Review: SUMMERHOUSE is a chill, building game for all seasons

SUMMERHOUSE is super adorable and when we saw the trailer for it, it looked like a lot of fun. Now that I’ve had the chance to get my hands on it, I found a lot to love, but some disappointments as well. 

That being said, this is a game created by one developer and there’s no goal to the game other than creating. So, let’s get into what I loved and what might have improved it just a bit. 

SUMMERHOUSE: Not just for Summers

SUMMERHOUSE is more of an experience than it is a game. So, while there are some items to unlock and achievements to get, your goal isn’t to “win”. You’re just here building for the fun of it all. 

Booting up the game, you are given four options for biomes to build on. There’s a desert, a meadow, a city, and a mountainous range. Each of these biomes has the option to make it day, afternoon, or night to set the vibe for what you’re going for. 

Once you’ve decided where you want to build, you have to make the choice on what you want to make. The options range from the humble home to a maximalist storefront. 

The building portion is broken down into sections to make it easy to navigate, so all of your walls, windows, doors, and such will be in separate tabs. It can be a bit confusing at first to navigate because there are a few ways to build. 

If you want to cycle through the items in a category, you can just right-click through the options. I did this until I figured out that I could open the menu of items and look at what there was as a whole. 

I liked the fact that there were ways to redo and undo things you’ve done, but figuring out that I needed to click on the “delete button” before I tried to delete something took me a moment. 

The only other thing that’s really important is that you can move where the object sits, further or closer to the camera angle by flipping between “Q” and “E”. This made layering things so much easier and allowed for far more creativity than just a simple one-dimensional layer. 

It should, also, be mentioned that your items will change color depending on the biome and nothing else. So, in the desert, your fauna will be more dry straw-colored as opposed to the lush greens in the meadow. 

If you build it, they will come

Here’s where the slight bit of disappointment comes in. I would have loved to be able to change the color of the other items because, as I was building, I found that some items just didn’t mesh well, in my opinion. For instance, I couldn’t really find a rustic door for my derelict desert home. The only brown door options had a white frame decoration around them that was too bright to fit in. 

I would have, also, liked to see more items on offer, but there’s a perfectly serviceable amount of objects. 

In the promotional pictures, it’s clear that someone has far more architectural vision than I do. I kind of just made lumps of buildings. 

The only thing relatively creative I did was try to figure out how to make a Hobbit home since the Bag End door was in the door selection and I’m not quite sure how well I did. I made two different versions and felt like the one I made with the tree foliage likely looked better. 

I’m not sure if the developer plans to update the items in the future, either in free updates or paid DLC, but I’d love to see more options available later down the road. 

All in all, the game is a fun way to relax and let out some creativity. The disappointments I mentioned earlier are tame; just the lack of color changing and wanting more items. But, I, also, said that this was a one-person dev team, so I definitely understand why things were kept tight. 

I didn’t see any glitches visually and the controls were a dream to work with. The pixel art style is stunning and I loved that there was movement put into things like the leaves to add life to the build. 

SUMMERHOUSE is a fun, chill experience that you can get on Steam for $4.99 and if you’re creatively inclined, I definitely recommend it!

If building isn’t your speed, maybe you want to try out a surprisingly cozy, fast-paced bullet heaven; Cozy Space Survivors.