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

This is a beautiful game. Oceanlab is on par with the AAA game porn VN designers in beauty, story and plot. This game is not perfect, and we’re still being blue-balled, but for anyone who enjoys a good story and a slow burn you should absolutely invest some time (and maybe $$) into this game

Pros

Absolutely beautiful renders
Absolutely beautiful animations
Good use of soundtrack during animations to bring them to real life.
Diverse and awesome characters (with some more coming). All types for you to like.
Great plot that makes me quite interested to see how it will all unfold.
Branching storyline where choices seem to really matter.


Cons

Some of the background sounds are over-poweringly loud and the game could use more music in the future (minor quibble)
Typos and poor grammar/word structure with enough frequency to be noticeable.
Some out-of-place Japanese-isms, like “hihi” which kind of throw off the game, which is clearly not set in Japan.
The dialog at the beginning of the story can be a little jarring. MC is a total fucking psychopath. I mean it works for the plot and you get used to it. It also becomes less of an issue as the game progresses.

Edit: Grammatical clarity.

Absolutely amazing gameplay and story line, even my wife was upset about not being able to play further when reaching the end of Ch3 and that's saying something about the game because she's very conservative.

i got so invested in the story i was really dissapointed when i reached the end of the latest version and now im chomping the bitt for the rest of the story, im not even bothered if theres no H scenes for the rest of it. its got the mking of a short story i would rally like and i breaks away from a few of the norms when i comes to these kinda VNs

Came for the story and was not disappointed. There are certainly some thematic elements that may turn off some folks but i didn't feel they were over-used but instead enhanced the experience. Ocean's renders are excellent and I very much enjoyed the variety of settings and environments - again all things that just help with investment in the story. Very excited for the next chapters!

Good story with some mystery elements, great writing, beautiful and well-written girls, great renders with some high-quality animations sprinkled in between... this game is top-notch. The only negative is that this isn't a harem game... that means I will have to break the heart of some of these girls, which makes me sad just thinking about it.

An absolutely great game with great renders and enjoyable content. I played also another visual novels but this one hit different . Another thing that makes this game great is the story that doesn't focus on sex, otherwise it focuses on the dramatic structure and makes the story more interesting.

MC is basically if the columbine shooters injected slipknot directly into their veins and then asked /r/incels to guide their every move.

The renders aren't bad. The animations are pretty good. The writing is atrocious. Most characters have zero development or depth and the dialogue is somehow more cringe than Russian games about banging your landlord.

This is maybe only my third review on this site, but I couldn't NOT write about this game.

Firstly, let me start by saying that I avoided this game for quite a long time due to reading some reviews that warned against a "teen-angst-edgy" narrative. This was an absolute HUGE mistake and, although reviewers are entitled to their opinions, ...they're wrong.

I have no idea how this game manages to be incredibly sexy, beautifully rendered and just damn interesting while also *perfectly* capturing the trauma of loss. I would put money on the Dev having gone through some tough times - that's how well this is written.

"But, Baggins! I want to play a sexy VN, not be depressed " - Well, don't worry Billy, the girls are beautifully rendered (even better toward the latter half of the story), amazingly animated, and there is plenty of romance.

TL;DR --- Play the game. Story 5/5, Girls 5/5, Animation 5/5.

Rarely do i ever review any VN, but this game deserves every last bit of respect, attention and time i have to offer. Everything's just perfect. Brilliant story, beautiful models, mesmerizing renders I can go on. This game sets a benchmark in the VN world, what an absolute beauty this game is. I thought WIAB was the prodigal child but this update in SG proved me wrong. Cheers for the work you put through in this game. All the best for future updates.

Summer's Gone is an intelligent, well plotted, superior and brilliantly written drama featuring a brooding Byronic anti-hero, who once lost everything and abandoned himself to despair and darkness, now struggling to grope his way back tentatively towards light and the world. This sublime visual novel is character and story driven all the way and navigating through it is, for all the world, like watching one of the best HBO or Showtime television drama series of all time. In particular the female characters, all of whom are impossibly gorgeous I hasten to add, are as significant to the story as the MC himself, every girl or woman fascinating in her own right and all with different characters and complex personalities, histories, experiences and backstories probably as engaging as the MC's own. Only rarely do you see female characters so multifaceted, well drawn, well treated, well developed and well served by visual novels and games of the adult genre, something which I found personally to be as refreshing as it was admirable.

The renders are exceptional: animations unbelievable: story Shakespearean.

If you are seeking a visual novel of unprecedented depth, gifted with a cast of fascinating, beautiful and memorable characters, which will engage you emotionally and pluck at your heart strings Summer's Gone is definitely a work of art you need to see. Conversely if your principal interest relates more to generic fap fodder best to give it a miss because Summer's Gone is a serious and demanding entertainment, pitched to appeal to mind, mood and feelings, rather than a common to garden visual stimulant to help you to empty your prostate and testicles as quickly, easily and pleasurably as possible.

