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

I reviewed this game during chapter 2, so the accuracy of this review might change.

The overall story has been emotionally impactful so far. While the MC's trauma has not been elaborated on enough to become understandable or provoke enough empathy, the premise of a depressed person and a cheerful and newly-paralyzed person helping each other heal is heartwarming. However, do not expect much sexual content during this stage (as the game developer has pointed out.)

The likely love interests are interesting as characters, mainly due to their respective traumas, emotional baggage and depths. It is no exaggeration when I say that for these characters, I am happy to play this game without any sexual content.

My biggest complaint would be the slow speed for updating as it could turn away previously emotionally invested players. But for now, it is worth the wait.

One of the most difficult aspects of expressing things throughout a novel is to temporarily abandon a particular sets of ideas that the author defines as the core element of the work to expand into some others path that adds to the main story justifying the detour (which is even more true when we are talking about a game with multiple choices, due to its vast number of ramifications). That's one of the reasons many games are easily forgetable.

Summers Gone keeps the consistency: a boy that suffers for his girlfriend suddenly disappearing after he looked at the full moon and its turned into a bloody red ball in the night sky (yeah, don't do drugs, kids), and this nighmare remains haunting him for the last 3 years. It is how you'd imagine from a boy having the same shitty dream for 3 years where the good times with his girlfriend suddenly vanish, left him behind at the mercy of only loneliness and despair (as represented by the dark sky and the bloody moon). The boy becomes empty; every aspect of life itself becomes an insane joke, based into suffer without a motive, without meaning, and facing this cynical characteristic of life, he embraces this sarcastic way of being, which is pointed out sometimes in the story, as an example he monologue "all this suffer could be easily solved by a simple cut (on the wrist)" after see a girl being run over (it's a dark theme, and because of this, it can be a hard to illustrate well, many could not understand or if so, could not like due to its controversial topic, but, for me, this complexity is its charm). This idea is the core that moves the viewer so as a few characters by conflict or empathy. But this, as of itself, its not enough to be something different (if you're an unhappy bastard cursing the world for an existence without meaning while everybody elses is "happy", without a single connection between these two counterpoints, thats not cool, thats just boring), and thats where the story takes one step further by giving the doubt that maybe, just maybe, some people have a good reason to be unhappy too, and some of them are, and express themselves by others means, and some aren't, and this people, following with their lives and trying to achieve some kind of happiness, presents to the MC a few new colors, and as he interacts with them, he starts to learn how to feel again.

PS.: its good to have a MC that's not dumb.
PS2.: the background sound and the music, at times, can add a nice touch.

Omg this story is above everything here. I'm so glad that serious visual novels with a priority on the plot begin to appear.
The technical part of this game is very impressive. The dev made a lot of work for sure.
Also there are some cinematic scenes 10-20 seconds length which are very unique in my opinion.

Though game is sometimes too quiet. Not much music. If this aspect is improved, then the game will be so much better and more immersive.

Ok, I'm officially hooked. The story line is taking all sorts of turns I didn't see coming, and the characters are fleshing out amazingly well.. Amazing modeling work too - none of that plastic-y looking shit that Daz likes to coat everything in.

Only question I have... WHEN IS CH 3 OUT?!?

Edit: OK, i can't believe I almost missed this in latest updates - I rarely review, let alone re-review, but for this one, i'm stoked already to start ch 3. Will post a new review afterI give it a run through, can't wait!

This game keep me on the screen of my pc until the end of the update!
Really love yhe story 10\10
Amazing character 10\10
psyco-Bella is outstanding
keep going on this way dude! really good job!

Pretty unique storytelling.

MC and a few other characters are introduced in a very odd way, with over the top personalities which are steadily unravel to reveal actual human beings. Animations are used as a way of creating mood and provide more contemplative moments.

Very well done artwork and a story so intriguing and pulling, it more than makes up for the lack of lewd content as of now (ch2).

