XP: Everlasting Summer VN

This post will be slightly different (but a lot longer) from the others, only in the fact it's not about a TV show. I enjoy stories in all forms, and as such I got caught up playing a visual novel (VN) called Everlasting Summer, which hails from mother Russia. I decided I would write about what I experienced (XP in gamer slang) playing the VN. I will break it down by character arch, and you can click on the character name to skip to that particular arch. I recommend downloading the game on Steam because it is the perfect price to enjoyment ratio, meaning it was free and enjoyable.

What I played:

Everlasting Summer follows a Russian protagonist named Semyon, who is reaching his mid-twenties and feels directionless. He is frozen by indecision because he doesn't have any real passion for anything and just holes up in his room all day. One night he hops on the bus for a rare visit with his friend from university (which he dropped out of) and falls asleep. He wakes up in a Soviet era pioneer summer camp and is 17 years old. Afterwards, he embarks on week long journey with one of the girls at the camp: Lena, Alisa, Slavya, Ulyana, Miku, Yulya (who is a hidden character after all others are completed), and even an ending where Semyon searches for answers on his own. Each arch, with the exception of Miku and Yulya, had a good and bad ending. Yulya did have to two different endings, but neither were bad endings. We'll get to what I mean by that.

What I experienced:

First ending I went for was Lena.

I went with this one first because I wanted to dip my toe in and get a feel for the game. This cute, shy, intelligent young - oh my God this girl is crazy! Everything started off normal, Semyon having given up on finding answers to how or why he ended up in the past and spent time with her at a dance, searching for their lost comrade, where she was surprisingly brave because she felt safe with him (aww).

Things changed when Semyon acts like an idiot when he can't tell why he cares whether Lena knew he peeped a little nudity from one of the other camp girls, Alisa (it's because you like Lena you idiot!). Then Lena starts to show a pretty nasty side, with a snarling face, yelling, and even punched out Alisa from her jealous feelings. And if you get the bad ending, things get crazier.

Semyon finally wisens up for just a moment and acknowledges feelings for her, and after a tumble in the sack he wakes up and it's departure day. The bad ending goes, he is eager to leave at the possibility of returning to his time, and she is understandably hurt but acts like she understands. Then he comes back after packing and finds she has slit her wrists. And not the teenage angsty cut across the wrist; she went up and down half her arm... And died. Semyon wakes up back in his time and then ends up doing the same because he regrets not putting her first.

Now the good ending is, obviously, not nearly as intense. Instead of being eager to leave, Semyon tells Lena the truth about being from another time. She believes him, and they take off on the mysterious bus together. Only this time he remains in the past, and has to rebuild his life from scratch, which he gladly does because he is with Lena. They go through a long textual epilogue, but bottom line he works hard and Semyon ends up becoming a writer.

The message that I gather is that it is important to be honest about your feelings, and to trust what it is you feel. As long as you do that, you have a purpose and reason for the hardships that you face. Lena's personality also spoke to the Gemini in me. Semyon asked which was the real her, the shy bookworm, the brave think-on-your-toes girl, or the angry jealous slugger; and the answer was simply "all of them." I found it relatable because I myself have multiple sides that come out for different occasions, so it was interesting to see it from an outside perspective. I will say this though, I'm not nearly as angry or suicidal. Just saying.

Next I went for Alisa's arch.

From the get-go this girl is supposed to be quick to anger and rebellious. She, naturally, uses that aggression to hide her insecurity, which comes out when Semyon criticizes a song she made up on guitar. It turns out she and Lena grew up in the same town, and some of her insecurity stems from living in Lena's shadow.

Once again Semyon is an idiot and doesn't realize that she likes him. After Alisa and Lena fight over him, Semyon has Alisa apologize and she thinks he likes Lena as a result. Alisa and Semyon find some vodka and do a drunken tumble in the sack. They wake up too late to catch the bus and they embark on the long walk to town.

Bad ending was they argue because he seems eager to leave her behind, she reveals her insecurities, and tries to minimize the impact of their intimacy. A bus finally drives by and picks them up. Semyon falls asleep and wake up in his own time, and makes a decision to pursue music, which he had dabbled a bit in the past. Good ending is they talk it out, get on the bus, and he wakes up on his own time. Only this time he runs into Alisa exactly one year later at the end of one of his shows, who has no memory of the camp. He asks her out and that's all she wrote!

Both endings revolve around the idea of self-confidence. Semyon was never confident in his abilities in music and dropped it, and Alisa was never confident enough to think someone would actually like her and not Lena. She learned she didn't have to pretend to be strong, and it was okay to open up to someone. So basically just be yourself, try things out, and see where it takes you!