Summer's Gone is a singular masterpiece of the creative imagination standing head and shoulders above the usual ruck of adult visual novels. If you are looking for something unforgettable, unusual, hugely affecting and superb I would urge you to give it a try because it is quite simply wonderful.

Wanted to give this five stars right now. I know there are only three chapters so far, but this is absolutely amazing. There's potential for many play through's depending on how things play out. However, the most important point for me is that this is an absolutely brilliant story and the character development is wonderfully done so far. I know people will have issues with some aspects, but honestly, if you're looking to just fap, this game's not for you. However, if your looking for depth, talented writing and probably emotions, definitely give this a play through.

I need to redo this review........
I wasn't finished with the game but now I am!

First played it when Chapter 3 was released and I really need to say, it is awesome!
Overhelming story, renders out of this world and the story isn't rushing!
No sex scene in 0.3 but that is not a problem since the story is really awesome written!
There are really not much games (VN's) I've played this consequent when it comes to reading the text..... but this game like WIAB sets new standards when it comes to VN!
So all I can say is that i totally recommend that you guys play this game!
The developer made a top notch game, one of the best, if not the best !!

Just incredible. The story, the atmosphere, the renders. This is top quality work. I had doubts it would live up to WAB (their other game) but instead it exceeds it in every aspect. I rarely support creators on Patreon (not because I’m greedy, I’m just not made out of money..) but this one definitely deserves it. I’m very impressed.

There is two words to describe how I feel about this game "hauntingly beautiful."

Story is on the much more serious side than some other adult games out there, but that actually is one of the core strengths of Summer's Gone.

It explores MC's trauma, vulnerability, and heartache, as well as avoiding the common trope of MCs in adult games typically being perverts to begin with.

Regarding the girls, everyone looks gorgeous, and the personalities each of them brings is very compelling, yet my favorite would have to be Bella (who clearly showed there's more to her than her initial demeanor.
She simply is lovely.
But Nami isn't really that far behind.

But as I said before, all girls are great, and I can't wait to get to see all their arcs.

Good Game with nice story line, congratulate the dev for good work , looking forward the further updates of the game. will be a nice game for sure.
Story goes a little bit slow but in the long run it is promising

Insane. I don't remember playing a game with this enthusiasm and concentration without any lewd scene. I was so much dreadful at the end, coz I simply didn't wanted the game to end. Looking forward to more updates.

In the year and a half I've been on this site...and the 70-80 games I've played through, I have never seen something of this magnitude before that has left me a bit speechless.

The cinematic transitions and sequences in this game amazed me as well as the animations and level of details in each render. Most games, even with decent animation, only do it for a few frames or a few seconds. What we get here are essentially short films that almost make you forget that this is meant to be a game.

Aside from that, there is a remarkable amount of depth and plot development behind every major character we're introduced to and the writing, albeit with a few bad errors, is rooted in realism and even had me deep in thought

There just isn't enough to say about it. I thought CoBD, BaDIK, or Nadia slammed the door shut on other games being able to reach their level but this has pushed that door wide open

Version Ch.3 Final

Last played this in the first release I think ... this game looks so great and especially the mood-shot animations are gorgeous.

Same for all the girls. This game has probably the highest density of hot girls I have ever seen. And the major ones have some nice character building and development.

And that is just the visuals - the story is really great and balances sad and funny tones extremely well.

I dont like to give 5 stars for unfinished games, but I cant find any obvious problems or things to criticize.

A pretty nice surprise. Besides some minor exceptions, the characters have a great personality development. The biggest example was me at start hating Bella and finding Victoria so damn annoying, but after some time I ended up liking them quite a lot. Also the models are quite nice.

My only con is that some ambient lights could be brighter, but nothing that doesn't allow to play (and that barely happens). Also, while the mixed locker was neat, I think it should still have a bit better explanation or even show some level of ressentment by some students. I mean, I know it is a porn game but... yeah. If the goal of the game is to show charisma and emotions, then that fact can't be put aside on a mixed locker imo. Unless it was made on purpose to work as a contrast to the game, I dunno.

Anyway, the character development, and the great work in showing their emotions is the biggest point of the game. The dev made a great work in making a player engaged to the story, and enforces you to have a much bigger conection to the characters before you see the titties. Some slow burn games tend to fail because they lack substance or reason to mantain the player hooked with flow of the story. This one has a quite excepcional show of emotions, changes of pace and atmosphere, that usually go along and fit pretty well with the scene/story.

This is what you should expect from a slow pace game, and even if you don't love slow pace games, you should still give it a try. Looking forward for the next releases, and definitely worth of patron.

Stunning.
The art is amazing. The lighting, staging, models are truly spectacular.
The characters are genuine and unique.
The story and writing are tremendous.
The use of animations and music for setting a mood and storytelling is brilliant.

I hope other visual novel artists see this work and see what is possible. I am eager to see where this project goes.