'Summer Nightmare' Review

Over the last couple of months, I've started gaming a bit more frequently than I used to. Where I used to game perhaps once every few weeks, there have been times over the last few months where I would play for a few hours two or three times a week. In the midst of all these games that I played was a visual novel called Doki Doki Literature Club.

I'd never really played a visual novel before then so it was something of an oddity for me. I'd heard a lot about the game so thought I'd give it a try and, well, to cut a long story short; I was hooked. I finished Doki Doki Literature Club over the course of a single 6.5 hour gaming session.

Following that 6.5 hour assault on my psyche, I went looking for other visual novels and found more than a few fun ones. Unfortunately, I also found a few that were just disappointing.

Can you guess which category Summer Nightmare falls into?

What's the story?

The story follows Riel, a young man who is suspected of massacring his whole class, as he tries to clear his name while playing a deadly game of hide and seek with a Medusa.

Sounds pretty good, right? Well, no, not really.

Don't get the wrong idea, the concept of the game is pretty good. The idea of a supernatural murder mystery where the kids have to survive against a far more powerful foe is a good one. The problem is that this concept has been done to death (no pun intended) with the Final Destination films, Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th and Halloween film series.

A group of kids has to run for their lives from a killer who, no matter what you do to him, just won't die! This is the basic, bare bones plot of the entire visual novel and in theory it's perfectly fine; in execution... not so much.

What did I like about 'Summer Nightmare'?

There were a few things that I really liked but they were largely overshadowed by the things that I didn't like; but we'll get to those in a bit.

The character designs and backgrounds are beautiful to look at. Summer Nightmare has a very unique look—specifically in character design—which I have only ever seen in one other visual novel. It's not the traditional anime look but it's also not a real person or a cartoon (in the American sense i.e. Johnny Bravo, Dexter's Laboratory, etc.)

The soundtrack is... okay. I'm not gonna lie to you guys; the soundtrack isn't bad but it is incredibly repetitive (not really surprising).

Like I said before, I liked the concept behind the game; it's a simple formula to be sure but it works. Even if the execution failed miserably, the idea is pretty solid and it felt like the developers were just having fun putting a game together—for better and worse.

What didn't I like about 'Summer Nightmare'?

Oh brother, where do I start?

The characters were terrible! Even if the designs were nice, the characters themselves were downright terrible. None of them had any personality, they have no motivations for any of the actions they do—except for Riel who wants to save Lina. The character designs, as nice as they are, are incredibly limited to 2 or 3 students that you interact with outside of the main five students (Riel, Lina, Oscar, Jane and Trey).

The soundtrack, as nice as it is, gets really irritating really quickly. Seriously, go to YouTube and look up some of the play-throughs of the game and tell me that the soundtrack doesn't get on your nerves after about 20 or 30 minutes. That's just how repetitive it is.

In terms of the dialogue... it's incredibly flat at best and stilted at worst. Also did anyone, anyone at all, proofread the dialogue in this game at any point? There are grammar mistakes by the truckload here and they're all things you learn to avoid in primary school (like 1st grade type stuff).

As for the story, it's got all kinds of problems. Characters say or do things without any real reason. There are plot holes and inconsistencies that completely derail the game. Here's an example: at one point in the game Riel finds himself in his classroom with all of his classmates (yes, the kids he supposedly killed). How are they alive? Didn't Riel kill them?

In terms of the mystery element, it's weak and not even really worth talking about.

I've actually got a few other peeves with the story as well.

Problem 1. The Medusa

How the blazes are these school kids supposed to know what a Medusa is? What, is it just common knowledge that a company is performing crazy, inhumane experiments on people at will? If so, why hasn't anyone done anything to stop them? Literally none of these kids have ever seen/heard of this Medusa thing before the teacher said anything to them; and yet they instantly know what it is and are absolutely terrified.

And speaking of the teacher, what was he doing while the students were busy dying? He basically said:

"There's a monster in the school, don't look at it and you'll be fine; I'll be in the office if you need me; Good luck!"

What kind of teacher does that? That's not the biggest issue that I have with this part of the story though.

The biggest issue with the Medusa is the fact that we never actually find out what it is. We find out that it was created with a company experiment/project but we never see what it is or find out anything about it—apart from the fact that looking at it makes your heart explode... yes, really.

I get that not knowing what it is can make it scary; but you could at least explain what the heck is going on with the Medusa. I mean its the game's antagonist for goodness' sake!

Giving details isn't going to ruin the mystery, if anything it's going heighten it. How many experiments were done? What was the point of the Medusa Project? How did the project go unnoticed/unchallenged for so long? What was done to create the Medusa?

These are just a few things that could've heightened the mystery and strengthened that part of the story.

Problem 2. Loud Noises and gore aren't enough!

Summer Nightmare has no real tension in it; the soundtrack will cut out or get louder and something will happen that's meant to make you jump... only it doesn't work. The loud noise/jump scare ends with a gory image of mutilated children—much like the pictured screenshot. Don't get me wrong, gory imagery can work if it's used effectively with a good, solid buildup and equally strong or stronger payoff.

The kills in the first Nightmare on Elm Street film are the perfect example of this. Freddy Krueger stalks and kills his victims in their sleep. Most of the kills are incredibly gory (from what I remember at least); but they all follow a lengthy chase where Krueger taunts and toys with his victims building tension until he makes the kill—that is, of course, until Nancy beats him senseless!

That buildup to the kill is what makes the gore effective because it creates a sense of fear that the viewer or, in this case, the player could be next. This is what Summer Nightmare lacks, a sense of fear.

You don't really fear for the characters' safety at any point in the game as you never get to know them. I'll bet you're thinking:

"Doki Doki Literature Club used gory imagery too."

You're right, there was gory imagery there, the difference is that in that game they earned the use of gore and built up to it. We actually cared about the characters. Note: If you haven't played DDLC this is your spoiler warning...*inhales deeply* RUN! There's a spoiler coming!

We got to know Sayori, Yuri, and Natsuki throughout the course of the game so when they died it actually freaking hurt! When one of them died, it was like: "No! That's not fair!"

In Summer Nightmare, it's just like: "Oh well, whatever."

A Lot of Lost Potential

The sad thing is that Summer Nightmare genuinely had a lot of potential. It's not a perfect game, from the dreadful grammar to the insane over-reliance on gore instead of actual scares, there are a lot of huge problems; but it had so much potential.

Part of the problem, at least in my opinion, is a short game with only about an hour or so of gameplay. The shorter game means that we don't really get the time to bond with the characters (as odd as that sounds) and there isn't really time to establish the world in which the game takes place. Had the developers taken the time to establish their world and perhaps made the game a bit longer, I think this game would've been so much better.

As much as I've shredded this game, however, I do have to admit that it's not... terrible. It's fine if you're bored and just want something to kill time with but I think that there are so many better visual novels out there that are far better. Additionally, if you're looking to get into visual novels, then Summer Nightmare is an okay introduction to the genre.