Ren'Py - Summertime Saga [v21.0.0 wip.4468] [Kompas Productions]

This is a game chock full of funny in-jokes, references to topical issues of the day, memes, famous figures. It's satirical porn. And it's great.

The writing is humorous, the erotic content is plentiful and varied, there's a variety of mini-games (which, whilst extremely basic, do offer a break from the core gameplay loop) and many characters have a lot of content that gives them all their own distinctive flavour. Depending on your reading speed and thoroughness, you can spend 10-15 hours or more, easily, on this game.


BUT.

There's a distinctive whiff of "unfinished" about everything. To illustrate this, I'll use the "sister", Jenny, as an example.

You progress through her story to the point MC wants to pursue an actual relationship with her. She refuses. The MC wonders then how he can get closer to Jenny. But that's it. If you check your achievements, Jenny's storyline is marked as "complete". And this problem repeats with a lot of characters. It feels dissatisfying.

Maybe this will eventually be addressed in a final build but for now, expect a lot of endings that only feel half-done.

Don't let it put you off though. It's still a great adventure.

The game is simply incredible, great characters, funny and engaging stories with alternative endings, excellent protagonist, visuals of the scenarios very well done and so on, here are my cynical considerations about this game, the best I've ever played.

TL;DR: 4.75/5. A great game overall but has it's problems. Plenty of already established content with good writing. But, with long production time being the biggest issue, as this game ranges at about 2-4 updates per year. It's one of the biggest games on this site for a reason, give it look if you already haven't or if it's been a while since last playing.

----- Breakdown -----


Content: 5 - Excellent. There are 36+ characters that the main character can have 'intimate relations' with. Some more than others, which is due to how the production team has focused their efforts. Often one update will be focused on a side character with the next focusing on the main story, adding content to characters that are relevant to the plot. You'll find more content in the former updates but will be focused on said character. That is why a character like Roxy for example has much more than Maria. Most if not all of these scenes are animated, some allow for multiple angles, different positions, and even an x-ray cam if you decide to go for the pregnancy route. Which yes, there is a pregnancy mechanic in this game where if you decide to do it, there will be a "spin the wheel to win" type mini-game that has the chance of impregnating another character. Not all characters have this but many do and with each update more are added.

Gameplay: 4.5 - Great. This is a sandbox Ren'py set in a town with 29 individual locations, each with their own unique interiors that can be explored to find quests, extra content, and secrets. After the prologue, you're kind of just let go to pursue what you want. There are also mini-games you can play to make money as well as develop skills such as strength, agility, charisma, and intelligence. You'll find for the job mini-games have one manner to gain money at first but you'll find more options to pursue further into the game. The skill mini-games are pretty straight forward, whether it be pattern recognition, rapid button presses, or going through a maze. There isn't a ton of gameplay features but it's varied and keeps player engagement.

Graphics: 5 - Excellent (in my opinion). This game is different than most others in that it is all custom-created, hand drawn artwork. There is no 3D models, reused Daz3D assets, etc. Everything is hand drawn. Of course everyone has their own tastes but that being said, Kompas does not hold back in detail, whether it be the map of the town, to all the locations you can visit and their various interiors, to the characters and their designs. Each one is unique in their own manner.

Sound: 3 - Average. There's custom music in this game. It's nothing to write home about but there are different tracks that help convey the mood of the plot. No voice acting in this game either. For those looking for that, I wouldn't hold your breath either.

Story: 4.5 - Great. It's not the best but there are many, many side quests and content that you'll be engaged with multiple stories all at once. The main quest has content but it's nowhere near complete. The team at Kompas Productions has started to more focus on the story recently after a few rounds of character-focused content updates. The story isn't any special but the writing is clever and humorous at times. There are branching story lines that have minimal dialogue options outside of gaining contextual information or advancing plot. Once you pick a conversation topic though, there isn't much choice like found in other VNs though.

My all time favorite game so far. The art is nice, the story is nice, the mechanics are nice. Everything is smooth and is regularly updated. Only wish it was updated even more often so you wouldn't get finished so fast.

