Summer in Mara just leaves me breathless I absolutely love this game. It’s a game with a simplistic design like many modern games are. But the art style and the direction they took the game is breathtaking.
You play a young girl named Koa who as a child the ship you were riding in explodes. A nearby woman by the name of Yuya hears the cries of a young infant and she brings her boat over and discovers you and with no survivors in sight, so she raises you as her own.
This woman happens to be a guardian of an island, and she teaches you everything you need to know as if you’re her own daughter. The tutorial of the game is also more or less a prologue as to how you came to live on the island and it teaches you how to plant, grow food, and survive more or less because Summer in Mara is a light-hearted survival game.
The story progresses and you’re told that you’re now the guardian of the island you inhabit; guarding an ancient door, you’re also taught that helping others is the most important thing a person can do as it can change the hearts of others and this is the core focus of the Summer in Mara; as every quest, you undertake, and every mission you do reflects helping those in need.
Summer in Mara is one of the most peaceful, and relaxing games I’ve ever played with its light-hearted gameplay, scenery, and music it’s very relaxing and a wonderful way to kill time. The game isn’t about action, or violence it’s about growing food, raising farm animals, and taking care of the people around you.
There is drama involved however as another race from a separate planet comes to visit later in the game and the story still maintains its core focus on helping people. But gives a deeper narrative to the game in overcoming obstacles that Koa faces by being kind to others.
Visually the game is a work of art, with character portraits hand-drawn and the scenery of the game is reminiscent of tropical areas of the world with bright blue oceans, and colorful and vibrant trees. With music that reminds me of Chrono Cross when I was a child minus the flute, there is no flute.
Summer in Mara also has a deep crafting system at play that is part of the core focus of the game when handling quests Koa is taught certain crafting recipes which not only give her the ability to create new things that are beneficial for her. But it also creates the means to solve problems and advance the game’s story further.
All of these things together you are given a game that is unique with the similar art style that Slime Rancher has but with almost no stress. Your crops won’t die out if you’re not there, your animals will be fine alone on the island for however long you’re gone and things will still progress like normal with no loss to you.
Summer in Mara; for me is one of the best games I’ve ever played and enjoyed and it’s something I would recommend to anyone who is a fan of crafting, adventure, and deep stories and doesn’t like to be stressed out as you try to micro-manage everything.
Summer in Mara for me is a perfect game.
An autistic gamer with opinions on games who also enjoys making dumb videos on the internet!
