I have this loosely defined made-up genre I call “Summer Games”.

It started a long time ago subconsciously. At some point I realized that during the hottest time of the year I gravitate to certain games that I mostly play on a small device (laptop/switch/steamdeck), laying in bed, late at night, when I have trouble sleeping because it’s too hot. A friend of mine once said that the reason she loves super high temperatures so much, is that what you experience leaves more vivid, burned in, memories. I think she has a point.

The criteria aren’t super rigid but I hope you get the “vibe” and might know some games that fit:

  • Low-stakes/chill gameplay. I’m already sweating, I don’t need sweaty gameplay right now

  • a warm aesthetic/color palette and/or setting. My outside experience shouldn’t feel too different to the games inside experience aesthetic-wise.

  • It feels like a road trip, adventure or vacation. I want to get a summery memory out of this.

  • the game leaves some kind of impact.

Games I played in the past that evoked that vibe perfectly:

  • Kentucky road zero
  • oxenfree
  • road 96
  • firewatch
  • sable
  • rime
  • steins: gate
  • life is strange

Games that have fit okay-ish

  • tunic
  • journey
  • citizen sleeper
  • nightcall
  • no umbrellas allowed
  • the talos principle
  • the solus project
  • the witness
  • the vanishing of Ethan Carter

If anyone has a recommendation, I’d be thankful. This year I have started to play chants of Sennaar and it seems to fit the criteria so far.

  • Paradigm_shiftOP
    3·
    7 days ago

    Just saw your message. I ended up replaying the old spyro games in the remastered version and loved the nostalgia trip.

    Tried to get into Outer Wilds again, stopped almost instantly because I just can’t figure out the movement.

    Then I saw that Oxenfree 2 had released at some point, played that but wouldn’t recommend ( if you played the first game you already know the big “mystery” and the new smaller mystery isn’t that interesting)

    I played chants of sennaar, loved it, fit the vibe perfectly. Would absolutely recommend!

    I played planet of lana, it was somewhere between okay and good. Visually perfect gameplay a bit boring. Even for a short game it felt too long at the end.

    Then I made the mistake of opening rimworld again and this became my (gaming) life again.

    I don’t know if I played it before my post or after but Talos Principle 2 was perfect just like the first one.