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

Con: grotesque boobs and asses, some weird haircuts.

I don't know about modern day America, but in my college years (at least in European countries like DDR) none of the college girls had such mammoth boobs and asses. Most of the girls were actually skinny, having normal or small boobs and buttocks. So I really wish the devs were more realistic and had better taste in human beauty.

As well, the second haircut of the MC is a bit too much. Not just gay-like but not realistic at all.

Pro: the story is really good.

A bit depressive beginning turns into healing; with beautiful manifestations of friendship and affection.

Very good writing. There are many choices and visual details.

Many characters, all quite interesting. Girls are so pretty that even those boobs and asses can be tolerated.

(Version Ch.3)

I don't usually write review, but the amazing story telling is something else here

I player countless games on this websites, and i'm not saying the best game there is, but it is defensively up there

Story 10/10 - Amazing story, that draws you in the world, there is no useless dialog that makes you feel as if it's there just to be there, the story telling and getting to the point was perfekt.

Animation 8/10 - Even though there is no sex scenes, but man the animation is beautifully done, can't wait to see it action.

Graphics 9/10 - All the characters are beautifully done, there is some generic designs, but all the characters are so unique in personality that it doesn't really matter.

Overall, 10/10 game that I will be keeping an eye on for future developments, all the luck ♥.

Seriously one of the best games that I have ever played. Obviously there aren't any sex scenes yet, but honestly, that is not a negative. Summer's Gone has such a captivating story that immerses you right into that world. It's so good that cheap sex scenes, that come easy to the protagonist like in most games on this site, would honestly bring the quality of the story and game down.

The art is flawless. Every character is beautiful in their own unique way. Can't say enough good things about the art. Pretty damn close to a perfect game. I can only think of two negatives, and they are pretty nit-picky.

The newest update had some grammatical errors. Nothing too bad... I'm guessing the creator's first language isn't English. It wasn't anything that took you out of the story, and I only noticed it in the new update, not the first two. And lastly, there was a large hiatus in between the last two updates. I hope that was just a one time thing, because this game is way too good to get abandoned.

Absolutely fantastic, one of the best in a while.
The character design is great. Girls are well proportioned. Story is believable and the variety of girls should cover everyone's liking.
At the very first glance, you have much apprehension about this game, but once you start to play it, you will not leave your screen. The renders overall are top notch with amazing animations.
This game just increased my desire to become a patreon. Seriously though, for such a brilliant masterpiece, we should support the dev. Huge thanks for this game. Keep it up! Can't wait for the next updates.

Also images in the OP don't quite represent game's quality since the most recent chapter has much better renders.

(Warning, the following content may contain spoilers)
I really like this game , the first two chapters are still a bit rough, the graphics in the third chapter are real gem quality, and the story and the characters are very impressivet, i am not an English native so I had to spend 6-7 hours to read every line word by word from Chapter 1 to Chapter 3 , I don't do this often, most of game’s dialogue on this site I'll just 'skip it', and this is why I am also very worried about this game at the same time.
Because the branch of each character and the consequences of the options you have selected looks will cause very different consequences, and each option has a lot of contentthese to play. This really shows a very big picture--maybe too big.
Meanwhile , the game lacks very hot scenes, i'm not sure if this will attract enough people to provide support to let the maker to continue to complete this game.
Finally, let's talk about the story. The overall tone of the story is close to reality, it doesn’t look like will have something like harem in the future , in other words, we have to choose a girl and give up other girls in the end. Or even worse, we have to face NTR. I think I have seen this trend in the game now(e.g. Let Jeff take over MC to protect Nami). I have to say, I am struggling with this. My bottom line for this is that other girls can eventually be with other guys, but please don't describe the sexual scenes between them, please. The reality of the real world is reality enough, maybe we can be 'less reality' in the game word.
Of course, the above are my personal opinions and suggestions, and you can hold different opinions about this for sure.All in all, I would recommend this game to all players.

Summer's Gone chapter 3. We waited for this for a whole year and it's so WORTH IT

Story: 4.5/5 Great plot without cliche. Very unusial MC who definetely got my attention from very first minute. Storytelling is quite usual but it definetely keeps your attetion. Also Good humour is one of bright sides of SG. But some characters are not fully developed for now and i simply can't see their motives.

