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

I've absolutely fallen in an abyss of love for this game. I'm not really sure how the "choices" play out, but more than a halfway into the game i feel connected to most of the female characters at a certain romantical level and i'm sure i'll be playing it again to test things out.
The animations and plethora of female characters are phenomenal, (not a silly copy-paste from other games) attention to detail too, complex personalities of the characters you can bond with are also praise-worthy.
And i have to say, it's one of the few games where the main character evolves and turns heads around not just with his zweihander.. so it feels good playing in his stead, the immersion is great.
I'm going to play it out but chances are very high that i'm going to support this developer, thank you for bringing such a beautiful game to us, keep up the good work.
You really REALLY have to take this game for a spin, in my eyes it made the list of AMAZING games.
Cheers
H

Best adult VN I've played so far and I've played more than 50. When you meet masterpiece like this game it's hard to choose single elements that makes whole game briliant but I try. I think its combination of excelent story writing, dev's attention to every little detail, well written characters with real emotions, amazing renders which also show characters' emotions very well and music. Cinematics are also 10/10 with characters looking very realistic and alive. Story is very intriguing and addictive, looking forward for future updates. Great job!

This might be the most engaging story I've seen in my 7 years of browsing this website. I can't wait to see this MASTERPIECE complete. The level of detail, the quality of the writing, the soundtrack, the renders, the girls, it's all also incredibly honest and down to earth. I LOVE IT!!

Without a doubt one of, if not, THE best games / VNs on F95zone. Oceanlab's attention to small details, incredible story and character development, as well as character models and scene composition, make this a winner.

This isn't just another VN or "porn game", but instead a true work of art backed by an immense amount of talent. Bravo @Oceanlab , bravo!

5 stars, highest recommendation.

One of the best Visual Novels that I've ever played.

The moment I'm writing this review chapter 4.5 just came out and whenever an update drops I always replay this game so my memory is very recharged with SG content, this is my third time reading this game.



I'll go from the easiest to talk about to the hardest.

Starting with the most obvious one, SG has the best renders and animations I've ever seen in any AVN, chapter 2 will receive a remake so I'm not counting it since I'm sure it'll be as beautiful as chapter 1 remake.
The scenes are so vivid, you can see each place is alive and full of details and not your basic background that you'll find in the average AVN.
And all characters have amazing design, even the ones you know that you'll never see again, both male and female. But it can be a minor problem since some people can be disappointed as it's impossible to make every single girl a LI, so maybe the girl you'll find the prettiest won't be a LI.
And if you animate these amazing renders you get breathtaking animations for all types of scenes: introductions, romance, action and even some light lewd.

Once again SG has one, if not the best, music of any AVN. They improve so much the impact of the scenes or they help you to keep immerse in this universe. (Even though the developer had to switch out one of my favorite songs because of copyright, Demons in my mind - lvly)
(I just gave it a 9 instead of a 10 because I think a VN has to have some kind of music playing at least 85-90% of the time and SG as a few scenes without music for no reason, just a nitpick)

Summer's Gone doesn't have a "main plot" that push the story forward, but the developer really knows how to give information, you won't find boring intern monologues or the MC explaining his entire life to another character as a easy way developers use to give a summary to the readers in your average AVN.
In fact Summer's Gone lack a lot of details and we don't know a lot about MC's past and you could think that's because the MC is a boring character but here comes the talent of the developer, instead of giving the reader expositive dialogues so you can know about the MC's past he focus on the consequences of the MC's past, how it affected him to make the MC the person he's when this story begins. So we see the effects of how something in the past that is still heavily affecting the MC but we just know a few pieces of what happened and this make us craving for more knowledge. (it's the perfect case of the classic "show, don't tell").

Yes, it's your classic college setting that's been used a million times, but in SG you can feel how the world is alive, characters are connected to each other in many ways, there's a lot of information in small details, important characters to the setting but that don't appear in the story, structure of the teams in the university and how thing change over time.

So we arrived, this game is so well done that if you take my 4 topics above and reduced their quality to the average AVN just the character would still make Summer's Gone a great AVN.
As I said earlier SG is not driven by its story, it's driven by its character that undoubtedly are the gem of this game.
Each character that has been show has a unique personality and SG has a massive cast, even though most of them are female there's still a lot of male characters (I can only think of one AVN that has more male characters this well written). And they have their own lives whit their problems, their past and their plans, instead of living around the MC and them disappearing when they're off screen. You can see they are getting close with each other in the background, and you can see how they change interacting with each other and with the MC.
Even the few one-dimension characters are given more depth as the story progress, and you feel in every one that receive a bit of spotlight that they're alive. and when you put these characters with the worldbuilding above you get an interesting world that you want to explore and that always has questions you want to answer.