Would be nice though, if you could undo/redo quests that make you stuck in one scenario (picking between two girls). Perhaps breaking up with the girl or something and then flirting with the other.

The game is really good, not the best on here but it is top tier in terms of quality. It is also quite long for those who like decent storylines and build up to things. It has a nice but basic soundtrack, good character artwork, and mostly good storylines.
Some negatives are the fact that updates are incredibly slow, and updates don't really have a lot of content within them. As well as that, there needs to be a lot more H scenes with the girls. There are bad angles and very low frames in some of them, which makes the general experience much worse
Overall this is a top game on this website, but there are games that are better than it. As well as that, considering how big the development team is on this game, the update time is terrible. I have no doubt that it will drag out over the next few years, when in reality it's around 6 months of work with the size of the team that's there.

Version: v0.20.8

Review:
I am editing this review and also very indignant. That game was good, nowadays is a shit. You play and spend long hours just reading text that for me the story is not fun, because I don't give a fuck about it, just for small sexual content. I don't know how people think this game is brilliant, I don't know how people didn't open their eyes to see that this game sucks.

History:
The story is one of the worst you will see, but calm, it is not those stories that we see in many games that are bad, but that story of this game is not something fantastic as many think. I'll tell you something more stupid that I saw in history, it is the MC to miss his father. The MC FUCK with his father’s wife (MC’s mother), seriously, what dementia. If you notice, the story is very boring, as if the author thought his adventure was really cool. Anyway, each with its own taste.
Gameplay:
It is a open world where each path is a torture of going there and going here. You only buy items for certain tasks in the game, just it. But the hardest task is for you to ''relate'' to an NPC, as you will have to do chores and read a long boring story that you just want to skip. But don't think it will be fast, no, it takes a long time for you to get a sex scene. The gameplay of this game is based on dialogue texts, where you click on a character and wait a portion of time until you finish the task and finally get your reward.
Graphics & Sexual Content:
The graphics were never good in my eyes, but they are unique. I am not saying that they are bad, but that they are actually acceptable. I'm not going to go into that anymore, since everyone has their own taste. But the sexual content of that game, honestly, is quite poor. Do you know what it's like to spend 4 hours playing just to get a scene? let's talk about it. The game does have a large amount of sexual content, not least because there are many characters in the game, but most characters do not have 5 sex scenes. When I said it took me 4 hours, it was because I was doing chores and skipping the long dialogue texts of the story, and with some characters, I would say about 5, imagine the others. The game has some good scenes, good animations and has an impregnation function that is a little bit of shit. But why? after you get pregnant the girl can't fuck her pregnant. It takes 3 weeks for you to fuck her again, while with other games you have a pregnancy you can fuck a pregnant girl, and not in this game.

Why I did gave 1 star?
THIS GAME IS OVERESTIMATED! How do people not realize this? Furthermore, it is a waste of time. I played this game a long time ago, and you didn't take long to fuck a girl, yes, at the time you did but nowadays it has been doubled. Man, this game sucks! You know, that game became half porn and half book. Moreover, there are not many interesting scenes with the characters, the game takes 4-5 months to update and they only update the story and add 1-5 sex scenes? holy shit, you have to be stupid to support this. Anyway, I wasted my time playing this.

The GOAT of adult games, 5/5.

Excellent art style, gameplay variation, great character design and sex scenes. Steady development progress and good new ideas.
Also it's VERY MUCH APPRECIATED that the Futa content is optional.

5/5

Another jewel raped by its creator. An update every 9 months which results in a jumble of useless characters and thrown out by chance. I have been following the Dark Cookie project for 3 years and he doesn't give a damn about the original plot. Thousands of people have been wondering what is behind the death of the MC's father for more than 1000 days. But the answer so far has been: Here's another update where you fuck your mom on the washing machine! Honestly, I got tired. Then the fact that the old saves do not work on the new updates is really painful. Months of waiting to then get a sex scene with an X character who has no value or function in the plot. it's not enough to put Trump or Keanu Reeves to make a quality game

In conclusion: A wasted opportunity. Considering that now the rankings of F95 are dominated by games with 3D models, Summertime represents the bulwark of digital design that however continues to trudge.

