Boku no Natsuyasumi 2 is a profoundly earnest and delightful time capsule that completely washed over me the moment I stepped onto the humble shores of the small coastal town contained within. The atmosphere is relaxed and serene but not entirely tranquil; as nearly all of the residents have some sort of conflict or aspiration they need assistance with. All of these characters were a joy to interact with and checking in with each of them every day throughout this 31-day vacation had me grow incredibly invested in their lives and hopeful for their futures. These relationships formed organically and effortlessly, due in no small part to the way this game romanticizes every moment, whether it be a small discussion between characters, a minute spent sitting together in silence while the dissonant melody of a record coats the playground, an afternoon spent catching bugs while running through the sun, or a loving mealtime spent laughing with family; these fleeting moments are all significant and impactful despite their brevity. Before I knew it, these small moments culminated into a month's worth of time and I bittersweetly had to wave goodbye to friends and family alike as the summer drew to a close. While the future from that point forward was intimidating and uncertain, the memories and relationships forged during that time would undoubtedly serve as a comfort and source of strength going forward.

Perhaps my largest takeaway from this experience, which left a sizable emotional impact on me, is to enjoy and relish in life's quiet and subtle moments just as much as I would the louder and grandiose. The march of time doesn't halt and our lives will inevitably be composed of far more of these small, indistinct moments than those that are commonly celebrated; coming to terms with this has honestly given me an enhanced perspective and sense of comfort when reflecting on my own life. I'll do my best to ensure that this new outlook remains close to my heart alongside the place where this work of art now resides.

A fundamentally-sound roguelike deckbuilder with great character/enemy designs and an interesting twist on the style of combat that's been ingrained within the genre over the past several years. The vibrant presentation and unique fusion mechanic of Zet Zillions had me engrossed during the opening hours but I sadly began to gradually lose interest over my successive runs, largely due to the meta progression system which felt a bit too slow for my liking. In addition, I came into this with a good deal of anticipation as I was a big fan of their previous work, Wolfstride, but was left mostly disappointed in the looser narrative present here as the writing in the aforementioned title was distinct and grounded in a way I really appreciated. Of course, roguelike deckbuilders usually aren't known for their narratives (though I can think of some exceptions) but I was expecting something a bit more compelling than what we have here. I respect the developer's desire to experiment with different genres while simultaneously building one cohesive world in which their various games are encompassed, I just think they may not have played to their strengths on this particular installment as well as they could have.

I'll probably give this another whirl at some point as it seems like they have been pushing out a lot of updates since launch that could very well address some of my presently held gripes.

Not a deep, polished, or even scary experience by any means but it has served as a great vehicle for goofing around with my friends so I have to give it some credit. From what I've gathered, the amount of fun you have with Content Warning is almost entirely dependent on the energy of those you play with; when everyone is willing to just let loose and lean into the hilarity of filming everything as a mockumentary of sorts then it's honestly a blast. I'll likely lose interest the moment that anyone starts taking this seriously and tries to metagame it but at the moment our discord feed is filled with 90-second creations that would be funny to absolutely no one outside of our friend group and I wouldn't have it any other way.