Graphics: 6/5 No words just see this screenshots! Great improvent after ch2. Also i want to mention cinematics - they are SO GOOD

Music: 3/5 Sometimes SG becomes like a simple Ren'Py novel without any sound. Even some ambient could give extra points to atmosphere. BUT music which is in SG now fits perfectly

Overall Summer's Gone is very good game with potential to become great. Definetely must play if you're not afraid of actual 0 lewd content in game)

Wow, what can I say. No porn, but what a game. I can say I am very impress. It is one of the best animation I have seen. I think is more about the perfect moment the animation is done at the perfect time. I really like the last animation, went the sister was helping the main character for the date with Bella and after you see Bella mom give a kiss on Bella front head. Just to see both the two scenario was very well done and professional. I give a Big kudo for the story line and the animation.

Ch 3 final

There is only one negative aspect:
I don't like the look of the mc.

Positive - Everything else.
For a CH 3 episode there is a lot of content.
Very good story building, with many different characters (there is a but .... see below).
Good renders.
Perfect models.

I don't care that there are no sex scenes until now, the story makes up for it.
But I really fear that I need much more than one playthrough when this is finished. There are just too many interesting girls (in different ways, looks, personality and so on) and I don't think this will be a harem fuck fest.

That will leave the dev with rendering a lot different scenes and will probably (sadly) result in even longer update times.

Thanks for this and keep up the good work!

Review for Chapter 3 Final version. No spoilers.

A warning: I wouldn't consider this game as my type of game. So, some negative points I will make in this review will reflect that. But before going further, i have to mention that i totally respect and understand how many others loved the game and perhaps this can guide others as to if this game can fit them or not.

The good:

The photography, the graphics and the scenes all look excellent and very well above average. You get good angled shots with proper lights and effects to accentuate the emotions portrayed by the character.

The characters are excellent, with various recognizable traits that make them interesting to read and to see. They have various, well-made expressions and body poses which greatly enhance the connection with the characters instead of lifeless looking dolls seen in most other VN games.

The dialogue is very well made and characters have appropriate reactions, jokes and grounded responses that fit their persona.

All of that combined with a few, well-made videos and decent animations, it's an overall excellent game visual and writing wise.

I absolutely appreciated how i never felt forced to take any choices in the game. You can pick what you feel is right and pick stuff that interest you (I.E; you can choose to date a girl or not). So you don't have to worry about getting a game over screen, picking up relationship points or some other BS.

The bad:

The lack of lewd scenes is an obvious one.

Now now, i get it. It's not a fappy game, it's not a game meant to portray a bunch of perverts having scenes on the first occasion they get to. And i know that the literal first thing the game open to is a warning about this.

Despite this i always felt that i was missing something, and the long buildup i've gone through didn't go nowhere. I want to interact more with the characters and get personal. But i know very well i will need to wait a long time before being able to do that. Which lead to my next point.

At the time of this review (23 January 2021) the game has come out in May 8th 2019 on F95. That's 20 months and 15 days total. Yet we only have about 3 hours of playtime with no H-scenes beside some nudity. This only tells me that it will surely take years for this story to be anywhere complete and completely enjoyable, especially due to the time-consuming method of rendering unique still scenes one at a time.

And i can't stop but feel disappointed when i think about this.

Finally, the melodramatic aspect felt irritating near the end of the game. I get it, things were bad and many of the characters all had trauma and emotional scars because of it. But since there isn't really a pause about it and doesn't look like it will stop in future updates, it can cause a deconnection to the story because it's all so grim and depressing about it.

Life is all about the dark and good moments. The bad ones amplify and differentiate it from the good ones and provide them with value. But you have to have some good moments for that. When it's all dark, melodramatic and mysterious about it, it gets tiring and irritating. You want people to enjoy the experience, not come out of it all shitty and depressed.

Conclusion:

Despite all of that, it's obvious it's a quality game that is way different from the bunch and strive to eventually give great content. It's most definitely not my cup of tea. If you think it's yours, have at it. You will have a great time.

A VN that is extremely thought-provoking... whatever next? I feel like I have just been kneed in the emotional ball bag after being treated to a visually-stunning and gloriously complex plot. Oh look, its by the same author (Ocean) that does Where It All Began. Nice... really nice!

one of the best game from this site. Great graphics, main plot was very interesting and the best thing about this game is its writing. its short, sweet and simple. not lengthy unnecessary dialogue. Just good humor and to the point so you can read every dialogue rather than skipping it.

Great game and amazing story, can't lie that I am a simp for Bella.
The thematic about this game is fantastic, Ocean did a wonderful job with the storyboard and the game quality, the characters are all interesting each of them, and the mystery about Summer, excellent

the characters have alot of personality. they all have a uniqueness about them like they are SUPPOSED to be there in a college. and the animated parts MY GOD you cant help but notice EVERY TINY detail that was put into them from the way the actors move act and even the eye dilation. the music in the animated parts aswell just suit the tone and environment of what is going on all in all i will definatly be eagerly waiting for MANY updates to come

Really good renders and some interesting characters. Better writing that 90% of VN out there. Looking forward to more storylines. I don't really need all the music video moments but that's a stylistic choice. Great work.

