As the fleeting warmth of summer fades into the auburn days of autumn, it’s nice to have an excuse to revel in those all-too-brief sunny days for a bit longer. Natsu-Mon: 20th Century Summer Kid is a perfect example of said excuse. The game takes place over a single month during a late 90s summer and sees you given absolute freedom to decide how you’d like to spend it, to a sometimes worrying level.
If you’re in the mood for another review, check out our review of hilarious third-person-shooter Squirrel with a Gun. If you want something more grim and serious, perhaps our review of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II will be more up your street.
What Is Natsu-Mon: 20th Century Summer Kid?
Natsu-Mon: 20th Century Summer Kid is an adventure game that sees you in control of a kid with an entire month to kill while your parents are away managing some sort of issue with your family circus. With no parental supervision and an entire new town to explore, it’s down to the players to decide how they’ll spend August.
Technically, the game is also a spiritual successor to the cult-classic 90s adventure game series Boku no Natsuyasumi, which originally saw a release on the PlayStation. The setting is 20 years later, and now we’re part of a travelling circus rather than simply being a city-kid on vacation in the countryside, but otherwise, the key elements of open-ended summer exploration and adventures are both here.
Where to Go? What to Do?
As with the original games, Natsu-Mon gives you an open-ended map to explore and tells you to go nuts. There’s not loads of directing forcing you into certain missions or encounters, outside of occasional hints and reminders that certain events are available at certain times on certain days. You’re very much free to choose what to do, whether that be running around collecting bugs or fish, completing tasks for locals to earn money, or even just exploring the town itself and the surrounding environs.
You do, however, have a few hints that can help you to make the decision. Talking to the various townsfolk often fills you in on certain things that happen in the local area, and after a short while, the circus’ fortune teller shows up and will give you a reading to give you some hints towards specific places and events you can find on any given day. It’s a decent blend between complete freedom and a nod in the right direction.
Gameplay Changes
While Natsu-Mon: 20th Century Summer Kid is harkening back to an earlier time, it has not fully escaped the trapping of modernity. It’s out with the pre-rendered backgrounds and in with the fully 3D overworld to explore, complete with a Breath of the Wild-style climbing and stamina system. While it might mean the game has lost some of the unique charm of the original visual style, these new mechanics are fantastic and translate that feeling of open-ended exploration that the original series sought to create.
You start out the game with a handful of lightning-bolt-shaped stickers to your name, and each major adventure you complete sees you rewarded with a new one. Each sticker is a new notch on your stamina bar, so the more you complete, the further you can run, jump and climb. It’s a great system for naturally gating where you can explore while incentivising you to see the various adventures through for the gameplay rewards.
Once More, with Feeling
The gameplay loop is pretty satisfying, as long as you’re into a chilled-out, laid-back experience. You flit from spending hours fishing to climbing a local tower, to exploring a newly-unlocked section of the map, and it all happens seamlessly. The days genuinely unfold like those of a summer holiday long since passed, with the various unique encounters tying together to produce a memorable experience.
It also leads to a game that feels like it needs to be played more than once. As anyone who’s ever been young before will tell you, there’s more than one way to spend a summer, and it’s almost impossible to do everything you want to do in the game with a single run. There’s just too much going on for you to do it all.
Too Much of a Good Thing
All praise aside, there are a few moments that started to feel a bit repetitive. At certain points, you have to make money to complete specific events and objectives, and that can sometimes mean repeating the same tasks more than once. There’s also the issue that while there’s too much to do in one playthrough of the game, subsequent playthroughs will probably see at least a little overlap with what you’ve previously done.
There is, of course, also the lack of general direction, which some players might struggle to deal with, but if that bothers you, then it’s probably not the game for you. Natsu-Mon is a relaxed experience about spending time outdoors and having your own fun in a new town. It’s not exactly going to be high-octane thrills, but there’s a certain thrill of discovery to be found here.
Visuals & Music
The soundtrack fits perfectly with the laid-back and cartoony vibes of the game, swinging between ‘zany’ for comedic moments and gentle strings for the general exploration and more subdued cutscenes. Visually, the game is pretty standout as well. While it’s obviously not going for realism, it does utilise the capabilities of the Nintendo Switch to its fullest in terms of creating a unified graphical style.
The simple, bold art of the game could have stepped right out of a manga page, and the bright colours fit well with the nostalgic summer setting. This even extends to the UI design, with most of the game’s information conveyed through a kid’s picture journal where your character illustrates everything that is happening to them with coloured pencils. It’s a wonderfully complete experience and allows you to get lost in the gameplay with great ease.
Summary
Natsu-Mon: 20th Century Summer Kid is a great game for anyone trying to relive the feelings of youth and exploration of summer days from their youth. It is both comforting and nostalgic, and it gives you plenty to do without forcing you to really do any of it. While it certainly won’t be a game for everyone, it’ll hold a great amount of appeal to anyone on the right frequency to enjoy it. Anyone who prefers a bit more ‘game’ to their games might want to look elsewhere.
Developer: Millenium Kitchen
Publisher: Spike Chunsoft
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, Windows PC
Release Date: 6th August 2024