#TeamJenny
#TeamRoxxy
#TeamIwanka

--

Per gli italiani:

Un altro gioiello stuprato dal proprio creatore. Un aggiornamento ogni 9 mesi che si traduce in un'accozzaglia di personaggi inutili e cicciati fuori per caso.
Sono 3 anni che seguo il progetto di Dark Cookie e della trama originale non gliene frega nulla.Sono più di 1000 giorni che migliaia di persone si chiedono cosa ci sia dietro la morte del padre del MC.
Ma la risposta fin'ora è stata: Ecco un altro aggiornamento dove ti scopi tua madre sulla lavatrice!
Sinceramente mi sono stancato.
Poi il fatto che i vecchi saves non funzionino sui nuovi updates fa veramente ridere.
Mesi ad aspettare per poi ottenere una scena di sesso con un personaggio X che nella trama non ha valore o funzione. Perchè non basta mettere Trump o Keanu Reeves per fare un gioco di qualità

In conclusione: Un'occasione sprecata. Considerando che ormai le classifiche di F95 sono dominate da giochi con modelli 3D, Summertime rappresenta il baluardo del disegno digitale che però continua ad arrancare.

#TeamJenny
#TeamRoxxy
#TeamIwanka

Eve's storyline is definitely one of the best I've played, and she's absolutely adorable to boot. I haven't finished Roxxy's story but I'm getting there, as well as with Mia.

Excellent stories, artwork, very lovable characters, the MC isn't a total doofus virgin like you see in a lot of games.

Definitely in the top 3 of games I fire up to replay when I'm in the mood.

High contender for my fave game.

Super good graphics, all the artwork on all characters, obviously especially the girls, is high quality.
Good gameplay, and a gopod story to play too.

Only downside is having to resart for every new version. Not a massive issue, just skip the dialogue youve read before, and all good.

#TeamEve and #TeamMia

Amazing game with an excellent story.So much characters to fuck and so much routes to do.And its not over the game is still in development!

Pros:
-Loveable characters
-Good story
-Greatly animated sex scenes

Cons

-I really cant point out anything

I ABSOLUTELY love this game. I never knew such gem is hidden here. I wonder why the f people don't recommend me this wonderful game. Elements such as stat grinding and money making is fun and not that boring. Story is not linear and you can just do whatever you want and not restricted by some nonsense block. I really look forward for new update.

+ charecters for all tastes. Milfs, young girls, slutty, obedients
+ gameplay . Good navigation, mini games, quests. If u play first time, its addictive game
+ sex scenes , animations, fetishes

- very low resolution , even not 720 p .
- old saves dont work. u need to wait a lot for official save file from release.
- hints menu needs improvement

Conclusion : Clearly best 2dcg game , but has cons. I d like to see evolution in gameplay, and game engine , 1080p vers.

look I ain't going to waste your time, this game is single-handedly one of the most amazing and dense games they have on this whole website.

if your new to the porn game scene, this is one you have to play

This game have taken my actual curiosity and attention at the same time!

i been playing this 18 hours straight *without use of cheats or any other mod* and so far the game experience been rich enough to give it 5 stars.

Art: 9/10 in the words of my favorite artist Bob Ross “All you need to paint is a few tools, a little instruction, and a vision in your mind.”

Character interactions: 7/10 The ultimate cope on creativity between every single character in the whole town! surely could have increased LEWD/Kink interactions with certain characters.

Game challenge: 10/10 you can totally see the system grinding on your stats & progression on every single character fluent to the point of not getting bored or nor thinking the game its too easy! so what i love about a game its to have that balance between being changeling and at the same time not being that easy to beat !

Game so far have a lot of funny puns & references which are mandatory to have from time to time in a game and this one did fullfill the standards even to the point of adding achievements <3

finally i got into this game recently because im bored in my house and literally finished any other game so im open to actually stick in for more updates of what i can tell ''the most long & well developed indie game''.

good luck if the dev or team of people working for this gets to have this game on steam or itchio C:

Edit 29/07: community in discord is neat, streams seems to be archieved to patreons can re-watch them. i see commitment and honest efforts on the developing of this game which really gives a positive insight of expecting Top tier quality from the people working on this game!

i love just every character and how they evolve through the stories. I am so excited for every new update.