Amazing game with great writing, beautiful models, very intriguing story and a capable and a protagonist with personality, the game gets you captivated since the first time you play it and it makes you get emotionally involved in it.

Awesome game..I love the characters..especially Victoria.. and bella..this game is really is my type..I love story telling and romantic games...so I can kiss the hands of the dev for creating Victoria...I really really in love with that character..

Terrific renders, deserve three stars only for that.
Story and originality are standard, for playability and "deepness" and branches we must wait future updates (because it's a 0.2 release).
Overall: very good, near to excellent, four star on trust.
Deserve support and following.
Great work!

I voted excellent for this game but only for the story because its awesome!
the models are as good as it should be because there are few lacks in renderings. like models look different in different situations (bodies) except that choices are great.

different choices lead to different situations and dialigues. I

the update is slow though I hope the developer brings 2 updates at least in a month.

Great game.
At the moment, the plot and development of the characters is not inferior to the incomparable "Acting Lessons"! I really liked the main characters Bella, Mila, Victoria, each with its own personality, history and internal conflict. It is great that the author understands that erotic content is absolutely not necessary for a great game, I hope it will continue to be at minimum level.

The only thing I didn’t like was the outfits for the girls: if Bella dresses decently and modestly, then in comparison the other girls look like whores, which contrasts sharply with the atmosphere and what the author is trying to convey to us. In addition, if you are trying to tell us a truly realistic story, then you need to go to the end and not be limited to the plot, each thing should look organic. This means that people need to be dressed in clothing appropriate to the institution in which they are located (students in any university don't dress like this).
Otherwise, many thanks for your work, I can’t wait for the next episode!

It has very nice vibe to it, maybe tragedy makes the game experience sweater and gives real life to a genre of games that miss the point of love and miss the huge potential they could have created to release people who are trapped in a loop of self pleasure, which in turn leads to their own suffering in life. Continue with the same ideas and you may create something that can break the fourth wall of this porn game mania.

Review based on Ch.2 (out of an expected 20 or so), 6th of January 2020

If you're mostly just horny, this is not your first choice. But if you are in a bit more patient mood, this is truly a goddamn masterpiece with potential beyond anything I've seen so far.
The first two chapters have really laid the groundwork for an intriguing story, with loads of potential for both MC and NPCs.

It doesn't land you in the typical MCs role. Its not a pervy youngster, a pervy "dilf" or Jock-type etc. You are a bit socially inept, you suffer from mental illness to some degree, you are somewhat abrasive, unthoughtful.. but you are at heart a good guy. Having such a colourful variation of qualities, or lack thereof, is what makes him human. Relatable. Real. And the same can be said of the other characters, even if they havent had time to shine through just yet this early on. People have quirks, shortcomings and positive qualities, depth, personality, relability and unlikeability. On a level atleast I havent seen before in a ren'py, romance/erotic game.

Beyond that, a lot of work has been done graphically and cinematography wise. It's a beautiful game. The short cutscenes between gameplay are just expertly done. The gameplay itself is beautifully rendered. The characters are all every unique and could actually be real people.
This is artistic craftsmanship. This is real, well thought through writing. This is passion and hard work - and it tells.

Is it perfect? No. But it's goddamn near perfection. My only critique so far is that I at sometimes wanted more choices - the acute example being the ending of ch.2 i got with Victoria - I liked her, and I agreed to a date, but mostly because I like how nice she is and had sympathy for her, and I felt someone the MC could relate to but not necessarily being romantically interested in... but still.. wanted to get to know. However the inner dialogue didnt say that at all. MC almost made it sound like he was in love already? Bit too early considering his qualms over his ex who disapperead.
Including choices determining how he feels during that conversation would be appropriate I feel. Instead the game now assumed I was head over heels, which wasnt anywhere near where my mind was at.
Another one being the fight with the bully, Bella or some such? During the fight where she strangled me, my instinct was to hug her. However MC just bailed like an asshole. Which I guess is true to his character so I dont really mind it nearly as much as the Victoria situation, and I'm somewhat fine with it. Something to ponder for future chapters however. To what degree should MC really have this mind of his own?

