I like visual novels. The genre has in recent years become one of my most played genres. Getting into them more I have started to realize that there are different kinds of visual novel formats and ones that I prefer more than others. Summer Days is one of those formats that I’m not particularly fond of.
Briana has been craving some time off all summer, and finally, with her shoot wrapped for hiatus, she can relax at her summer cottage on the lake. She even drags her female film co-stars along for the ride to enjoy herself.
Summer Days is a yuri visual novel story of fun and sun at the lake, with multiple routes and choices to explore.
So what type of game is this? What are the different formats of visual novels? There isn’t really a formal set series of types or anything, but there are my own observations. The thing that gamifys a visual novel is collecting. Gotta catch ’em all. The goal in playing through a visual novel is, not only getting to the end of the narrative, but also collecting character galleries in the game. Most visual novels have them, and usually they’re cute or sexy.
Some games read through like a linear story. There’s a start, middle, and end to the story. As you read through the story you’ll effortlessly collect the galleries which you can look at later in the main menu. Other games give you some small choices that you can make which not only may change the direction of the story but also reward you with other unique images. Summer Days swings too far in that other direction.
Summer Days has a lot of choices, some of which seem very subtle. The game seems to have a very complex diverging path in the background. As I replayed the game after my initial run through, making wildly different choices, I didn’t end up with substantially more images rewarded by the end. The game has twenty obtainable images, some with multiple variations. By the end of my first play-through I had unlocked only a small handful.
The only way to unlock the rest of the images is to replay through the game over and over, making different decisions to take different paths through the game. A good option, but the story doesn’t really diverge and the new slice of story runs parallel to the end. Imagine the story line of the game like driving a car. The different choices aren’t so much like taking an off-ramp to a different story thread but is more like changing lanes. The road stays the same and that lane ends leading to more-or-less the same destination.
What ends up happening (with me at least) is that you end up skipping through all the dialogue as I’ve finished the story and am now just trying to unlock the images. The story is pretty short so that’s not too bad, but it’s a bit tedious.
What great visual novels do to make this extra collection fun and meaningful is they make it part of the overall narrative. Sometimes that can be a time travel story, or even something as simple as the story being told from the perspective of telling a story, recounting events, or daydreaming.
In this way replaying through some of the story is actually part of the story. Like maybe if you get a bad ending you are prompted in the narrative to go back and make a different choice. It gives a more satisfying feeling when you walk away from the story.
Another thing that was challenging about the game was that the story kicks off in a group conversation between the three girls right away. With no context or history, it was confusing to know who each of them were or who was talking through much of the early scene.
Visually Summer Days is a very pretty game. The art of the game is both cute and sexy. It has an off-anime look of the characters which is what it is. It definitely makes the game stand out among other visual novels. It looks like not just another “anime” visual novel.
The other thing that the game has going for it in its Nintendo Switch release is that it is one of the very few truly NSFW visual novels on the platform. As such the game includes full topless nudity, something rarely seen in games on the platform. It’s also uncommon in console releases in general.
Overall, if you’re thinking about picking up Summer Days for the nudity the game doesn’t disappoint. There is lots to be seen and nothing is hardcore. This is about as lewd as you can get. If you’re also looking for a compelling story then Summer Days may leave you longing for more.
