Game: Natsu-Mon: 20th Century Summer Kid
Genre: Adventure
System: Nintendo Switch (Also on Steam (Windows))
Developer | Publisher: Toybox |Millenium Kitchen| Spike Chunsoft US
Age Rating: US Everyone | EU 3+
Price: US $39.99 | UK £34.99 | EU € 39,99
Release Date: August 8th, 2024
A review code was used, with many thanks to Spike Chunsoft.
Sometimes, you dive into a game without knowing what to expect, but you feel as if a special gaming adventure is about to start. That’s how I felt about reviewing Natsu-Mon: 20th Century Summer Kid. And what a nice surprise I found!
Boku no Natsuyasumi Games
In part, the game’s mystery to me lay in the title: 20th Century Summer Kid. What an odd title, but one that, in hindsight, perfectly captures what the game is about. Natsu-Mon is a Boku no Natsuyasumi game, a game series that is always about the same topic: you play as a child who is on summer holidays, most of the time without your parents. The child spends his days wandering the countryside, collecting bugs, making friends and unravelling some mild mysteries.
In each of these games, you go on a journey where you can explore freely and catch bugs. You can wander through colourful places and find surprises around every corner. There’s no pressure, and you can do what makes you happy. Someone once told me that life is all about making memories; the Boku no Natsuyasumi series and Natsu-Mon: 20th Century Summer Kid are really about that.
Visit the Open World Yomogi
In Natsu-Mon, you experience a special summer of 31 days in August in Yomogi Town, a picturesque rural village in Japan. You play as the 10-year-old son of a circus ringmaster called Satoru, who is left in the care of other members of the circus troupe, and Kyoko, the inn owner, while his parents are away. They are negotiating their license and funds to perform with the circus in Yomogi Town, and Satoru strives to help them with that by earning some money.
Yomogi Town is nestled between mountains and the ocean and forms an open-world environment. You can go where you want and do what you want. But if you need some goals, there are stickers to collect, mysteries to solve and more. You can find out who keeps destroying the gate to keep the pigs, which the Shrinekeeper loves so much. Or find out why the lighthouse’s light is not as bright as usual. Catch bugs and find a rare one to donate at the museum. Find little crabs that you can use as bait to fish, and earn some money selling the mushrooms and gems you find.
There’s Lighthouse Mountain and the Trumpet Forest to explore. You can find out what’s going on at the Old Caste or closer to home at the Port Town Shopping Mall. And a train ride away lies a neighbouring town, waiting to be explored. Enough to keep you occupied all Summer. There are bus lines to get around and reach your destination quicker.
Slow to Start, Loads to Do
Although there is a lot to do, Natsu-Mon is slow to start. The tutorial is good, but I was left feeling that I was missing something. The main reason was that I hadn’t realized what I’ve written above: there is no right or bad way to play the game, I just had to go with the flow. When I did that, things started to click. The arrival of Love-chan, another member of the circus, also helped: she could read Satoru’s fortune every day, which would give her some guidelines about where to go.
I also found that you don’t need to earn tools like you do in many simulation games. Pretty early on, you get the fishing pole, and when you press Y at a spot where you can dig for treasure, a shovel magically appears. Satoru also finds a not-so-common tool: a toy gun with which you can shoot acorns, which comes in pretty handy when solving puzzles.
Every day starts with eating together and doing exercises with the rest of the town at the shrine. You can join in if you want, as Satoru is keen on earning the stickers. Not just for the fun of it but also because it gives him more stamina. As he doesn’t have a clock at first, Tokotoko finds him when it’s time for dinner again. If Satoru isn’t home in time to go to sleep, Tokotoko nudges him again to turn in. If that happens, Satoru will sleep late and miss daily exercises.
A Summer Study Set
What impresses me most about Natsu-Mon is its eye for detail. Satoru keeps a journal in which he draws everything that has happened that day. The journal doesn’t just take notes, but the game makes a picture book with comments from Satoru. The inventory, the bugs cage and the fish tank: everything is depicted as if it were indeed part of a Summer Study Set for a youngster. There’s a report card showing how many adventures Satoru has had, stickers earned, and also how you have played on a scale from Taking it Easy to Living it Up.
The map is shown as a model made for school, and you can actually see the train moving or see the sun casting shadows over the board while you are checking it out. Impressive! Natsu-Mon takes you along in the Japanese way of living which I found very interesting. The game is voice-acted and has all the right noises, like the cicades at night, with a sprinkling of music tunes that swell up unexpectedly. Everything adds to the laid-back feeling of the Summer days of your youth.
The game runs well in handheld mode on the Switch, and I love that the camera isn’t fixed, adding to the feeling of total freedom. What I didn’t like as much was that while a conversation takes place, the text keeps on flowing without a way to pause. You really have to pay attention. Plus, some texts feel a bit off, but I’m guessing this is because the original written text in the game is Japanese. It never took away from my fun in playing, though.
Conclusion for Natsu-Mon
Not knowing what to expect and then finding a gem is the best feeling for me. Natsu-Mon: 20th Century Summer Kid is the perfect game to bring back memories of the lazy summer days of my youth when the vacation seemed to stretch endlessly with little adventures and good friends. Exploration is what makes this game great for me; there is so much to discover. The visuals, voice acting and sounds make this a very immersive adventure. And with the DLC already available, I can extend my adventure even more!
Final Verdict: I Like it a Lot
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