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

Confusing at times, sometimes strange in the way the characters appears... But hell... This is just outstanding!
Not the typical AVN but in a lot of ways simply superior to anything out there.
Animations, renders, storytelling... Worth every (cruel) day of waiting for the next chapter ;-)
Just keep it up, Ocean!

It's been ~4 years and all we have are a FEW lewd renders. I've read his reasoning but in my opinion, the story and characters aren't making up for it.

When this game was created, the characters, story and renders were god tier and it had practically zero competition. Now, however, while the renders are still amazing, I'd say we have games with better story/characters AND 90% more content, be it sexual or non-sexual.

In the beginning, I loved this game and had so much hope for it to be one of the best ever and for the author to be up there with DrPinkCake, Mr Jet, PhillyGames, etc... unfortunately, I think it will either be abandoned or take years until we have any sexual content.

I've played a lot of games with questionable story and storytelling choices in this site, but none of them comes close to having an mc with erectile dysfunction, in a porn game. I believe that, a hot girl grinding on mc, while he is unable to get hard doesn't create the emotional impact the dev was wishing, on the contrary it always makes me laugh and break my immersion in an otherwise captivating game. I know from his other game he does a good job with sex scenes too, so I am really at lost why he is so adamant on not putting at least a super vanilla stuff.

A little masterpiece. I've completed two playthroughs and really enjoyed them. The game shows its strength with interesting and mysterious dialogues while featuring beautiful and remarkable art and music. There are some memorable dramatic scenes that really make the game a unique, outstanding and exciting experience. I'm glad I gave this game a chance.

But the changes in the story do not give confidence for the future.

Renders are pretty good but that is. Storywise this is bad even for the College power fantasy type of game. The MC is an emo but for plot reasons every girl falls for him. That wouldn't be bad if he wasn't impotent, I'm not kidding you.
Constant remakes of old content, a dev with unrealistic ambitions for 30 chapters, no sex scenes after years of development.
Stay away from this waste of time.

The renders are amazing, the girls are good some were better and here we come to the problem.

1. Constant changing of the girls (yes he said he is done with the reworks but nah in all honesty not really)
2. So many restarts since old saves would not work cause of the reworks.
3. Now in 5 beta he removed so much old content that was good...
4. My guts say his projects will get abandoned sooner or later..

apart from the graphics, a very average VN, at times it feels like the writer cant decide who the MC is, and so, he is an introvert and then a leader, he claim to be able to control his emotions yet his main concern at one point is that he cant control his emotions... ?¿ he knows how to fight and is pretty much a genious, able to read a seasoned psycologist with a simple gaze and go from wet noddle to mister olimpia in a single update.

Definitely up there with the best AVNs I've played! The game is a slow burn, but the story and characters make up for it. Bella is amazing! The renders are some of the best I've seen and the music is great. The board game was the only part that felt a bit tedious and unnecessary. Can't wait to see how this game unfolds!

Pros: Bella... .

The best looking renders in any vn i played, story is good, Bella's and mc path from hate to love is amazing so far (ep 4.5).

The build up is amazing i dont really care about sex scenes tbh.

Cons: dev is making 2 games at the same time so we might not see the end of this story sadly, (32 episodes or something planned btw) i hope im wrong tho.

BUT the game is great, so far my top 3 for sure might be even better for me than Badik in the future with the phone added and stuff...

This is my first review of a game on this site, so that might say something, have a nice day.

The renders are really good, and the plot is pretty nice but a very slow burn haha
the characters are also pretty well made.
And the choices you have have great variation of personalities

Waiting for the next update

Very great slow burn!
Sasha is the best AVN model in all industry

Only bad thing is this AVN is MC

I love the choice that affect the story It's kinda like witcher 3 things
The story are very good and so easily to got hooked in
The Render are one of the best in this kind of games

I really feel the MC though he's not the same as me but we gone through kinda same shit and I can truly understand him to be like that but sometimes I feel MC is too much if he's always wannabe sasuke like that in real he'll have no society or no friends. He doesn't need to act like a dick or the time

MC have a weird unnatural grey skintone too and a little bit ugly and his dick isn't work so no sex. I'm okay with no sex but sometime it's annoy me

And yes it's really hard to choose someone because I really feel all of the main character but I feel like if I go with one it will hurt other so I have to keep it neutral

I hope I have someone like Nami in my real life and my mental state will not be like this

Thanks for a really great story!

The game has the best rendering among the 3D games I have played. Animation scenes are like movies. Dev should make a netflix series. The intensity of emotion and intimacy in the scenes are high. That's why you don't feel the lack of sex scenes. The girls' personalities are written well, but for now there aren't many scenes with the others except for two or three girls. This is the only con of the game.

Another great game.

