I have this loosely defined made-up genre I call "Summer Games".
It started a long time ago subconsciously. At some point I realized that during the hottest time of the year I gravitate to certain games that I mostly play on a small device (laptop/switch/steamdeck), laying in bed, late at night, when I have trouble sleeping because it's too hot. A friend of mine once said that the reason she loves super high temperatures so much, is that what you experience leaves more vivid, burned in, memories. I think she has a point.
The criteria aren't super rigid but I hope you get the "vibe" and might know some games that fit:
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Low-stakes/chill gameplay. I'm already sweating, I don't need sweaty gameplay right now
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a warm aesthetic/color palette and/or setting. My outside experience shouldn't feel too different to the games inside experience aesthetic-wise.
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It feels like a road trip, adventure or vacation. I want to get a summery memory out of this.
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the game leaves some kind of impact.
Games I played in the past that evoked that vibe perfectly:
- Kentucky road zero
- oxenfree
- road 96
- firewatch
- sable
- rime
- steins: gate
- life is strange
Games that have fit okay-ish
- tunic
- journey
- citizen sleeper
- nightcall
- no umbrellas allowed
- the talos principle
- the solus project
- the witness
- the vanishing of Ethan Carter
If anyone has a recommendation, I'd be thankful.
This year I have started to play chants of Sennaar and it seems to fit the criteria so far.
I haven’t played it myself, but Boku no Natsuyasumi is a game that recently entered my radar, which fits your description quite well. It’s a game I want to play sometime, but I have had other priorities. It’s for PSX.
It’s about a boy in a summer vacation with his family.
Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be any official English versions of the game, but hopefully you might find a solution if you think the game looks interesting enough to play it.
It's for PSP/PS1. I'm not sure which you mean by PSX, because the only thing I've ever heard called a PSX is the weird Japanese only DVR/PS2 hybrid thing.
The sequel apparently has an english patch, but I can't find one for the original.
PSX was a common abbreviation for the original PlayStation at the time. It has just stuck with me.
Sadly no Playstation
You have a Steam Deck- You can emulate a PS1. I have no idea how difficult to set up that would be, as I've never cared to play PS1 games myself. For the record, I'd be surprised if you couldn't emulate a PS3, and RPCS3 is actually the easiest thing imaginable to get set up and working. In my experience the PS2 emulator, PCSX2 is very heavy hardware wise compared to RPCS3 so that might not actually run on a Steam Deck.
There have been some (spiritual) sequels which have been or soon will be localized. Perhaps those can be an entry for anyone to see if the genre floats your boat!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2061250/Shin_chan_Me_and_the_Professor_on_Summer_Vacation_The_Endless_SevenDay_Journey/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/2839280/NatsuMon_20th_Century_Summer_Kid/