Relive your childhood summer time, however now in smalltown Japan.
From writer Spike Chunsoft comes cozy journey sport Natsu-Mon: twentieth Century Summer season Child. You play because the titular candy summer time youngster, Satoru, who’s spending his trip within the Japanese countryside, particularly Yomogi City, which is surrounded by timber, mountains, and sea. In the event you’re searching for a light-weight and breezy expertise within the vein of Animal Crossing or 2021’s Shin-chan: Me and the Professor on Summer season Trip (additionally developed by Millenium Kitchen), then Natsu-Mon would possibly nicely scratch that itch.
The general pacing of Satoru’s summer time break is a relaxed one, and the sport’s best power is the way in which wherein it genuinely emulates the sensation and sensibility of a youthful summer time. The primary story is gentle and takes a backseat to gameplay, however it revolves round a circus troupe that has come to city and desires to boost cash to proceed working. It is also a bunch that Satoru is finally supposed to guide, so you could have a vested curiosity within the troupe’s success. Rather more than this single narrative is the numerous others you discover as you discover your environment and communicate to the locals.
For instance, you encounter a bunch of children who’re taking part in at being detectives, and as an outsider to the group (certainly one of whom actually labels you “Customer”), you’re tasked with aiding the group with quite a lot of quests. Different townsfolk have jobs for you, too, and plenty of of those duties reward you with objects, cash, or stamina-boosting stickers. You will wish to collect a bunch of those stickers early on so that you could climb to larger locations and spend extra time sprinting round. As a lot because the tempo is relaxed, there are nonetheless sizable distances to cowl, and never having to take a breather as typically makes for good motivation to lend a serving to hand.
If you’re not taking part in white knight, you’ll be able to go fishing, catch bugs, and accumulate treasures (like treasured stones/minerals). Whereas Animal Crossing asks you to indicate these pick-ups to a museum, Natsu-Mon focuses on the creation of a private journal. When Satoru fetches a brand new bug in his trusty web, he’ll open up his trip journal and make a sketch of his discovering, together with a mini description. On occasion, you may hit a milestone variety of bugs or fish, which can full a sidequest and grant one other reward. One function that basically stands out is how bugs you have not but caught are highlighted with a transparent ring round them, drawing your consideration in direction of a worthwhile catch. On the finish of every day, simply earlier than you hit the hay, you may add occasions and accomplishments to the journal, every with their very own small, medium, or giant caption, and so it’s that your summer time exploits are chronicled.
The place twentieth Century Summer season Child stumbles is within the pretty plain dialogue and interactions with different characters and a common sense of repetition. You may see who’s the place on the map display, and even throw down a marker to information you in direction of them, however these conversations are much less fascinating than the exploration elements of the sport. This could possibly be chalked as much as the idea of a kid talking to adults, which makes some sense. Whereas there’s a attraction to the quaint world of the sport, it is discovered extra within the easy design of the environment and the sense of discovery from roaming to your coronary heart’s content material.
There is a pleasure in amassing seashells by the seaside and an equally highly effective sense of guilt from lacking morning train. This can be a countryside that lives and breathes, and an expertise that basically is not meant to be rushed. If you’re uncertain of what to do subsequent, the subject of the time for dinner meal will typically flip to an occasion to come back or process to be accomplished, getting you again on monitor. That mentioned, when you deal with taking part in the sport identical to dwelling by your individual childhood summer time trip, you could possibly get much more out of it. Simply decide a path and see the place it takes you.
Though I have never skilled all that Natsu-Mon: twentieth Century Summer season Child has to supply, I’ve seen sufficient to know that it ought to nicely serve a distinct segment searching for a laid-back, Animal Crossing-like expertise. The sport follows a one-month summer time countdown, so it is unlikely that you’re going to see all the pieces on supply throughout a single playthrough. Nearly each single in-game day brings one thing new, although, and in case you have persistence sufficient to purchase into the premise, you may be rewarded with your individual chill summer time break. It has some tough edges, however it’s onerous to not jive with the small city vibes of Satoru’s summer time house.