I hope the story with Mia is not over.
The complete style matches so well. Already an excellent game.

It's full of scenes, milfs and not milfs, big and small, plenty of things to buy, many storylines, full of thick girls, long to play and very entertaining. Fantastic artwork too. More than I expect, 5 well-earned. Amazing job!

The game has fun questlines, the characters are consistent and well written. The sex is pretty hot if you're into the comic book aesthetic and at the time of writing there's a lot of it.

For me personally, the negatives of the game are that the development is slow and chaotic. They've slowed down to 2 normal sized updates and 2 small updates per year. He also leaves a lot of plothtreads unfinished before moving to the next one. On top of that, the guy keeps promising more and more features, like a dating system and constant character reworks. The reason why I spend more on this subject than my praise is because I would warn you not to get invested in this game. Come in to have a quick fap and don't linger waiting for things to get ready, you'll just get frustrated.

With his current pace and amount of features/content promised it'll be another 5 years, at least before this game is anywhere near done.

Amazing game, the artwork is outstanding, the story is rather fun, and the thrust for more updates keeps me coming back. The updates for this game are really far apart, however the developer is usually good about posting timelines and future info on the game.

Introduction
Summertime saga is a point and click Ren'Py game that actually started me off down the rabit hole that is the adult game genre. If there were a game that is renown in a genre, I feel this game would be it for adult games as a whole due to its massive popularity of 25,000+ patrons alone, and $67,000+ a month budget! *SPOILERS AHEAD*

Story
Summertime saga focuses on an 18 year old dude whos father just passed away, and he is living with "close friends" of his father, that being Debbie (basically his mother), and Jenny (basically his sister). I place these side notes given the interactions between the character and these two characters. I still don't know if this was intended, or if it was down to Patreons ToS.

Either way, the story progresses with the main character going back to school, with his best friend Erik, and continuing his, what is a seemingly, normal life. Only to find out that his grades have dropped significantly and the dominatrix principle, Mrs. Smith tells him to sort it out.

Then from here on out, you focus on getting your dick wet, and increasing your grades. There is another plot on the side that isn't fully done yet, which focuses on the debt that your deceased father (linked twice in case you are interested in key details) has unfortunately passed down onto you from some very official looking thugs. The debt was incurred through the bank your father once worked at, but it is unclear as to how. It's very heavily hinted at throughout the story that your father was murdered, but until more information comes out in future updates, there's not much more to say.

Characters
There is a massive character roster in this game. In fact, I would like to discuss them all, but it would take FAR too long. If that interests you, check them all out here. Despite this, I will discuss core characters and the diversity which gives this game a perfect score.

Debbie - The mother figure of the game, with some wonderful dialogue to reaffirm this. I mentioned her enough earlier, so I won't go into more detail.
Jenny - The sister figure of the game, who seemingly hates the MC, but actually really likes him. Again, like Debbie, I discussed her enough earlier.
Diane - The family friend/aunt of the game, who has a very odd business practice of selling breastmilk. The MCs first job is found here, and continues into a lot more later on.
Erik - The fat best friend, that you can actually hook up with someone! In exchange you get his mother which is pretty funny. Erik serves more as a punching bag more than anything else throughout the game, but he looks out for the MC as best as he can throughout (unless you're a dick to him and fuck his crush).
Eve (recently core) - The emo schoolgirl who is a fantastic artist. She was only made a core character recently, and her character is really interesting. She has massive burdens to bear, and seems really carefree despite it all. (She also has a sister who just looks like a grown up version of her)
Mia - The cloistered religious girl, who doesn't seem to want to follow the rules of her religion. You have some choices that impact who you end up with as well throughout.
Roxxy - The slutty bitch of the school, who has quirky little followers, and a jacked up boyfriend. This character really couldn't follow more tropes if she tried.
Teachers - I place all of them together for a reason, that being they all follow a similar dynamic, but all have difference characteristics. I believe 2 teachers have stat requirements to progress, while the others have item requirements.

