It is not a deal breaker, but it might be a hindrance in the process of getting comfortable with the place. It is hard to get used to this difference, even moreso when you notice the background style also changes when it comes to CGs. However, even though the more lenient players will not mind the character art, it must be said how different it is from the background art in style: the outlines are thicker, the colouring is completely different, and, as a result, it stands out like a sore thumb amongВ the rather delicate landscapes. The rich textures and enticing rhythm of each locationвЂ™s ambience are more than enough to call Everlasting SummerвЂ™s sound design commendable вЂ“ rivaled only by Dysfunctional Systems. However, itвЂ™s the ambient sounds that bring the camp to life. Both are capable enough of linkingВ specific sensations to each place you visit and each person you meet. There was ambition and attention put into building this world, as is evident by the background art вЂ“ which is, I would say, the most gorgeous I have ever seen in a visual novel вЂ“ and the music direction. Sovyonok does try its best to be comfortable, if not pleasant to the reader. Semyon, of course, does not forget that he doesnвЂ™t belong to that time and world, but ends up finding life there comfortable regardless. Little by little, the ordinary tries to swallow the extraordinary: having to deal with a card game tournament becomes more important than looking for the bus that brought you to the camp the embarrassment from running into a naked girl becomes more prevalent than the suspicion about that girl not existing at all in the first place.

What we have is the вЂњdown the rabbit holeвЂќ approach toВ storytelling, enhanced by how the summer and the campвЂ™s light atmosphere contrasts SemyonвЂ™s crestfallen demeanor and lifestyle in the вЂњreal worldвЂќ.ДЄs you are introduced to the campвЂ™s crowd, routine, and lifestyle, you are invited to forget the mystery behind whatever circumstances led you to Sovyonok. Worse still, no one bats an eyelid вЂ“ the camp leader, Olga Dmitrievna, was actually expecting him. Here is what we are getting into: after having strange dreams night after night and then falling asleep during a (beautifully portrayed) mysterious bus ride in the winter, Semyon finds himself as a teenager in the 80вЂ™s who somehow ended up in a Soviet Young Pioneer camp in the middle of nowhere named Sovyonok.

Not without reason вЂ“ Everlasting Summer features an expansive and mysterious setting that ensures multiple storylines are completely different from one-another and an interesting cast, which makes the game lively, yet surprisingly cozy in its atmosphere. Sure enough they can be proud of the 600,000 people that ownВ their title on Steam, and it might be safe to say itвЂ™s one of the most popular non-Japanese visual novels to date. I wonder what Soviet Games, the makers of this title, think of this comparison. вЂњThe Russian Katawa ShoujoвЂќ is how Everlasting Summer was nicknamed by the visual novel community upon its English release in 2014, mostly due to how it originated as if spontaneously from an imageboard.

Everlasting summer steam