Still got some angst from your emo days in the early 2000’s? Maybe been living in those skinny jeans and studded belts since? Have we got a game for you!

summer haze/glory days is perfect for that kind of nostalgia. Bonus: you get to live the fabulous (read: cramped and uncomfortable) life of a touring lead singer and guitarist for an exciting new band! Get your dose of nostalgia and live out the fantasy of finally being an emo star!

Full disclosure: I was given a Steam key for this title during the Non-binary Coded Games event this past summer. Thank you to Yam Harvest Games for the chance to review this game!

As always, I’ve broken things down into two key sections: gameplay and the story itself. I’ve tried my best to avoid most of the major story spoilers, but if you’d like to dodge learning anything about the story I would advise skipping that section in specific. Otherwise, I hope this review is helpful if you’re considering picking this game up!

And let me tell you, if you’ve got the nostalgia for the above, you’ll definitely want to check this game out!

Gameplay

There were things I liked. There were things I didn’t like as much.

First, as always, let’s start with the options and accessibility. There’s a lot of customization this game offers the player themself, which is a refreshing change from other VNs I’ve played in the past.

Upon first loading a new game, you get the option to create a character that will represent you. The options are a bit limited — it’s best to think of it as akin to one of those old internet doll makers — but you do get to choose everything about them, including pronouns and one of four different voices. I genuinely really enjoyed this touch! Create Your Own Scene Kid the doll maker is a hit for me, but I’m probably biased because I spent hours on those old dollmaker websites back in the day.

In addition to that, you get to choose how characters in the game will refer to your character. Not just pronouns. Name, nickname, and if they’ll call you things like ‘bro’, ‘dude’, or ‘guys’. Having lived on the West Coast for awhile, those things don’t get me feeling dysphoric, but I am happy to see them as opt-out for those who would feel dysphoric being referred to in that way.

There are also a lot of slider based options for various things. And of course, I’m happy to see my friend OpenDyslexic here in the font options. Always a pleasure to see VN authors increasing accessibility for those who need it…or just prefer it.

The gameplay loop is, however, where I feel things kind of take a turn for me.

Initially, you go through the entirety of the tour without really understanding the relationship mechanics or getting to experience anything outside of the main storyline. It’s straight through from the start of the tour to the end of the tour. Some choices are dangled in front of you as conversation options, but you wont get the chance to choose them because they’re locked behind a NG+ run.

Once you get through the tour you’re given what I consider to be a false ending. By that I mean the actual game, the real story, is locked behind a NG+ run. Even the achievement you get at the end of the this initial run tells you this was just the prologue.

This is where the game loses me.

It isn’t that I mind a NG+ run of a game. It’s that calling this a NG+ seems disingenuous of the game somehow. This isn’t a new game, so much as it is the actual intended gameplay loop: you go on tour, you connect with different characters or not, and then at the end your character reminiscences on the past and the loop starts over again. It isn’t that I mind the loop itself, it’s that I mind that we’re told we’ve only completed the prologue and that the second loop is the actual game. Loops three and beyond should be considered the real NG+, in my opinion.

With that in mind, I also have some frustration that certain interactions were kept out of the prologue — if we’re going to say that loop two is a NG+ and not just the main game. This NG+ mode unlocks additional conversation options, new character relationships, extra scenes, and one-on-one romanceable character interactions. Some of these I can understand locking behind a second loop, but others I was left wondering why they were excluded from the initial run.

For example, in the NG+ run there would be side stories of just…hanging out with the other bands or crew on tour with you. Yes, these do have an impact on your character’s personality and relationships, but I genuinely didn’t see why they were behind the NG+. They were few and far between to begin with, so I don’t think their impact on an initial run would be that great. Besides, it would be a good time to introduce the personality mechanic of the game.

That brings me to the last part of the gameplay: personality and relationship building.

Initially, this information is kept from the player on the “prologue” run. You can’t even turn on the “hint system” until your NG+ run. Which I completely forgot to do until most of the way through the second loop.

Once again I don’t see the purpose in keeping this hidden. Or even really what it’s trying to communicate. These two systems do have an impact on the ending, but with no clear way to track progress towards either a personality goal or a romance goal, I’m not really sure what to make of them.

What does it mean to be aloof in general? Or more affable with the group? What if I end up in a mixed state without even knowing it? What if I’m a determined aloof character, what does that do for my ending?

Maybe it’s because I only played through the one NG+ that I don’t quite understand this mechanic. That said, for me, I wasn’t really interested in playing through a third run. I’ll get into why in just a moment, but first…

Story

Summer haze. Glory days.