Love interests (technically a subtopic of character):
I don't think we have officially how many LI there are and who are all of them (for what I have seen even the developer don't know yet).
So for now I just consider 4 of the girls LI, and in addition to what I've said about characters these 4 LI each have unique relationship and interaction with the MC, each have some themes that the story will focus more and all of them are interesting and well written.

Main character (technically a subtopic of character):
Nothing more, nothing less than the best MC of any AVN.
Yes, in the beginning of the story he's too edgy but if you make the right choices you can put his edginess in acceptable levels.
Nika (MC's official name) is not yourself insert MC and his personality won't please everyone, although you can change him a bit with your choices. He has good and bad traits that put him on or take him out of bad situations. He makes mistakes and must live with the consequences while trying to repair it, or not.
And his biggest trait is a trauma from the past that we don't know much about, but we see whenever he interacts with another character that this trauma still affects him a lot, in this character driven visual novel you can even can Nika's trauma as the main plot that put the story forward.

Summer's gone is undoubtedly one of the best AVN, personally it's my favorite, but nothing will never please everyone and nothing is perfect.
As SG is so well done it doesn't have a major defect that make this game bad, but I'll list a few minor defects that can turn off some people.

• The MC starts a bit too much edgy, but gets better over time, especially since the remake of chapter 1.
• Technically is not a defect but some people may not like: the MC takes time to starting to have feelings for the LIs because of his trauma.
• There are a lot more female characters than male ones, but not in absurd levels. At least there are half a dozen interesting male characters, and it seems more will get introduced in the future.
• there are a lot of light eyes in this game, it's not a problem but sometimes it can break your immersion (just among the 4 LIs we have 2 green eyes e 1 blue eyes).
• Sometimes a scene that doesn't have music can feel empty, especially after you've get used to the music in this game.
• This game doesn't have any form of sex scene, personally I don't think this as a problem, but some people do.
• chapter 2 has the worst quality among the chapters both in renders and in writing, but it'll receive a rework on the next update (5.0).

Normally I don't write a review, but I had to for this one. This game is a Masterpiece, everything is great except one thing it's that we haven't really got to know every character so right now it's a little hard to say which LI is best except this there is not a single thing to complain about. I just wish we get more updates as soon as possible, but we have to be patient when we are about a masterpiece such as this game.

This game is amazing and should at least be on the first page.

All the characters are unique and have this tremendous depth that is told not only by words, but also by the small things they do or the look on their faces. And the once that you haven't seen much but are teased in such an marvelous way that you cant wait to find out more about them.

Yes there is no actual sex in it yet but the build up towards is incredible.
This game does not cause you to think they are just craving for MC dick, no by the time you get to see something of you LI, even if they are only "tiddies" you get blown away, not because the renders are amazing (They are though) but because this connection you build with them, they care for you and you care for them.

The amount of work that goes into every scene, and animation is baffeling.
Every action, every movement, everything in the background has a well though out meaning, or something yet to explain, or something that you would have found out if you took another path.
It makes every character and place feel so alive.
Most updates I start a new game, not because saves are not compatible but because like a great movie or show you notice new things, small gestures, small facial expressions, background stuff that makes it so much better.


For example, Nia letting go of Nami's arm the moment she sees you if your last interaction with her was "weird" but if it was good that does not happen.

Another example:
My last play trough (Update 4.5) caused me to have 163 pages of saves, just with scenes I want to remember, to see again or that I just love. creating my own gallery


This game is just amazing; Ocean please keep doing what you are doing.

And to you, just play it!

I am completely in love with this game, it shows that a novel doesn't need to have sex (yet) to be a good one. The renders are awesome, the story is good, the ambience and the music are really good and relaxing, the characters are gorgeous, etc! This is a masterpiece in the making.
I could do with longer episodes but I know masterpieces take time to make. I could spend hours here praising the game but nah, I lack the patience to do it

This game really is a great work of art !

I do love these pearls which combine high-quality renders and captivating storytelling.
Looking forward to seeing the story unfold.

Many thanks and best wishes to you, Ocean !

