Summer in Mara Reviews
Koa and the charming world of Mara is enough to keep an eye on this one, but it’s too big with not enough depth and that makes Summer in Mara far from essential.
It may feel a little lacking on the farming sim side of things but it more than makes up for that with the story, characters and the sense of place and adventure. Summer in Mara tried to be a different kind of farming inspired video game and I believe the developers managed to achieve what they were going for.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Perhaps the beautiful art and music will be enough for Summer in Mara to be a great game for you. The gameplay may become a tad bit monotonous, but it is satisfying to travel the tropical ocean from island to island on an adventure.
Summer in Mara is a fun blend of farming and adventure while also housing a surprisingly lovable cast of characters. The game suffers from being too large in scale, but that didn't stop me from having an enjoyable time with the game.
Summer in Mara is a simulation adventure of the kind that the Switch still needs more entries of in its library. When you debate whether or not Summer in Mara is for you, you have to keep this in mind: you don’t play the game to go from A to B. You don’t play it to just to do all the quests and live the adventure. No, you do the quests to make the Home Island of Koa more beautiful, more bountiful and a real home. And meanwhile, you discover new islands, learns the story of new people and live through new adventures. We have all been a little spoiled in simulation gaming by Animal Crossing: New Horizons but you must remember this game is made by a small studio. It is clearly a project of love, so well made into the little details. Yes, there are some bugs to repair and there are some parts I’d like to see added, like a fully functioning inside of Koa’s home. But that doesn’t detract from the fact that I love playing it:
Summer in Mara may have its flaws but it can be overlooked by how beautiful the game looks and how peaceful the game’s soundtrack is. Each character is unique and well crafted, you can tell each one was created with the utmost care. It’s also a bonus that each character has their own personality. You’ll fall in love with characters and enjoy the interactions between them and Koa.
I wanted Summer in Mara to become a highlight. However, in the final game, soundtrack and the relaxed graphics are mostly the only things to convince. However, they cannot make you look away from the flaws in the gameplay and the lot of bugs. I hope that there'll be a patch soon that fixes at least the most severe.
Review in German | Read full review
Summer in Mara is a title whose art captivates visually and musically. With interesting characters and teachings to convey, Chibig offers us a game that will keep us hooked for a long time. Its repeatability when carrying out orders and a not especially inspired interface are the main flaws of a game that, if you have enjoyed Animal Crossing or My time at Portia, you should not miss.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
For the rest of us who have been playing crafting and survival games for 10+ years, there is nothing in this game for us. For almost everything this game does well, there are other more complex games that do it just as well or better. I can tell lots of love was put into Summer in Mara, but there are some tweaks that need to be made to support the audience they seem to be going for.
Summer in Mara manages to instill joy. It connects you with likable characters and weaves a narrative into its gameplay loop in ways that many other similar titles do not. Ultimately, though, the simplicity of its mechanics too often turns the game into a chore.
Summer in Mara is a beautiful game for the eyes and the ears, but spends too much time on fetch quests and not enough on story.
When you compare this to titles like Minecraft of Stardew Valley, Summer In Mara fails to match up to its predecessors that stand tall in this harvested field. Sure, it looks pretty and for some of the younger kids this may even be a good stepping stone to get into this genre, but the gameplay loop and repetitive quest design wears thin long before the end of the main narrative.
I really wanted to like Summer in Mara for what it attempts to do, but having played it enough to find out how it goes about trying to deliver a relaxing time, it ended up doing the exact opposite.
"My sweet summer child."
Review in Finnish | Read full review
Summer in Mara is a nice chillout game you can take totally at your own pace, even if the lack of challenge and excitement will surely frustrate many players. It’s very much an ideal game for children or those who want to take a break from the stresses, fears, and pressures of modern life, which right now is very much understandable! Though I certainly didn’t feel thrilled or captivated playing it, I do anticipate returning periodically returning to the sweet, summery world of Mara from time to time when the cold cruel world is grinding me down under its relentless wheel!
While it’s meant to be a relaxing adventure, Summer in Mara is more often tedious than not.
Summer in Mara has real potential to become a strong indie game with an addictive element. However, it still lacks too many nooks and crannies to be really fun all the time. At the moment Summer in Mara is something for those players who are looking for a very simple adventure game, which can be played on the side and doesn't demand too much attention.
Review in German | Read full review
While the game is supposed to be a calming and relaxing experience, it ends up just being frustrating due to all the repetition. There is some enjoyment to be had if you are a fan of farming games and will be playing this very casually, but otherwise there are better titles available.
I wanted to enjoy Summer in Mara, but with gameplay consisting of little more than trading quests, I was led disappointed with such a mediocre performance at best.
Summer in Mara started off with a strong first impression through it's presentation and art but began to sink by trying to squeeze in both farming and adventuring, while not doing either brilliantly.