boku no natsuyasumi

[memento]

lately i've been playing the english fan translation of boku no natsuyasumi 2 and i've found it to be really therapeutic. if you've never heard of it, it's a ps2 game where you play as a little boy who's on summer vacation at his aunt in uncle's house in rural japan in the 70s. instead of giving you an objective, the game kind of sets you loose to explore on your own and talk to people and discover things. i play for an hour or two every day and it helps me slow down my mind and appreciate the smaller things irl. summer is my least favorite season (i can't go outside when it's hot ALL THE TIME!!  ) and it's been helping me be more willing to put up with the heat and humidity and explore. and i really enjoy the characters too, i think yasuko is my favorite.

have you played this game and what did you think of it or what did you get out of it? have you played anything else similar that you would recommend? i've also played and recommend attack of the friday monsters, a similar game by the same creator!

[VagueDoctor]

Boku No Natsuyasumi 2 was the game I anticipated a translation for the most, all thanks to Hilltop, I can experience it in a manner that doesn't require a guide every 2-seconds.

What I got out of it was something that I was convinced had vanished from my soul 

Adventure in its truest form! It taught me that adventure doesn't come in the form of experiencing new sights every day, but reinventing how you see and interact with the environment. It forces you to find stuff to do in order to be entertained, which is an aspect of childhood that is overlooked and often forsaken as we grow older because of increasing amounts of responsibilities. 

Do I know how to properly interact with the swimming mechanics? No, not particularly. Although, I don't really care if I 'progress' or not, because it's my summer to make the most of (it's November atm...)

Speaking of seasons, it makes me wish we had a game that is like Boku No Natsuyasumi, but for winter. I know it's not very exciting given that children don't get huge holidays (and some don't at all), but winter would be the perfect twist or spin-off of this series.

"Natsumon: 20th Century Kid" is the modern equivalent of these games. It's available on Steam, and I highly recommend it. It invokes the same sensations that Boku No Natsuyasumi sets out to do, but in its own way; I particularly enjoyed finding the secret items that are present in this entry, because of their gift-giving capabilities. You get to experience a massive map in new ways after you've already convinced yourself it's as far as you'll go.

Discovery arrives in the form of reinvention and a game like Boku No Natsuyasumi helps you discover fun in the truest sense: what you make of it.