I never write a review however I had to take the time for this one. This is one of very few games where I don’t skip ahead to the sexual content. I’m intrigued by the story and the visual quality is amazing. Every character is different with unique body types and features. Soundtrack is dope. This is my number one game of all time. I don’t even care that is kind of slow burn. I honestly think that once you have finished the story (I hope not anytime soon) you could make a video story with voice animations and it would be a hit. Keep up the amazing work.

I have to reconsider my attitude to this game. At first, it had a good potential, its own highlight and a great visual - the only thing that remained unchanged, but after 4 years, the whole story is stomping on the spot, there can be no question of any obscene content, moreover, the author removes the little that gave the basis for finding this game in the adult section, in an attempt to expand the reach of the potential audience of his once promising vn, betting, apparently, to kids from Steam.
The story provides a cliched tracing paper from the anime with a drama sucked from a finger, with illogical and not real dialogues, environment, behavior of characters, with typical bimbo girls, unreasonably gone crazy about the main character, but at the same time without intimacy, where is the logic here!? It is not here, as well as realism, which ardent fans of this creation like to talk about so much, but when it comes to some kind of harem suitable for this genre, fans and dev insist that it is not real, come on?)
In general, the trend is not very good, efforts are spent on unnecessary demonstrations of technical skills of the developer (a whole episode of a board game), alterations, removal of good content and endless surreal dramatic attempts to solve the problem, the essence of which is still not clear to anyone, against the background of the aforementioned bimbo beauties who play the role here unnecessary and inactive extras.

I'll edit this with my usual multi layer review once the game finishes(this is my first review of a WIP game so I'll keep it simple without detailed grading).

Ocean, keep doing what you're doing. Amazing game so far.
Lots of varied characters, yet you have the skill to make things less clunky. The game feels very organic, enjoying every part of it so far.
The slow burn feels right and it makes the game more organic, and when the lewd arrives, the payoff will be evergreater.

Characters, animations, renders, style, music... everything is spot on. I read there will be changes due to legal reasons, but I know you'll do a good job replacing stuff.

Overall, my favorite VN on this site. Keep up doing the good work.
I'll update the review once the game is finished some day.

Deep story, appealing and charming characters, crafted in such a way that you can connect with the main character. The content is a little edgy. As of chapter 4, there are no sexual scenes, yet everything is already a little steamy. I returned for the narrative!

Wow now i wonder why i waited so long to try this. Maybe because of the no sex content? But this game have so much more to give. I tried many games here but Summer's Gone is the first that succeeded in putting me in a particular mood, difficult to say what it is espacially...probably because in some way i can relate to the protagonist. But it was not a bad one for sure.
SG is an experience that makes me wanting more..and no its not the lewd that comes first to my mind.

Maybe the best game i have ever played, in terms of story's quality. Nothing is left behind, when you play you really want to know more about story and charachters. Of course there is not a single sex scene so far , so if you look for something "easy", this is not a game for you. I would define it a masterpiece.

It would be difficult to express everything this visual novel made me feel in such a brief article.
The way Ocean portrays the various events and how they affect the characters' mentalities and their relationships is refreshing, especially when compared to other VNs of the sort.
I'm excited to learn more about these characters, their past and, of course, the world shared with WIAB.
Magnificent oeuvre.

Visuals

• I don't usually say this (because it usually isn't true), but the way this dev rendered Nami and the model they chose for her are the single most impressive I've ever seen when it comes to small breasts. Seriously. I'm not a fan of small breasts, ever. Nami's are perky, cute, and they even fall subject to a bit of gravity
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  Genuinely impressed. It doesn't hurt that she's really cute with a cute little ass, either.
• Branching out from there, all models and renders in this game are top notch. So much so that I do not mind waiting eons for new updates.
• The cutscenes/animations are fucking impressive. We get 3D motion, not just 3D characters moving in 2D space. Not the usual cyclic animation styles. Dev has (so far) opted not to inject any real sexual content, so it's hard to know how they'll approach animation for the standard BJ/stroke/intercourse, but I'm eager.
• There's a plethora of subtle lewd angles. Almost every time you wish for one. I love this. Everything from subtle areola exposure to an ass cheek in the foreground.
• Superb realism in character models, textures, and nary a bad render in terms of lighting. It really is top-notch, visually.
• Probably my only criticism of the visuals: MC looks straight out of a Final Fantasy-meets-Twilight wet dream. And not in a good way. He's a white dude with a super asian hairstyle.

