''Summer Session'' is a

dating simulation Dating sims, or , are video game subgenre of simulation games with romantic elements. Dating sims are often dialog-heavy and focus on time management. The player must befriend and carefully build and maintain a relationship with one or more ...

video game for the

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

Mac OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. Within the market of ...

and

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

platforms. The game was developed and published by

Hanako Games Hanako Games is an independent video game development company founded by Georgina Bensley that develops PC games mostly involving female protagonists centered on fantasy- and anime-inspired style. Games on the site include '' Fatal Hearts'', '' ...

and Italian studio

Tycoon Games Business simulation games, also known as economic simulation games

. It uses

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

-style graphics and is written in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

. It was released on July 2, 2008.

Gameplay

Players must balance their schedules in order to raise their character's statistics and pass school examinations. During play they encounter

non-player character A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster o ...

s and befriend them, aiming to find romance. Restarting the game after completion enables players to unlock additional endings.

Reception

Reviewers at Game Tunnel gave the game an average review score of 7.25/10, with the lowest review deriding it as "pervy" while the highest called the graphics "spectacular" and the writing "excellent", saying it "appealed to my inner otaku fanboy".

Emily Short Emily Short is an interactive fiction (IF) writer. She is perhaps best known for her debut game ''Galatea'' and her use of psychologically complex non-player characters (NPCs). Short has been called "a visionary in the world of text-based game ...

GameSetWatch ''Game Developer'', known as ''Gamasutra'' until 2021, is a website founded in 1997 that focuses on aspects of video game development. It is owned and operated by Informa and acts as the online sister publication to the print magazine '' Game ...

said that the game "hit the narrative sweet spot".

Greg Costikyan Greg Costikyan (born July 22, 1959, in New York City), sometimes known under the pseudonym "Designer X", is an American game designer and science fiction writer. Costikyan's career spans nearly all extant genres of gaming, including: hex-based wa ...

of PlayThisThing called the game "nicely polished for what it is" and said that it had replay value.

References

External links

Summer Session
at

Tycoon Games Business simulation games, also known as economic simulation games

* {{Hanako Games 2008 video games Dating sims Linux games MacOS games Windows games Visual novels Ren'Py games Video games developed in Italy