Nintendo Switch 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.