There are obviously flaws in the current version:
- no real sex scene. I get that the story building requires it, but it is on the verge of becoming "no sex for the sake of principle" if it goes on a bit longer.
- there is a clear focus on some girls; while I like the concerned girls, and it's not a bother for me, it could be for someone who is less into them.
- music/sound design is weird by moments. When it's in, it's good. But suddenly it can stop or be missing, and it becomes weird. I'd prefer consistent yes or no about music rather than the "good yes and weird no" feeling it gives currently.
- at some point, you play a rpg. That part of the chapter it happens in seems just a way for the dev to use/make SF images. It felt too long; it felt too disconnected from the main story and all in all, it felt useless. That's the -1 star. In the long run, when the game is complete, if it remains a "one time mistake" the -1 star will go. But if it repeats, it's a true mistake from my point of view. A shorter thing, sure OR something to help discover MC personality/shape it, sure. But here, it was almost choiceless and without relation to the real mc and the girls with whom he plays that SF-boardgame. Besides, main criticism would be that ... it's a board game. Not a roleplay game. So it feels very weird to have images of MC&girls when all they do is play a game with little tokens and figurines.

Other than that:
- the story is good. I have a hard time to connect with it because that kind of ptsd is like lightyears away from my personal life and story and it seems to be something I never had to feel nor like how I would have reacted but I assume it is realistic, and some people have reacted like MC. So I accept it even if I don't understand it at all. I understand it theoretically but not with my guts if you want.
- the girls are mostly beautiful. I like the general proportions of all, and they are very varied in shapes and forms.
- some girls give a real sensation of mystery. I like it a lot and expect the story to provide information WITHOUT retcon or bad "because she was batman all along" kind of back-on-feet moments. I do not need a super complex explanation, but there should be an explanation at least believable for those moments!
- Girls have true personalities, and it shows a lot. That's one of the best point in this game. Bella, Sasha, Vanessa, Zara, they are uniques and feel real.

I really hope this game continues in that general direction, because I like it very much. I expect it to go full 5 stars when completed because I think the "SF images" were a one-time mistake and not something the author (who is very good i think) would repeat, or if he does, he would do in a better way.

A very interesting story with some characters that are written great and make you want to know them more. The main character starts off in a dark place and embarks on a journey that definitely makes you want to be a part of it. The writer focuses mainly on the story and the design of the characters and less on the sex scenes at this stage, but it will definitely be interesting to see how it will progress in more advanced stages of the story, the situation will have to improve significantly in terms of story compared to sex scenes although for now in terms of building the basis of the plot and getting to know the main characters at the expense of the scenes Works great.

Have played alot of games on here, and I judge the game based off factors such as writing quality, art quality, story line and character quality (MC and LI's).

This is the only game, to me, that has a 5 out of 5 rating for each of the catagories.

Ocean's writing is so high level compared to most dev's, where he's able to create an amazing story based off a simple plot. The subtle connections between each characters, paired with the overarching mysterious theme of "summers gone", really invests you into the story, and makes you want to follow each character to seen if their backstory has any connection.

Paired with his amazing art, render quality and animations, creates what is in my opinion the best story driven game out there in the VN world.

Master piece from Oceanlab.

The only game here that has compelled me to give a rating.

One of, if not the best story driven games on here. The story is a slow burn, but that is totally ok when the renders are this good. You will constantly have plenty of Tits and Ass to look at...

Writing is top notch.
Story does a good job with some tough themes - Handicap, mental issues... This is an amazing job. Looking forward to the next update... hopefully it keeps the same intentional story line.

We have plenty of - if it moves, it gets fucked. This is a solid change.

Summer's Gone doesn't go straight to the lewd content. Few games can afford that, and it's one of them. The MC is a broken man, and even surrounded by an incredible amount of nip slips and gorgeous women, his mind is not focused on peeking or taking advantage on them. Because he's broken, truly and deeply. And it takes far more than exposing the boobs to heal that. And when it's consistently done, with the right pace for dialogs, and some lewd rendering for the player to keep him or her entertained, then it's working: it's truly a visual novel, and not just skippable content between the sex scenes.

Well it's not at all what i expected but there's something about this game. It's filled with this immense sense of nostalgia and constantly hitting you in the feels. Goes without saying that the art is top tier. However, its the kinda game you should if you could play once its done or at least in large update chunks.

this game just hits diffrent i get so caught up in the story, normal i just skip ahead to see the booba. ehm i mean. but in this one i just have to stop up and take my time to read everything and just enjoy the beauti of the game. i played through all the paths and the romance and i just got to say its amazing. i used to support on patreon but i can afford it anymore so i hadd to cop it here. all im saying if i still could i would! and if you can you should. anyway play this game its breath taking.. i would give it 6/5 stars

Must Play. Don't skip the texts and then you will realize the value. The character development is superb and because of the story telling you will endear the characters. The visuals, animations are among the best. The only downside I can list if I try is the sort of (i don't know the term for it) playing a game inside the game/story like a rpg game that characters play which is not bad but I would prefer if the actual story moved forward.