< Next I aimed for Miku's ending, missed, and got Semyon's instead.

So when you don't end up being distracted by all the girls Semyon actually tries to look for answers. This storyline filled in some of the holes in the plot the other archs leave out, the main one being: what exactly is this place? Even in the other archs people act skittish when talking about the outside world and are very vague in any answers they give.

Two mysterious male pioneers appear separately and talk to Semyon from the shadows. They tell him this week in the camp is on an an endless loop. They had been there for so long they managed to learn how to travel to other people's "pioneer camps." One of them likes to mess with people, the other is trying to instill hope. They just explain that it is a supernatural occurrence, and depending on who you talk to it is a hell with no escape, or there is an exit, you just have to learn how to get out. Later on Semyon finds note from himself that says he is there for a reason. All the girls in the camp which there is a story arch on visit him in his cabin while he is waiting to depart, and drops hints that they had a crush on him of sorts. He does a lot of self-reflecting about whether he should have done more while he was here instead of just be lazy the whole time.

Bad ending is there is a third voice that calls out to him from the woords right before he boards the bus, and as he goes to explore he is killed. Good ending is he ignores the third voice and gets on the bus. He wakes up in his own time, but receives online messages saying he is not done, and he will find out soon enough. Given the timing of the other endings, I would say 1 year later he would probably repeat the cycle.

What I gathered from this arch is that in choosing to continue his old way of life in a brand new setting, he once again missed out on life, and the lessons the camp was supposed to give. He needs to be more active, and take chances even if he doesn't understand what's going on. Life is murky and unclear, but you still have to act anyways.

I did Slavya's arch next because it was easier and I needed a self-esteem boost after failing to get Miku's.

Slavya is definitely the Goody-Two-Shoes (which after researching how to spell it, is based off of a folk tale...who knew!) of the bunch. She is also the most mature, in which she knows how to speak clearly to adults and use logical arguments instead of just yelling "because" with no good reason behind it like most other teenagers, or in this case Semyon. Semyon is a little more rebellious in this arch, and also quite the peeping Tom. He peeps on her twice as she dances naked in the woods to let off steam, and then in the bathhouse (why a bathhouse has such a big see through window is beyond me).

I liked how the Semyon in this arch took notice that even though he is mentally an adult in his mid-twenties, he acts more like a teenager than Slavya. However, even Slavya admits that she cannot be serious all the time, which is why she had done her naked prancing in the woods.

Bad ending was they argue on the last day on how they want to continue their relationship, because Semyon is not sure if he will remain in this time, or wake up in his own time, or even cease to exist entirely. He pressures her to let him live with her, but doesn't explain why because he didn't learn Slavya's communication skills. She declines, he wakes up in his own time. He has changed, however, and actually starts to take charge of his own life. He is more friendly and makes decisions. Good ending is, exactly one year later he runs into Slavya and he asks her out.

Again, the overall theme is being decisive, no matter if you know how things will work out for sure. With the right attitude, you can be happier in your life even without clear direction at first. He doesn't end up in any fancy career this time, but the difference is he is not bothered by it. He makes decisions and accepts the consequences, which is all anyone can do.

Ulyana's was next after I read hints that Miku's was messed up.

I was worried about doing this ending too, which is why I pushed it until later as well. All the other archs had nudity and sex scene, but all the other archs where with girls the same age as Semyon (in physical form anyways) at around 17 or 18. Ulyana is pegged at about 14 years old, and she even looks more like a child. I was afraid of how weird and awkward this arch would be if the same pattern continued. Thankfully, there was no such scenes, but it was a mixture of romance and being an older brother to her, which is still weird.

Ulyana is energetic and does childish pranks on everyone. Semyon looks after her and ends up getting involved in her pranks and desire to break the rules by being out late. On more than one occasion her sugar rush crashes and she falls asleep, latching on to Semyon like a teddy bear. They are always  caught by someone walking in on them after they spent the whole night out, and he struggles to explain that there was nothing perverted going on.

Bad ending, Semyon learns a lesson about having fun, and he decides to go back to the college he dropped out of because he remembers having fun with being around other people. He feels like some of Ulyana's energy rubbed off on him. He is packing up after class exactly one year after the camp and reminisces about his time there. Good ending, as he reminisces Ulyana enters the classroom as a 19 year-old student and he asks her out.

The main theme Semyon keeps talking about during this arch is authenticity. Ulyana doesn't hold anything back, and is true to herself no matter what people think about her childish pranks. Moral of the story: it is important to do what you feel is right, regardless of what others think. And do stuff that you like to do, no f***s given.

