialogue is perfect and funny, I enjoy reading it. The images are beyond perfect!
I've got a problem with MCs hair since the beginning, it got better after the haircut but still the guy needs to get a nicer haircut. It looks like an anime character, looks weird to me.
The girls are fantastic, love that everyone have their own personality.
The story is every immersive to the point that I don't mind not having sex involved.
One of my favorites.

The only part that I find myself drifting apart is at Nadia's sci-fi board game but I understand that is to please everyone's taste and to be different from other VNs.