Story

• Fantastic story. Great arcs, great setup, great execution.
• Characters are personable, relatable even.
• Relationship dynamics are believable and convincing.
• There are so many inventive, creative elements, like
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  And, unlike other VNs, it's well-executed. It's not overly-cheesy, it's not overzealous, it's just plain fun.
• One criticism I have (not sure whether this should be categorized as purely story since a good amount of it is a combination of visual and dialog) would be that the MC never really snaps out of being morose. We see the occasional feigned smile or the hint of one, but his appearance and his dialog at times give off this juvenile sense of self-loathing that can get a bit old. I would not expect a full-blown transformation, but he just feels a bit 2-dimensional in his constant dejection.

Dialog
I have yet to come across any glaring issues, an attribute I can't grant very many VNs. Super minor grammatical ones. And I have a knack for pointing this sort of thing out.


Game Mechanics & Other Notes

I will absolutely be playing this one through completion.

This game has the potential to earn 5 stars - something I have only afforded a small handful of titles - but only if the dev gets around to actually making lewd scenes. 4 chapters in, and still a slow burn. It had better culminate at some point, and in spectacular fashion.

great animations, great render quality, excellent characters design and personalities, great music.. pretty well writing. the story has a lot attention to details and builds a great setup for our adventure. A dev that definitly worth support

Among all the great games that I played, SG for me is by far the most interesting one. Great story and characters. This game made me emotionally attached to the story. It's really hard to wait for new chapters.

The fact this game has more than 330 reviews should tell you something.

Summer's Gone is one of the few games here that don't insult your intelligence. It's a game that puts all the focus on story and characters and trusts that players/readers will stay for the story and the characters, and not be turned away because this game - so far - has zero sex.

So many games that try to tell a deep story are often too afraid to commit to telling the story, and nothing else. So many other games throw random flings at you, easy access characters for easy sex, they introduce side plots, things that ultimately distract from the core of the story and also - in a way - cheapen the characters.

Not so here.
Summer's Gone is about damaged characters, an MC who has psychological issues, performance issues, who still suffers from a - yet to be fully revealed - teenage trauma when something happened to his love, Summer. But the MC is not the only damaged character here. One potential love interest is literally damaged early in the game when she has an accident and gets confined to a wheelchair.
And then there's Bella, the seemingly nasty rich bitch, who turns out to be one of the most complex and layered characters in VN land.

On the surface Summer's Gone is yet another college game, but in my opinion the setting plays second fiddle here and the real focus are the characters and how they learn to either overcome or live with their traumas.

The MC is an introvert, and the game gives you a good idea what it means to be like that. People may think you are anti-social or even rude, other people can exhaust you, everything can be too much when you are thrown into an unfamiliar environment with lots of new people.

But even many of the potential love interests have huge issues. Bella suffers from a similar trauma as the MC, something happened to her sister a few years ago that still haunts her. Her defense mechanisms are obvious, she lashes out, she can be a bit mean, but if you choose not to ignore her and to engage with her you realize there is so much more to her and it soon becomes apparent how much the MC and Bella have in common.

The other major love interest, in my opinion, there are a few more, is the MC's sister (I used a patch), Nami. On the surface Nami seems to be mostly "normal", she's the older sister, she and the MC lost their parents at a young age and were taken in by a friend of their mother. So they learned to depend on each other. And that in turn resulted in closeness, not just emotional. You soon learn that Nami has deep feelings for the MC - as a player you can decide if you want to explore this angle. If you do (I would recommend you do) you get two major love interests in the game.

The MC's quasi mirror image... Bella. And the MC's anchor and the most important person in his life probably: Nami. And Nami hates, or at least greatly dislikes, Bella and is afraid of losing her brother forever.

So what do you do? i feel this is one of the central conflicts here.

That being said the other NPCs in this game are also - for the most part - quite layered and intriguing. Characters you first may seriously dislike, like Zara, become more interesting once you get to know them better and as usual you learn there is more to them than meets the eye. Someone like Sonya, she's from Iran and has to wear a hijab, is almost entirely a mystery still, but something is brooding beneath the surface here. You can say the same about virtually every other character in the game. They are really well written and not one of them is boring.

But if you want happy go lucky Chad MCs who sex everyone they meet... look elsewhere. This game will not give you want you want.