Then I finally got the courage for Miku's arch.

It's not that I was exactly afraid of it. I was actually really curious to see how weird it was. I mean, what could be worse than the double-suicide I experienced my first playthrough? But still, I figured it was probably better to save it for last once I found out it was rather unique. And indeed it was.

So instead of being like the rest of the arch's where you go through the camp with the same overall events occurring from a different perspective, they went all Inception; a dream (waking up in the pioneer camp as a 17-yeard old) within a dream (being a film student filming a movie with the game's plot as the script) within a dream (film students Semyon and Miku waking up in the pioneer camp in the past and, people are being killed off by a murderer and zombie/demon kids swarming the place). Needless to say, it was not what I was expecting. 

The film students Semyon and Miku had previously been in arelationship, but had a falling out even though it was obvious they still cared for each other. Both of them say they have mixed feelings but end up doing it on the beach and falling asleep. They wake up in the past similar to the main story. Then all the characters start to be killed off one by one, until only Semyon and Miku are left running for their lives in the woods from a horde of demon children. They just curl and wait to die since there is nowhere left to run....and then Semyon the film student wakes up. He then realizes, or rather remembers, how much he cares for Miku and then holds her tight saying he loves her.

Very entertaining story arch. Not that scary for the most part, but there was one part that did make my eyes go wide for just a second because I wasn't expecting it. I liked the lesson when it comes to so called "mixed feelings" for someone. I think as adults we try and make things more complicated than they have to be. The characters argued about what kind of life they wanted to live together, but the simple fact was they wanted to live it together, and they lost sight of that. If you ever have any doubt whether you are being a dumb adult and adding complications when you shouldn't, try explaining it to a child, and they will give you a reality test like no other.

Then there was only Yulya's arch left.

All things must come to an end, and in this case there were two endings left. This follows a similar story track to Semyon, where it focuses more on what kind of supernatural place the pioneer camp is. The main difference stems with the appearance of a girl with cat ears and tail, who says she is an observer of all the camps. There are multiple camps, each with one person who is the focus of the journey, while the rest (including Semyon) follow a script of sorts. She is able to see and be in all of them, but does not know why the camps exist, or have any memory of a life before. Yulya stays out of sight and gathers supplies for winter, even though after 7 days the summer week repeats itself, albeit slightly differently; like the multiple endings we have gotten so far. Semyon tries to use her for answers at first, but ends up caring for her after their interactions.

The two endings split after a city filled with skyscrapers magically fades into the horizon. Semyon recognizes that it might be his old reality, and Yulya confesses this has never happened before and she knows this time will be different. Semyon and the girls try to walk to the city to investigate, but the city never gets any closer and the girls turn back leaving Semyon alone with Yulya. She asks him to turn back after he receives a call for help over the walkie-talkie from the camp leader. 

If you ignore the call and charge ahead you end up back in reality, with all the girls in their adult ages arrive at your doorstep. They explain that they all woke up and remembered about their time at the camp, and their time with him. Semyon also faintly recalls all the different lifetimes he spent with each of them. If you do answer the call, you find the camp empty, and you spend more time getting to know Yulya and her easy going "life just happens" sort of attitude. You both ride the bus on the 7th day and fall asleep, and dreams about the other lifetimes he lived with all of the girls. When Semyon wakes up  he and can faintly see the outline of a girl, you get to choose who it is, and then he gives a line about how it couldn't be anyone other than that person.

Now this arch had a lot of existential themes thrown in, because he started to think about if there was some kind of higher being controlling everything, does his choices even matter. And given the fact that he was transported across space and time for a purpose basically confirms a higher power at play, it's a very real concern which makes him anxious and depressed. Yulya is sort of the opposite mindset. She knows something is going on beyond her control, but rather than try and understand something she has no way of understanding, she carries on each day gathering supplies for a winter that will never come. Better to live your life rather than be frozen in indecision.

Once last note on the ending for this arch and then I'm done (I promise!). On one ending you end up with all the girls at the doorstep, and I think that is more of just a happy ending to wrap up the plotline. The other one where you have to choose one person who will come into focus suggests that love is not some logical choice, it is something that we feel when we are sharing experiences with that person.

The End!

This is my first post about visual novel or videogame. I will probably do another one similar to this for the Steins;Gate, both the visual novel and the anime adaptation. I recently binged through both the week before I started this blog, so when I have more time I'll write about the amazing storytelling in both adaptations. So if you haven't watched the anime or played the VN, now is a good time to do it before I write about it in the next XP segment.

I have Firewatch and Broken Age on my list of things to play. What pther videogames have you guys played that had really good storytelling? Let me know in the comments below!