I'm hopeless with a brush and canvas IRL, but this cosy painting game has me feeling like the next Van Gogh

GamesAdventureI’m hopeless with a brush and canvas IRL, but this cosy painting game has me feeling like the next Van GoghWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Impossible)

Outside the apartment in a world half painted full of droplets in Été

I think I’ve been taking colour for granted in games. Jumping intoÉtéfor the first time, and being greeted with a world that’s entirely white until you work your magic to bring it back to life, is an intimidation I haven’t felt before. There was something about starting the blank canvas of Été that felt haunting until I determined to bring it to life.

This painting aspect is beautifully realised, which is probably a good thing for a game all about painting. Once you’ve set up a canvas on an easel, you have full creative freedom over what you’re painting. I spent more time than I like to admit picking the perfect positions for certain times, or creating something like a sparrow in a bowl of falafel and selling it for a couple hundred bucks the next day. Although my favourite part of the game is the curation of these paintings, I appreciate how you have to go out and repaint the town when you want to unlock another muse.

Painting isn’t all you do though. While you’re in Montreal you have a lot of new relationships to develop. Since these interactions don’t seem like the main focus of the game I didn’t expect them to have the amount of depth they did. Each character you meet and speak to feels connected and has their own personality, with some for example cynical about your drive to be a painter, while others are in full support. Your responses to questions have weight, and can offend or upset people with consequences for the relationship.

Because of the small town and the characters you get to know, Été begins to feel like a close-knit community rather than a single-player game about painting—which is what it is. I developed a routine of going out to explore in search of inspiration for my next piece, saying hello to people in the town, and then heading home to paint something to sell at the cafe the next day. Being able to repeat the same actions each day helped reinforce the relaxing element of the game since I didn’t ever have to learn something new. But, this routine also meant I was slipping hours into my new life as a painter without realising it.

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