Where videogames usually tend to go for escapism and fantasy to reconnect with the sense of wonder, with innocence, with freedom... Boku no Natsuyasumi finds all of that in a more down to earth context. Every day is an adventure, there is no need for magic or silly objectives, exploring in the countryside, catching some bugs, watering flowers until they bloom… No wonder why at the end of each day the game asks you if you want to keep playing, it seems like it’s asking at the same time if you don’t want to go out and enjoy your own surroundings.
Despite being set in the 70’s, Boku no Natsuyasumi avoids falling into prison with nostalgia. Rather than keeping you trapped in an endless summer full of joy, the calendar is always moving forward and the days fly by, just as when we were kids. And there are some rough edges too, even if the game is always looking through the eyes of innocence. Between the fun of summer days there is space to talk about deciding what to do in the future, dealing with moving away from your family, the memories of a not so distant war, the grief of losing a dear one too soon… And of course, a never repeated summer cannot end in any other way but with an emotional goodbye, nothing left but memories, but nothing else needed anyway.
Despite being set in the 70’s, Boku no Natsuyasumi avoids falling into prison with nostalgia. Rather than keeping you trapped in an endless summer full of joy, the calendar is always moving forward and the days fly by, just as when we were kids. And there are some rough edges too, even if the game is always looking through the eyes of innocence. Between the fun of summer days there is space to talk about deciding what to do in the future, dealing with moving away from your family, the memories of a not so distant war, the grief of losing a dear one too soon… And of course, a never repeated summer cannot end in any other way but with an emotional goodbye, nothing left but memories, but nothing else needed anyway.
3 Comments
@Hattori You can totally go through the game without knowing a single word and even get the feeling of some scenes just with the visual and audio context. With some of the guides out there you could even get to do some of the things that are not so easy to discover without knowing Japanese.
I recommend playing the game if you think you will enjoy it just for the mood and all of that, you won't "spoil" anything in case a translation ends up showing up. However, I recommend checking some of the translated dialogues afterwards on YouTube, since there are some really nice scenes that are impossible to understand otherwise.
In my case I think I am just a little below N4 in Japanese (N5 being the most basic and N1 being the more complex) and I could get most of the important stuff while playing if that helps in any way.
I recommend playing the game if you think you will enjoy it just for the mood and all of that, you won't "spoil" anything in case a translation ends up showing up. However, I recommend checking some of the translated dialogues afterwards on YouTube, since there are some really nice scenes that are impossible to understand otherwise.
In my case I think I am just a little below N4 in Japanese (N5 being the most basic and N1 being the more complex) and I could get most of the important stuff while playing if that helps in any way.
OMG looks so cute this Game💞
Hattori
3 years ago