It’s been a heated summer — and I’m not just talking about the 90-degree weather I’ve been enduring for weeks in New York. Temperatures are running high in the midst of what will likely go down as the wildest election season in the history of American politics. We could all use a little summer vacation from our summer vacations right about now. That makes Été a surprisingly perfect fit for the moment.
A debut project from Impossible, Été is a narrative adventure game that’s all about the joy of painting. It’s a relaxing experience that has players exploring the streets of Montreal, bringing it to life with watercolor paint, and even creating their own art exhibition. It’s a breezy story about discovering a new home that has the comforting energy of Bob Ross.
Été‘s story follows a painter who goes on a long summer vacation to Montreal. They’re put up in an expensive, unfurnished apartment with nothing but a bed and their easel at first. Their world is empty — quite literally. As soon as I first step outside, I see that the entire world looks like a coloring book page minus the color. By holding a button and moving my cursor, I start painting the world and restoring its color.
It’s a simple hook that’s immediately satisfying, but there’s some subtle thematic depth to it. The more I color Montreal in, the more I become intimately familiar with it. When I first step into a big park, I’m totally lost in a see of black-and-white. As I fill it in, I’m also learning how to navigate it. I know it like the back of my hand after a while. It’s like moving into a new neighborhood. It’s all a foreign at first, but all becomes visible the more you go on a walk, eat at a new restaurant, or meet the locals.
That “blank canvas” feeling is a natural fit for Été‘s other gameplay hooks. For one, I can use my easel at any time to create my own paintings. Every single object I paint in Montreal turns into a stamp that I can put on my canvas. I can rotate it, resize it, and even animate it to change its position. That system is a way of making cash, as I can take commissions from locals who want specific paintings, but I can also create for the fun of it and hang pictures up in my house or studio (the end goal is to mount an art exhibition in a refurbished warehouse). The more I discover Montreal, the more it inspires me to create.
My favorite feature, though, is Été‘s apartment decoration component. I can use any money I’ve earned to buy a wealth of furniture that can be placed in my multiroom apartment. It’s a simple system where I call up items from a menu, repaint them, and place them wherever I’d like. My sad apartment quickly begins to feel like a home with each wall lamp or dresser I add to it. Every aspect of Été leads back to that idea of filling in a canvas, building a concise story about building a new life from scratch.
Été is a sincere, optimistic game that reminds us that it’s never too late to start again. Even when it seems impossible to uproot ourselves from our current situations, we can always find a way to make a new home anywhere we land. A blank canvas doesn’t have to be intimidating; it’s an opportunity. It’ll make you want to move to Canada — well, more than you already may want to right about now.
Été launches on July 23 for PC.
