Everlasting Summer

Visual novels may not be everyone’s cup of tea, especially since they involve a lot of reading and waiting around for the characters to interact without your input. However, they can be quite powerful when they are done right, especially in regards to the story, the artwork and the characters. On top of it all, they are perfect if you are not much of a gamer to begin with.

Everlasting Summer is a pretty unique visual novel, in the sense that it features a great, yet perplexing story. Not only that, but the game also has quite the history on Eastern European imageboards, since it spent a lot of time in development. Even so, the final game is truly a sight to behold, and every visual novel fan should give it a try, as well as those who are up for an unusual journey.

It all starts with a normal young man living his boring, ordinary life. Nothing really happens to him, which is why he’s not exactly an ad for happiness. However, this all changes when he falls asleep on the bus one cold winter evening, only to wake up a bit later and discover that it’s summer outside. Not only that, but it would appear that he was transported back in time to the Soviet era, so the rest of the game revolves around those kind of themes.

Writing is very important in the genre, because there’s usually nothing else to distract you. Thankfully, everything is great in this regard when it comes to Everlasting Summer, whether it’s the narrative as a whole or the dialog between the characters. The story itself is very intriguing and well-written, so it should be a blast to witness every event and decide how the main character reacts.

However, probably the most striking thing about the game is the artwork, because it’s truly magnificent. Each background, landscape and scene is incredibly detailed and very atmospheric, and they almost look like paintings. Not only that, but some of the scenes are semi-animated as well, which yet again does wonders for the atmosphere. The soundtrack is great , too, and it goes very well with everything else.

All things considered, there are very few bad things one can say about Everlasting Summer, except maybe that it’s a tad too simple in regards to the player’s role in the grand scheme of things. However, the game is truly an experience worth having, especially for those who can relate to the whole Soviet theme.