Summer in Mara Critic Reviews

Summer in Mara is a super-fun and colourful adventure with a ton of content that you can enjoy for many hours. Anyone who's a fan of these kinds of games will feel right at home with Koa and her chums so here's hoping this gem gets the attention that it deserves.

Overall, Summer in Mara has an incredibly strong narrative with character art and light music that only strengthens it. It’s youthful and vibrant, but it also has more somber notes that aren’t always found in farming sims. The only downside is that music and a character driven plot aren't enough to get through all the tedious parts.

Although there were a few faults and issues in the game, none are game breaking, and updates have removed some faults and added quality of life improvements. Anyone who likes mostly calm games involving lots of quests and some farming will enjoy being Koa in Summer in Mara. With multiple backpack designs and clothes to collect through quests, and finding all the crabs with messages from early game supporters, there is plenty to do in Mara before the game ends, and afterwards too. There aren't extra quests post game, but fulfilling all the quests is satisfying in itself, and the varying environments with some items to harvest are memorable enough to return to for fun.

Summer in Mara is a beautiful indie game, based in crafting, harvesting and exploration. But after a couple hours it gets repetitive. It is very enjoyable at a slow pace.

Summer in Mara is a relaxing adventure sim which focuses on quests and characters over farming or true exploration; if you’re looking for a challenging farming or adventure game, you may want to avoid these waters. At its worst, Mara’s quests can be poorly communicated, bottleneck and cause frustration, but at its best, it’s easy to get lost in this bright, breezy world filled with aliens, pirates, and wholesome adventures.

Summer in Mara has some great ideas, and mixes up successfully some genres like farming, crafting and adventure games, but it also has some issues, both from a design and technical perspective. It is however a good game, and we think younger players can have a great time with it.

Summer in Mara gets a lot right in a game that can be enjoyed by narrative adventure players and farming sim players alike. It might be a bit overly ambitious in that regard, not perfecting or catering to one single genre more than the other. However, for those willing to be patient in the early game and look past its lack of directions and slight technical issues, Summer in Mara is a game that will provide plenty of charm and easy-going fun this summer.

Summer in Mara has a heart of gold and does a lot with its big picture concepts. However, its purpose conflicts with the tried and true genre gameplay hooks, and there isn't quite enough here to make up for it. Great experience, but could have used a shorter runtime or more quest variety.

Chibig Studio have managed to create a magnificent story with incredible, charismatic and endearing characters. All this added to an artistic direction and an impeccable soundtrack. However, Summer in Mara fails in the gameplay, which is repetitive and unsatisfactory.

Even with simple agriculture and without offering complex navigation, Summer in Mara is a refreshing title that, if it improves the experience of its hours and a few more worked mechanics, would be an excellent adventure for this summer.

Summer in Mara was a game I wanted to love, but its core designs around crafting and questing left me wanting. It’s a shame, as I think it could’ve been something truly magical with more time to cook and less reliance on fetch quests.

On its own, Mara in Summer is the perfect game if you have plenty of time and are not looking for a challenge. The main protagonist, Koa, is a very charming protagonist and the idea of sailing from Island to Island while meeting new residents and saving your own Island is a pretty neat concept. However, with stagnant characters, quality of life issues, and strange platforming issues, Summer in Mara feels like it's in desperate need for a quick tune up much like Koa’s boat!

Summer in Mara has the workings of a breathtaking and chill farming adventure that feels like it should be perfect for the summer, especially now. Instead thanks to everything from fetch quest repetition to a muddled interface, it’s more of a wistful addition to the Switch library. The pleasant vibe of Koa’s undiscovered world can’t carry the whole game despite the best of intentions. If tweaks and improvements can clean up some of the menus, Summer in Mara could be better, but I worry even that won’t make the repetition more enjoyable.

Summer in Mara may not stand as high as its life sim peers but it's not without its charms, thanks to a lovely visual environment, quality dialogues and an enjoyable plot. Where Summer in Mara does less well, however, is when it comes to the way it works - several technical flaws that end up making the experience less involving and some of the tasks are mostly redundant, for example.

Summer in Mara can be endearing and sometimes evokes the spirit of better games like Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley, and Wind Waker, but poor UI, confusing mechanics, and repetitive quest design harshes the game’s mellow vibe. Perhaps Summer in Mara can be improved with updates, but for now, I’d only book myself on this island cruise at a discount.

It’s a real shame that Summer in Mara subjects you to such monotony, because it’s a beautiful game. Its characters are delightful and its world is a joy to explore. The music, too, is wonderful, if slightly repetitive; some of those tuns will get well and truly stuck in your head. But there’s no looking past the fact that its core gameplay makes Summer in Mara a chore to play. It’s enjoyable in short bursts, at least to begin with, but being little more than everyone’s lackey doesn’t stay fun for long.

Summer in Mara is farming and crafting sim with a lovely message around sustainability. It features some beautiful Ghibli-esque visuals and strong character writing, but ultimately descends into endless, over-lapping fetch quests with a lack of direction that make it more of a chore than the relaxing experience it promises.

With a giant storyline and a huge map, Summer in Mara is a perfect game for a quiet vacation, enjoying the inhabitants of Mara as long as we don't take some issues into account and don't look for something intense and active.

Summer in Mara is as charming as it is frustrating. The game has a lot of potential but it feels rushed and unpolished. Hopefully, future updates will fix many of its issues. It has an instantly likable visual and a well-crafted world but the overall experience is blemished by awkward game design choices.

Summer in Mara certainly looks great and tells a heartwarming story, but players will soon realize that the game consists of nothing but chores, chores, and more chores. It’s enough to make you take up gardening.