Oh sorry, did I forget to mention that ALL of these characters have fully fleshed out stories, and scenes (some with multiple choice scenarios resulting in different scenes). If you want a game with content, THIS IS THE GAME FOR YOU!

Writing
The writing in summertime saga is fantastic. There are themes of comedy, sadness, and sexiness. All of which are conveyed at perfect times, resulting in you connecting with characters in a deeper way (innuendo not intended). I don't really think there could be much improvement in the way of the writing with the characters.

Scenes/animations/fetishes
Okay, so how many scenes, are they animated, and how many fetishes?

There is a shitload of scenes in this game, most are animated, and a significant amount of fetishes are present. I'll list some of them:

Big tits, little tits, teen, MILFs, teachers, student, impregnation (I don't think you can fuck when pregnant but I couldn't find it any when I looked it up), domination, submission, sleeping, creeping, the list honestly goes on.

Due to the sheer quanity of content this game offers, there is probably something for everyone here. Even if it's just a scene or two, it's still something.

The animations are done super well, and the art style of this game is super sleek and streamlined it's crazy.
Performance/Bugs
The game runs fine for the most part from my experience, however I have had a number of crashes and rollback erros when playing. Some of the other "bugs" I would say are more down to the writing in the game, which is exceptional, but if you play events out in a certain way, it can kill the flow.

A core example of this is when you fuck Erik's crush. After you fuck her, Erik basically refuses to talk to you properly. BUT if you haven't done the interactions with Eve, or Roxxy yet he is more than happy to help you. I assume this is an oversight due to the sheer volume of content, but it's a critique nonetheless.

Personal pros and cons
This section is for my own personal opinions both in and out of the game.

Firstly, I really like the art style of this game. The way DarkCookie draws is so amazing, and it really highlights why the game is so popular. If you too are interested in his art, and want to catch him drawing, he streams it here.

Secondly, the ease of access to information on quests, characters, items, etc. is all perfectly laid out on the website wiki. If you have any issues, or want to know anything about this game, the information will likely be here.

Okay, now that I have mentioned all the good about this game so far, you are probably thinking there is nothing I dislike about this game or its devs. That is where you would be wrong. I very much dislike the way DarkCookie interacts with his community, specifically on Patreon. Sometimes there will be breaks that could last anywhere between 2-4 months, and not a single word will be said in the comments on his Patreon, or even on the main page.

Not to mention the lack of moderation on his Patreon too! There have been many people spreading harmful downloads, and fake patches in his OWN Patreon page, and nothing is done about them, or at least so it seemed a few months ago when I was active there. I quickly checked now, I struggled to find them, so perhaps they have been moderated better. But some more connection with the community would be wonderful.

The Patreon's love your game, so let them know what is going on with some small updates every now and then and connect with the community in the comments please! Also, I understand with a community as large as this it can be hard, but just some acknowledgement is nice.

Finally, this point is more directed at some of the fans than the game itself. Please, for the love of God, stop pestering this developer every week. If it's a month with no info, by all means post about it, but when a new update comes out don't harrass him immediately about new content, I can't imagine how frustrating that would be.

Summary
In conculsion, this has to be one of the most funded and worked on adult games I have ever really seen. Sure it doesn't post content very frequently, but when it does it is fantastic. This really does the quality over quanity phrase justice.

Massive thanks to these people for making this game what it is:
▪ DarkCookie: Art, Story, Design & Dialogue
▪ Strayerror: Lead Code
▪ CaptainSploosh: Writing & Dialogue
▪ Catbug: Dialogue & Posing
▪ AoiichiNiiSan: Music & SFX
▪ sam9: Servers & Website
▪ CreamyCookie: Human resource & Cookie baker

I would love to have linked some media related to them all, but if I can't do it with them all, I'd rather not do it with any. So instead, I will link their company here in case anyone is interested in really digging into the game, or wanting to contribute. Speaking of, here is the as well.

Overall, this is why it gets a 5/5 from me, so much to get into, well done art, great writing, and just a fun experience all around!