If you want an actual story about emotionally scarred and damaged characters who learn to live again... then Summer's Gone is what you want to play.

Also, despite the lack of sex, there is still erotic tension in this game. Mostly with Bella and Nami, but what you get is in many ways more meaningful than any of the scenes in most other games.
When Bella and the MC kiss under the light of a full moon you can feel their connection, it's tender, it's passionate and both are deeply conflicted about it because they sense how similar they are. Can two damaged people become whole together? Or will the cracks just multiply?

You also get a scene with Nami alone in her room when the MC is away with Bella. And she weeps. Because she's afraid of losing the one person she loves. Something that happened to her before when her brother and Summer, who was Nami's friend originally, grew closer but grew ever more distant from Nami. To the point that Nami felt some resentment. Something that is still haunting her. Other games have similar scenes, but here it hits home a lot more and you may find it very difficult to ignore Nami's attempts to win over her brother.

Also, the scenes you get are long. Nothing is casual here, you get very long sequences with both Bella and Nami for example (also with other characters) and while the characters often "just" talk you can almost always feel the (erotic) tension, the conflict inside the MC about what to feel and how to feel.

Of course not everything is perfect.
Summer's Gone still wants to provide titillation by dressing the girls in very revealing clothing. While that makes sense when a girl wants to test the MC's reaction, many other times it doesn't make sense at all and I wish the game wouldn't resort to the adult VN clothing conventions. There is sexy clothing and there's stupid clothing. It's even more of an oddity in a game that puts story and characters first and is not about super easy sex.

Then there is a very long table top gaming sequence in chapter 4. While the sequence itself is fine and interesting, it does - as far as I can tell - add nothing to the story or characters. Yet it takes up a substantial amount of screentime in chapter 4. I feel the resources spent on this sequence could have been used to advance the actual story. But maybe more will come of it in later updates. As of now I see no rhyme or reason behind this sequence, it's a fun diversion and change of tone, but little else.

Also, the game doesn't have all that many music tracks. Now when the music plays it's usually pretty good and a pretty powerful moment. But for long stretches there is nothing but silence. Maybe some background music for the many dialogue scenes would have been nice to have.

And one more thing... while you get to know Summer somewhat through flashbacks chances are high you will feel little for her, since she's mostly an unknown character. The MC loved her - a lot. And then something happened (you don't know what). And this is the crux: while you gradually get to know people like Bella or Nami and will gradually develop feelings for them, chances are very high Summer will just be a McGuffin from the MC's past for you. So his pain about losing her is more abstract, since you never experienced their love first hand all that much, you only get some glimpses in brief flashbacks. That may of course change in future updates.

But that's pretty much it when it comes to criticism.

Summer's Gone is in many ways a very unique experience, a game that demands attention and patience, but will reward you with depth and meaning.
As I mentioned before, one kiss or even a gentle touch in this game have more meaning than most acrobatics in many other games.

A few words about the technical aspects. The game looks gorgeous. Chapter 2 is not remastered yet, and even here things look fine, but Chapters 1, 3 and 4 are still on yet another level. This is the best you can get.
There are animated cutscenes. And they are also top level. Summer's Gone is one of the best looking games. And of course everyone is really pretty. Several women are very busty, but not to the point that it's ridiculous, they still look human, if at all I would criticize one thing: almost every woman looks like a super model, achingly beautiful, but then again, it's fiction. So attractive characters are of course usually preferred. And you get plenty of them here. There should be a preferred type for anyone in this game.
The only things I don't like are the emo/anime hairstyle of the MC (even after the haircut) and Bella's over the top pony tail that is the longest and fluffiest thing ever and often seems to have a mind of its own, it looks a bit silly at times and I wished Bella would get a somewhat more realistic hairstyle. But it's nothing major.

So who will enjoy Summer's Gone? If you like games that put story and characters first and if you are ok with "slow burn", then you will hardly find anything better here.

If you'd rather have fun and easy action - look elsewhere, there are so many other games here that provide all this. Summer's Gone would be nothing for you.

But everyone else will experience a game that trusts its audience, trusts that you can appreciate the build up, appreciate really getting to know the characters and trusts that you will not lose patience just because the characters in this game don't jump on each other after five minutes.

If you are ok with the somewhat somber subject of this game - walking in the shoes of an emotionally damaged MC may not always be easy - then go ahead and download the game. It's as good as all the other people here say.