Developed and published by GameTomo, Sumire is a beautiful narrative adventure game that revolves around a little girl and her ‘wonderful day’. Sumire has had a troubled past with various problems affecting her in various ways and now she is too scared to face her fears and most of her things were left incomplete and there was no closure for her. Sumire allows you to take charge of her life for one day and decide how she must complete all of her tasks. This is our review of Sumire in which we explore a beautiful and emotional narrative in the life of Sumire.
The game begins with Sumire, the little girl who is the main character, who is inside her home and missing her grandmother who passed away recently. After her death, Sumire’s life fell apart as her father does not come and visit her anymore and her mom just spends most of her time sleeping. Sumire’s friends also got far from her, leaving her to herself alone in her house.
This already seems pretty dark, and the introduction shows Sumire dreaming about spending time with her grandmother showing that her death has taken its toll on her mental health. She then wakes up and walks over to her picture and spends some time with her.
After a while, she hears a loud bang and upon investigation finds a magical seed which she plants, and it grows into a talking sunflower. This sunflower forces Sumire to leave the safety of her house and go out alone for a chance to meet with her grandmother once again.
The narrative is not too long, and you can easily complete one playthrough of the title in 3 – 3.5 hours which is manageable in one sitting as well. However, it is not the length of the narrative that matters here but it is the depth and the dark nature of the narrative that matters here.
Sumire’s narrative is heavily dependent on what choices you make in the game. As you set out of your house, you meet with different NPCs that include humans living in her town as well as some inmate objects like the scarecrow or animals like a frog and a cat. Some of these NPCs will ask Sumire for help in various things and it is up to Sumire to help them or reject them.
These decisions will determine how selfish you become on your path or how willing you are in order to help others in the game. If you do complete favors for others, you will earn coins which you can later spend in the game on various things such as getting cosmetics for yourself.
The sunflower accompanies you throughout your journey through your wonderful day and as you complete various tasks and make decisions, the sunflower also changes accordingly. It grows bigger and its mood also changes according to how Sumire is reacting to things around her. As you continue down the story path, you come face to face with various challenges that you are initially afraid to tackle.
These challenges include various tasks such as going outside your house all alone or crossing a stream on your own. The flower pushes you to face your fears and you end up eventually tackling them and eliminating them. This applies to real life as well where you can face your fears head-on in order to eliminate them.
At the start of her journey, Sumire takes her notebook, and she continues to write everything that she has to do during the day before the sunflower goes away forever. All these tasks are listed for you, and you can then start working towards their completion. How you complete them, is completely based on your free will and approach to the title.
Apart from the main tasks, Sumire also notes all of the NPCs that she meets in her notebook and the tasks that they give you. While interacting with them, you are given the option to choose either to help them or ignore them completely. Choosing to help an NPC will make their entry in your notebook for keeping a track of it later. You can then keep a track of all of the tasks that you need to do before the end of the day by pressing the notebook key and checking out the details.
One of the most striking features of Sumire is probably its JRPG-inspired visuals and the storybook-like narrative delivery. The gameplay actually feels like you are reading a 3D book with minimalistic UI and somewhat diversified mini-games that offer a decent change of pace from the normal talking to NPCs and moving around.
Although there is not much to do in the game, it somehow does not feel repetitive at all. I have played Sumire over three times and each playthrough was fun and emotional. I might jump back in Sumire sometime later after finishing some more titles however it is something that never bores you. Everything ranging from the visuals to the soundtrack to the narrative is brilliantly designed.
Sumire is an emotional tale about decisions that shape up your life. Beneath the colorful and beautiful art style of the game, you will find the harsh realities of this world and how little things can change a person’s life. The decision system of Sumire gives you complete freedom to become an angel to everyone around you or become a selfish being who only thinks about themselves.
With each little decision and each little promise that you make in the game, you need to stand by them or see their consequences unfold around you, affecting the people around you and ultimately shaping your end of the ‘wonderful day’. Combine that with an equally touching and soothing soundtrack and you have a game that really shines in everything. Explaining everything into words is really difficult as you must try out this game for yourself and live through the wonderful day in the life of Sumire.
Final Verdict:
Sumire is a beautiful game that is about facing your fears, letting it all out, and never leaving anything in the middle because it always comes back and haunts you. This is the very first in my life that I am saying in a review that you should go in with a strong heart. Sumire is a perfect blend of an amazing visual style, a soothing soundtrack, simplistic gameplay mechanics, and a narrative emotional enough to make a grown man cry. The added choice system that leads to different scenarios is an added frosting to the top and you have a small yet meaty game that encourages multiple playthroughs and each playthrough is engaging. If you are looking for a beautiful adventure game with a brilliant, choice-based narrative, and something that you can play to relax, Sumire will be right up your alley.
Final Score: 9.5/10
