Spring in Summer Preview: A Slice of Cozy Adventure

For me, detective games can be hit-or-miss. Sometimes they’re great, but other times they miss the mark. Fortunately, in the case of Spring in Summer, it falls into the former. Spring in Summer not only incorporates detective mystery elements, but it also serves as a fun, cozy adventure sandbox game. On top of all that, Spring in Summer has a unique approach to dialogue that I personally haven’t encountered in a game before, making it feel more personified. Although the demo of Spring in Summer isn’t a long one, it does at least give you enough to decide whether this game is worth keeping an eye on the horizon when it is fully released. I enjoyed Spring in Summer so much that I decided to share my thoughts in this preview.

The demo of Spring in Summer is currently available from Steam. No release date has yet been announced. At the moment, there is no trailer available on YouTube, but it can be viewed on the Steam page.

Story – Who Ate My Cake?!

I should note that Spring in Summer is very early in development at this stage, so this game is not final. A lot can change between the demo I played and the game��s final release. However, although I was only able to play a small portion of the game, we do at least get plenty of information about Spring in Summer‘s premise.

Spring in Summer is described as a 2.5D feel-good adventure, set on a hidden-city island called Myth’s Vale, a place where mythical creatures gather in modern times where humanity no longer needs folklore and myth. An important character in the story of Spring in Summer is Aithlin, a jackalope spirit who had an untimely death but doesn’t know why they weren’t able to transcend, and they tag onto you to find out. Your character is disguised to blend in with the other mythical characters of Myth’s Vale to get to the bottom of Aithlin’s mystery and get to know the locals in an adventure of joy, sadness, and fulfillment.

This set up sounds pretty good, so I can’t wait to see what the full game of Spring in Summer will be like. In the demo, you get to meet 3 characters; Aithlin, Selphie, and Folwin. Aithlin serves as a useful spirit guide, just as their character is described. If you ever feel stuck in the game, you can ask them for a tip.

Spring in Summer might still be at the demo stage, but there is a story.

Folwin and Selphie provide most of the drama. While Selphie is trying to fix a broken laptop, a cake that Folwin baked has been mysteriously eaten. Selphie tries to frame you, so it’s up to you to prove your innocence and find the real culprit, giving you a taster of the detective elements of this game. The demo of Spring in Summer may not be that long, but you get a good taster for this game and what it can offer. It’s fun, entertaining, but also cozy. Folwin and Selphie were good fun as characters to watch and interact with. I can’t wait to see more of them, and see what other characters there are to meet.

Even though this is only a demo I played, it did include a character creator at the very start. You can name your character and assign gender pronouns, and also alter things like skin color, hair and eyebrow colors, hairstyle, and the color of your top, bottoms, and shoes. I wasn’t expecting this for a demo, but I’m glad it was included. You can’t change the style of clothing, and there are only 3 hairstyles to switch between, but more will probably be added later on.

Gameplay – Sandbox Detective

When preparing to play the demo of Spring in Summer, a part of me worried there would be a lot of gameplay jampacked in a short space of time. Luckily, I didn’t encounter this problem. While Spring in Summer is a narrative game with a choose-your-own-adventure theme, it does have gameplay that is not only good fun, but also easy to learn and not overwhelming, at least at this stage.

Detective Work

I might have mentioned already that Spring in Summer has detective gameplay, where you have to solve mysteries. The preview demonstrates this with a simple mystery for you to solve: who ate Folwin’s cake? 

Working on a case such as this is very easy, which is a big relief as some detective games are near impossibly hard, resulting in them feeling less like a fun game and more of a chore. In Spring in Summer, a case has you determine who the culprit is of whatever mystery you’re trying to solve. In the demo, for example, you have to find out who ate Folwin’s cake. You know it wasn’t you, despite Selphie’s insistence, so you have to prove it. You do this by gathering evidence against the culprit. This is done simply by exploring the world, looking for anything that might stick out. For example, I found places with pink frosting. All I had to do was interact with it and it was automatically added as evidence. 

This was probably one of the easiest detective games I’ve played.

While playing Spring in Summer, the easy detective work was a welcome part of the game. It wasn’t overly complicated or stressful. You don’t have to do too much figuring out yourself. You do enough that you feel you’re investigating, but there aren’t a dozen clues that are hard to keep track of, or tricky interrogations to navigate. You never feel lost or stuck, feeling that you won’t be able to do it. It’s easy and relaxing, just like a cozy game should be.

Once you’ve got enough evidence, you can then begin a trial, which involves you (a suspect), Selphie (another suspect), and Folwin, the victim. You and Selphie each provide your own evidence of who you think ate the cake. It’s surprisingly gripping gameplay!

With the demo of Spring in Summer, you’re given enough to enjoy what you get, and wanting more at the end, which is always a good sign.

Multiple Choice Dialogue With a Personal Touch

I’ve played a lot of games that have multiple choice dialogue, allowing you to respond the way you what to in a conversation, rather than just watching a cutscene. I like it when games do this, but Spring in Summer goes a little deeper into this mechanic. Not only can you choose the dialogue, but you can pick how you respond. Do you take the logical approach? Do you want to be more emotional? It is entirely up to you, and I love it. It really goes that little bit further in making the story of Spring in Summer your own.

It was fun seeing how my dialogue choices affected the demo of Spring in Summer. I’d love to see how it impacts the whole game when it is eventually released.

The dialogue options goes a little deeper than usual in Spring in Summer.

In Control

I thought it would be a good idea for this preview to look a little into the controls of Spring in Summer. I played this on my PC with a mouse and keyboard, naturally. When you first fire the demo up, you’re shown what the controls are. It’s made pretty easy for your convenience: WASD moves your character as well as scrolling through options. The arrow keys work as well. To interact in the game, you use the buttons IJKL. ESC is also used if you want to access the menu. 

I don’t know if the controls will be different by the time Spring in Summer releases in full. For this demo, they were easy enough to get the hang of. The placement of the controls on the keyboard make it easy to remember and access, so the different commands aren’t on opposite sides of the keyboard or in awkward positions. My only minor critique is that at times, I wish I could have used the mouse instead of the IJKL commands, with WASD or arrow keys kept to move my character. The mouse could be used in menus, as well as interacting with the environment. 

I was a bit worried that the IJKL commands might be confusing to learn, but the game helped me out there. The buttons are shown on screen which ones you need to press, so you’re constantly reminded and not having to try to remember all the time, making for an easier time so that you can focus on playing the game more.

The controls are straightforward enough in Spring in Summer.

Graphics & Audio – Cute Visually, Funky Audibly

Spring in Summer has appropriately gone for a cutesy 2.5D look, which matches the game’s style very well. It’s easy on the eyes and nothing is horrible to look at. Weirdly, the splattered cake in the demo had a somewhat pixellated look, but I think that just adds to the charm of the game. The characters have a fun stylized look. They look especially funny when they are shocked or angry. The layout of the UI is pretty clean and makes for easier gameplay as well.

The music that plays throughout Spring in Summer goes well with the game, and isn’t repetitive or annoying in any way. The sound effects are harmless as well – for the most part. My only criticism is the sound effect that plays whenever the characters speak. Each character, including the player avatar, has a distinctive speaking sound effect. Some sound fine, but others are quite annoying, namely Folwin. However, this might get adjusted before the game is released, so nothing is final in the demo.