*edit - adding voicing to the NPCs and a complete soundtrack would really put a gold star on the whole thing, that might be worth considering in the far future. It's not anything really important. Just a thought, maybe as an addition when the whole thing is finished.

All in all. This game is just great. I'm gonna come back for every single chapter. What you are doing is gods work

I want some of the stuff that these reviewers are smoking. The ones who ate giving this like 5 stars or 4 and calling it great and realistic and relatable. I know people who've lost people, and had great bouts of depression and none of them think or talk like this.

This guy, The MC, is all kinds of jacked up and should be in therapy, or he probably will, like one of the characters joke about, shoot up a school or hurt someone if not himself. The game tries to take serious issues and address them, but it fails, because it can't tell if it wants to take itself serious, or be light hearted.

I initially started it just to see if it was as bad and messed up as the bad reviewers said, and it's not. It's just pretty boring, all over the place, and doesn't know what it wants to be. Also it's VERY unrealistic, so if you're looking for immersion or a story that's believable or reasonable stay FARR away from this. It's been complained about, but you don't just take a gun from someone else, point it at them and be allowed to shoot. You also don't just walk away from a crime scene like it's nothing.

There's a lot of holes in this game that's supposed to be a serious story and it just doesn't work. It did make me laugh at points but not on purpose, mostly because it's just so out there and unrealistic I had to laugh. It also has no sex scenes for those looking for a quick jerk, so to be honest, if you like wacky nonsensical stories with pretty renders, then you may like this. Other than that? Don't buy into the hype of these high reviews, this game is NOT good.

I would normally leave it alone, but I decided to write this just in case anyone else decides to waste their time like I did. Don't, you can't get it back. This game is like a car crash at best. You know it's not a good thing, but you just can't look away once you see it. At least that's how I felt.

Great game! I appreciate that the author is taking his time with making the game and it has blossomed into something very special. The only thing i'm worried about is that the author takes too much time to release the next update.

Definitely worth the try and would 100% support this mans patreon in the hopes that he will release updates more frequently.

What a jump in quality from .1 to .2! Definitely worth the wait and even better content is being worked on from the hardworking Ocean.

Characters are impressively lively. I found myself gravitating towards folk I normally wouldn't and that's soley due to the excellent writing and characterization.

Renders are great and getting even better. There are a few surprising cutscenes mixed in that add so so much to making the game more of an experience than your standard Renpy game.

I've loved what I saw. Play it and pledge!

One of the best games I played so fa. Plot is really good, has a unique atmosphere. Characters are complex, quite believable and interesting. The good thing is, basically all of them. Visuals are stunning, but that is not always someting which mees a good game. This is the first VN where I have read through all dialogues and did not us the skip button. Even without fap material in its current state it is masterfully done.
A really nice gesture on the devs side is, that poeple are warned about current blueball content. Quite considerate. I can hardly wait for the next version.

so far so beautiful. i gotta say i am very picky in rating stuff. i hope the def keeps up the beautiful build up of these characters, and all their shells. sadly no real sex scene but it was announced so.. very good very good indeed. i hope u keep that up and even without scenes this was long enough to get me into it. something like knowing which path leads to where would be nice, like when u dont agree to the date and stuff, but its really to early to say. keep going you earned a supporter. i Hope work is a passion project and will be finished in the same quality, but you have my thumbs up for earning your piece of the pie for patreons increase.

Great start, good story (only a couple cringe worthy lines) Super impressed with the imagery. The renders are fantastic (except the basketball it looks like an orange with human skin), over did it with some where a single render would work for a scene. but all the renders are next level. No real complaints keep up the good work.

The story is solid and the renders (mostly) look really nice. There are some very interesting strong characters, but also some mumbo-jambo on the basketball court - for which I really have to discount a star as well, I just find it ridiculous and tedious.
This one is a sloooooow burn and I hope to see some results for my choices soon.