After seeing a lot of hype for this game I decided to give it a try from the beginning. I'll start with the positive aspects, of which there are many.

The render quality is exquisite and the animations are breathtaking. Every scene is lit and captured like a studio set from Hollywood; drama takes precedence over realism. The camera zooms, pans and dollies around characters doing even the most plain of actions, giving every moment a sense of movement and visual intrigue. The blocking and composition are very competently done and the developer has a clear visual style in mind.

With the visuals out of the way I'll move on to the characters and discuss a few in detail. They are all competently portrayed stereotypes that go through the motions you would expect. The MC is the brooding damaged young adult that slowly learns how to relate to others and yearns to have a 'normal' social life. Bella (like another character of the same name in a popular game on this website ) is a tsundere with a bitingly sarcastic sense of humor. If you've seen one of those characters you've seen them all and this rendition won't change your opinion of them. Nami is the sisterly character that is fiercely protective of the MC and gets uncomfortably close at times. The rest fall into their own boxes and the player will get either a thrill or sigh based on their already formed opinion of them.

Now on to the plot that our cast of characters play out for us. It will either suck you in or feel like overwrought melodrama trying too hard to be 'edgy' and 'dark'. I personally fall into the second camp but can see why other players would differently. I don't wish to spoil the plot or prejudice readers so I will leave things there and restate that that is my personal opinion on the story. A player could easily have story beats and dialogue strike them as more authentic and gripping.

Overall, this is a very polished game that I wish I could enjoy more. 4/5 stars.

great game, story, romance, plot, characters, visual renders, animation, all that.
also, story-driven, not fap-driven. So thats a plus for me.
Cant wait for more but i imagine it will take a year to get a couple more chapters, so probably 2-3 years till completion. That makes me extremely sad

I was initially wary when I saw the warning stating no sex scenes but I had time to kill and decided to check the story out based on posts in an unrelated thread. I'm so glad I did! Became a patron the moment I finished chapter 3 even.

The story is interesting without being overly dark or corny, the renders are the best in the industry but what makes Summer's Gone really shine has to be the characters.

Each one feels fleshed out and unique. I found myself actually falling for the one I expected to hate right off, while feeling guilty for leading on the ones I initially thought I'd be pursuing. Certain moments really made me feel the emotions the MC was going through and the music certainly helped set the tone. I get the sense of ulterior motives from a few and that simply raises more curiosity. The reason for the MC being oblivious to lewdity was spot on and will make the eventual path we choose more rewarding. Even with the occasional grammar issues I still found myself hanging on every word like I was binging a tv show!

What a fantastic game this is turning out to be. I was wary, at first, of the odd grammar and spelling that cropped up here and there, but now that Ocean is addressing those issues I am all in. The story here is interesting, the protagonist is damaged without being obnoxious, and the overarching story has a lot of play left in it. This is a beautiful game, with a lot of craft and care put into it.

I would say that in general speaking, I don't like to be blue-balled. But this games is in many ways a real exception. The story is super, the renders are great and the characters are intriguing and genuine. I love the pace of this VN and think it has some really beautiful people in it.
If I have 1 comment, it is that it is really hard to choose between the characters, as you get the feeling of guilt leaving others behind.
Also, an extra point of this VN is that the MC is really transforming mentally, something which a lot of others out there forget.

This is really one of the best games out there. Ocean really is an undervalued dev I must say, the rendering of where it all began and Summer's gone really is marvellous. No offence but even DrPink be awestruck after seeing them. There are only a handful of VNs out there which have such a robust character development and engrossing story. I know most people here expect VNs to be good fap material but a great story shouldn't hurt. If fap material is what you need then take the Blue balls Police seriously!
Coming to the characters Nami really is by far the cutest redhead out there(except Sage from Being A DIK). The renders really become great chapter 3 onwards. I personally love Bella because of the shared ground between her and the MC. Having Nami as an LI would be really great as well.
Robin, Amber, Sonya, Cindy and Coach Hill are worth mentioning too.
Ocean should focus on getting updates faster may be breaking the chapters down or something, the HUGE waiting periods are the main reason for Ocean being so undervalued for such great work. If they can make regular updates do-able then there will be no rivals for SG and WIAB.