Everlasting Summer

Бесконечное лето
Everlasting Summer

Developer(s) Soviet Games
Publisher(s) Independent
Director(s) Dreamtale
Producer(s) Dreamtale
Designer(s) Huyase
ArseniXC
SoraSora
OrikaNekoi
Programmer(s) Lolbot
Dreamtale
Artist(s) ArseniXC
Huyase
VVCephei
SoraSora
Veel
OrikaNekoi
Writer(s) Dreamtale
Composer(s) Sergey Eybog (SilentOwl)
Between August and December
Engine Ren'Py
Platform(s) Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Android
Release date(s) December 21, 2013 (Russian)[1][2]
November 19, 2014 (English)[3]
Genre(s) Visual novel, eroge, dating sim
Mode(s) Single player

Everlasting Summer (Бесконечное лето) is a visual novel, produced by Soviet Games, that tells the story of a 25-year-old man living in modern Russia who finds himself mysteriously transported to a summer camp somewhere in the former Soviet Union. It was originally produced in Russian and was first released in December 2013. The English translation was released in November 2014 when the game was made available on Steam. A German translation is said to be in development.[4] The game includes some adult content which was removed from the Steam release[5] though it is easily restored.[6]

Story

Semyon is a reclusive 25-year-old living in a large city somewhere in early 21st century Russia, spending most of his time in his flat interacting with others on his computer and earning enough to keep the bills paid. One winter day he boards a bus to attend a reunion, falls asleep along the way, and awakens to find it's now summer and he's dropped off at the front gates of a place called Sovionok (Совёнок, "owlet" in Russian). Semyon soon discovers it is a Pioneer Camp populated by youth, including several attractive girls who show interest in him; furthermore, he has reverted to his 17-year-old self and it is now the mid-1980s. In the days that follow, Semyon must navigate the relationships and possibly find love with the various people he encounters, while trying to solve the mystery of how and why he was brought to this place, and how to escape and return to his former life once it becomes evident he may be trapped in a time loop.

The game uses texts and sprites in a manner similar to many Japanese visual novels and runs on the Ren'Py visual novel engine. At various points the player must make choices which will affect dialogue and determine what path the game will take. The game has multiple endings, some of them portraying Semyon forming a romantic relationship with one of the female characters, while others end badly. Some of the endings are not available until they are unlocked by completing other endings.

Characters

Primary

Semyon/Семён
Semyon, a male of age 25 in the opening but regressed to 17 during most of the game, is the protagonist of the game. He is portrayed as having brown hair.
Slavya/Славя
Slavya has gold hair in two braids that go down to her waist, is a nature-lover, and is the "good girl" who tries to help out around the camp any way she can.
Lena/Лена
Lena, who has short purple hair, is introverted and can often be seen reading a book.
Alisa/Алиса
Alisa has short orange hair and is the more rebellious "bad girl", who also plays guitar.
Ulyana/Ульяна
Ulyana is about 3-4 years younger than the other girls and has medium-length red hair. She is the athletic tomboy and enjoys scary stories.
Miku/Мику
Miku is Japanese and has long cyan hair in two ponytails. She can often be found in the music room. In one of the endings she is an actress named Masha playing the part of Miku in a film that is being produced of the events of the game.
Yulya/Юля
Yulya is a catgirl with brown hair, whom Semyon believes knows something about why he was brought to the camp. She is only seen in some of the later unlocked storylines.

All of the girls except Ulyana are portrayed as being 17 or 18 years old.

Supporting

Olga Dmitrievna/Ольга Дмитриевна
Olga Dmitrievna, an adult well into her twenties, is the camp counselor.
Elektronik/Электроник
Electronik is a male, gold hair, who spends much of his time at the club house tinkering with gadgets. He is named after a robot character from a popular Soviet book/film series.
Shurik/Шурик
Shurik is a male with gold hair and glasses. He too spends much of his time in the club house building a robot.
Zhenya/Женя
Zhenya is a teenage girl with short black hair and glasses, who works as the camp librarian.
Viola/Виола
Viola is the camp nurse, described as middle-aged, who cares for the sick and injured at the camp infirmary.
"Pioneer"/"Пионер"
A mysterious pioneer, who appears to be Semyon from an alternate reality, visits him on occasion, often to taunt him.

Development

Game development started in May 2008 based off an image posted to the Russian IIchan imageboard. The project soon moved to IRC channels, and had some drama and personnel changes over the years. Little was heard from the development team until a preliminary version was released on November 5, 2013, followed by the general release of the Russian version on December 21. The English version was released November 19, 2014.

Reception

Feedback for the game has been generally positive. Two Russian-language gaming sites, itndaily[7] and Канобу,[8] gave it generally positive reviews, while a reviewer at Thumbsticks gave the English-language version a less favorable review following its release on Steam.[9] As of February 2015, the Visual Novel Database gives it an average rating of 7.43 (good) with over 330 votes,[10] and of more than 4,200 Steam users, 92% have given the game a Recommended rating.[3]

References

  1. ↑ "Бесконечное лето". Retrieved 2015-02-10.
  2. ↑ "Бесконечное лето". Retrieved 2015-02-10.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Everlasting Summer on Steam". Retrieved 2015-02-10.
  4. ↑ "German translation coming". Retrieved 2015-02-08.
  5. ↑ "Adult content disabled". Retrieved 2015-02-08.
  6. ↑ "WARNING!". Retrieved 2015-02-13.
  7. ↑ "Рецензия на игру Бесконечное лето". Retrieved 2015-02-13.
  8. ↑ ""Бесконечное лето": аноны тоже плачут". Retrieved 2015-02-13.
  9. ↑ "Everlasting Summer Review". Retrieved 2015-02-13.
  10. ↑ "Beskonechnoe leto on the Visual Novel Database". Retrieved 2015-02-08.

External links