Who among us hasn’t spent time reminiscing about the past? About the what could have beens? Or even the was and where are they nows?

That’s very much the major theme of summer haze/glory days.

You are the lead singer and front guitarist of the band No Prospects, an incredibly emo mid-2000’s sounding band name if there ever was one. You and three of your friends/bandmates have been added to the Friends and Foes tour for 2007. Its not your first big tour, but it is their first tour and though you all have to drive across the country in a cramped van, everyone is determined to make it the best tour together.

For you, this is a career make or break moment. The band’s first studio album has just been released and it’s already receiving praise from fans — praise that reminds you what you left behind in order to pursue a degree in English. Previously, before going off to college, you were a part of another band that is now massively successful without you and the reminder of those days is a specter hanging over the tour the entire time.

In addition to that, you begin making in-roads with another very successful band on tour with you, all because its lead bassist is a fan of yours. Not of No Prospects, of you, specifically. There’s something about him that intrigues you and through the course of the story you’re thrown together again and again. Whether you want to be or not.

You play through different story points at different stops on the tour. They’re little vignettes that get into some of the varied aspects of life on tour. In them, you make different decisions that have an impact on your personality and relationships with others…though in the “prologue” playthrough you don’t yet know how all of those choices will add up. More of these story points unlock after the initial playthrough and they have a further impact on your personality or relationships, as noted above in the Gameplay section.

There’s quite a bit of angst and career concern that floats around in this game. It’s understandable, given the major themes of the story, and you do get to influence its effect on your character somewhat with the choices you ultimately make. That said, those choices don’t change anything in the playthrough itself, it only really seems to impact the ending.

I was thrown by my initial “prologue” ending. I’d largely guided Byrd towards understanding that it’s better to make art that resonates with you, no matter what the fans thought…and I felt a little punished for this decision. Apparently, if you stay true to your art, you can’t ever take gig work to help cover the bills and so you end up stuck in the same old place you’ve been since 2007 — your best friend Di’s parent’s basement. I also ended my first run with Di as my best friend, which is cool, but I don’t even really remember trying to maintain my relationship with her.

Speaking of friends and potential romance options, there are 4 main options with the game clearly trying to push you in one direction. I say the game is pushing, but only because in the prologue run it seems pretty intent on putting you and Emerson together as part of the main plot. I didn’t successfully manage to romance anyone on either run I went through, and I still have a lot of achievements locked, but I’m unsure if I’ll get back to it or not.

To be honest, this was not a plot for me. The gameplay was also not really for me. Which is fine! I was lured by the siren call of early-2000’s nostalgia and experienced a game that just wasn’t quite it for me.

I think what didn’t help the situation was how many moments are locked behind their NG+ system. The linear first playthrough got dull after about the first four stops and I was longing for more chances to interact with the other characters I was on tour with. To me, it really showed how shallow the story was and how much I was supposed to be reading into my characters internal feelings which didn’t always reflect my own. A problem for a game where you are the protagonist.

That isn’t to say I didn’t have enjoyable moments. It’s more that it’s central themes aren’t something I feel rooted to. I wasn’t an emo kid, shortly after the housing crash is when I was in college and studying abroad, and so my nostalgia isn’t as rooted in the same moments.

I also don’t live with the same kind questions that the main character does. While I could relate to the main character’s concerns about career success, I couldn’t really relate to this idea of it being motivated by jealousy. You end up comparing yourself to your former band and spend time oscillating between hating them or being jealous of them…which then later is projected onto the other band that you’re touring with. Even after you learn the dark secret of how the sauce gets made with the other band, there’s still this need for comparison that the main character habitually engages in.

It really didn’t resonate for me. A lot of things the main character agonizes over, presumably from the pressure of being the front person, didn’t really resonate for me.

Again, that’s fine! I think there’s an audience for this game and people will definitely enjoy the character interactions. That’s where things shine for me…but only after you get through the “prologue” playthrough. The character focused interludes were a welcome break from the monotony of going from tour location to tour location. I really wish they had included a few more of these moments in the “prologue” playthrough.

I think, if you can make it through that initial playthrough — which took me about four hours to do — then you’ll enjoy the rest of the game. My second playthrough was a bit better. It still wasn’t enough to make me want to play it for a third time, but it was a much better gaming experience than that very first playthrough was.

Overall, a solid entry into the visual novel world. If you like early-2000’s nostalgia, emo music, and artistic angst then I think you’ll enjoy this game. If you like romance games, I also think this is a good game for you, providing you can make it through the initial playthrough.

If you do check it out, I’d love to know your thoughts! What ending did you get? Who did you romance or reconnect with?

Until next time, stay safe and sane!