As an avid gamer and father, I always keep an eye out for games that would be appealing for more than just myself. After all, it’s easier to get away with playing and buying a bunch of video games if it is “for the family”. When I first saw the trailer for Summer in Mara I was struck with two thoughts. The first was “This is adorable!” and the second was “My daughter will love this!” After all, during the quarantine, we as a family had discovered the joys of island living via Animal Crossing: New Horizons and this seemed to fit right into that niche perfectly while also offering up that sense of adventure I tend to seek out in the games I play and was missing in Animal Crossing. Let’s set course, catch the wind, and set off on an adventure with Summer in Mara! Let’s not forget to come back and tend the garden though.
Summer in Mara opens up with the protagonist, Koa, learning how to take care of the island as well as the legends and history of Mara from her adoptive grandmother, Yaya Haku. This involves replanting trees that have been cut down, keeping a garden, and caring for animals. Then, a glorious 2D animated sequence plays out giving a small glimpse into what’s to come, featuring various characters throughout the world you will be exploring. Flash forward a few years and Yaya Haku is gone and the island is in a state of disrepair. Koa sets herself to rebuilding and discovers a visitor who needs to get back to their island. Fix the boat and set forth to discover what and who awaits!
Adorable from the get-go, you are introduced to a young Koa and her grandmother.
Summer in Mara is very much a farming simulator. Using resources to grow food, build improvements, and craft tools playing more and more steadily unlocks the potential for the island Koa lives on. It is also an adventure game featuring a full story and a wide array of characters to interact with. Progression in the story is closely tied to the farming aspect with a majority of the quests you receive being reliant upon growing certain foods and delivering them to the quest giver. This can sometimes cause some issues with feeling like making solid progression. Often I would be simply waiting in-game days for food to grow, and idling by planting random trees and other odd jobs around the island. Sometimes it worked out well to go back and forth between locations and return and pick up the next round of produce to deliver and plant the new crop and have it grow while I headed out. More often though it was a case of simply waiting for crops to grow so I could harvest them and then head out, without any knowledge of what to plant next. While this was somewhat frustrating, the exploration is fun and exciting. Plus, meeting the various denizens of Mara is rewarding; it’s a family-friendly and charming experience. Running around the island, planting, harvesting, interacting, jumping, sailing, all of it is intuitive and reliable. Some things could be better explained in terms of the actual mechanics though, like wells having limited uses until it rains for example. Summer in Mara’s controls are solid and understandable and extremely friendly to all ages as my 6-year-old daughter loved playing and had no trouble understanding how to do things.
On the visual side, Summer in Mara is adorable. Bright vibrant colors, cute character designs, and some absolutely stunning and beautifully done hand-drawn 2D animated sequences make this game charming. Unfortunately, some aspects of the visuals lack some polish. The most noticeable example is that the many animations in the gameplay are slightly stiff or robotic, including the running animation where it seems like Koa’s head doesn’t really bob the way it should. These aren’t game-breaking in any way and considering it is an indie game as a result of a Kickstarter this is an impressively large game. When resources are limited, eventually you have to make some compromises and extra animation polish is less important than reliable and consistent gameplay. Make sure to watch the aforementioned 2D animation below!
One of the surprising aspects of Summer in Mara was that I did not expect to enjoy the soundtrack as much as I do. There are some legitimately fun tracks that invoke light-hearted, cheery, and relaxing vibes. In some ways, this actually hurts Summer in Mara, since I found myself often actively listening to the music in the game, it was abundantly apparent when the music was absent. There were plenty of times where the music would end and I would be dramatically dropped into deadened silence with only some small ambient noises like wind or waves or bird calls to accompany me. This may be something that can be fixed with a patch and overall is minor in the grand scheme of things, but it did damper my overall experience because I would legitimately miss the soundtrack when it was gone. Characters are voiced with the classic method of some grunts and other noises to represent the character talking as text on-screen displayed what they were saying.
There’s plenty of characters to meet and do tasks for throughout all of Mara
Summer in Mara is an adorable game that appeals to all ages and is also playable for all ages. It features some great design choices, a happy soundtrack, hand-drawn 2D animated cutscenes, and a rewarding sense of exploration and adventure. Unfortunately, each of these aspects is in need of some polish to help keep things from being the best it can be. Some more natural animations, better ambient sounds/soundtrack that played more consistently, and times just hanging around waiting hurt the overall experience. Overall though, I enjoyed my time with this adventure farming simulator and it comes at a perfect time when people are on the lookout for more games of that type with peak Animal Crossing popularity happening right now. If you need something with more depth closer to something like Stardew Valley you may be disappointed with Summer in Mara. For someone looking for a casual farming simulator that has a fun story for themselves or even the kids, this is a great buy.
More information about Summer in Mara can be found on the official website. A digital copy was provided for the purpose of review. For more reviews, check out my thoughts on the remake of Trials of Mana or my take on Exit the Gungeon, the sequel to an excellent indie roguelike.
