JP/CN-only... it was recently trademarked in English in Japan, as "Natsu-Mon: 20th Century Summer Kid", so I guess it's just a matter of waiting on the global publisher to announce/finish the EN loc.
I know a lot of people weren't satisfied by the Shin-chan game and might be wary of jumping into another not-Bokunatsu so soon after that one but I can confidently state that this game is much truer to Bokunatsu, and that one shouldn't worry that it's going to checklist them to death just because it's "open-world".
Incidentally, the Switch version got some paid DLC today, and I do wonder how they'll handle that when the English version is released, and whether there might be any other loc-specific changes/additions in the works... any degree of character/gender selection would be welcome, for a start.
just saw they added a note to the Steam page: the English loc's being added on August 6!
I still haven't finished this game myself and I'll be holding my breath on the English localization until it's actually out, but assuming it's fine (and it probably is; Spike Chunsoft has built up a solid recruiting operation internally the last several years as they shift away from outsourcing that stuff), if you haven't read my other writings on the game on this very site, I'll reiterate that Natsumon is a genuinely very sweet, breezy game that should absolutely be on your radar if you want a prime example of a Japanese developer using the open world format to profoundly different thematic and mechanical ends compared to what's popularly explored in western games.
The in-game month that you're given to do just about whatever runs maybe a little long in the tooth and I wish the game had a little more granularity in its time progression settings (which I imagine a PC mod could fix if anyone was so inclined), but the character writing is so endearing and you really get to learn a lot about the game world and its inhabitants as you follow them around and figure out their routines, I'd still say it's well worth playing even if you don't reach the end, either. Just a really special ambiance to the whole thing and it makes me genuinely happy that this is going to finally have a proper shot at attaining a global audience with an English localization. Like GSK said, please do not sleep on this if you're a student of Japanese game history, this is definitely your best shot yet at officially diving into a quietly iconinc school of design and gameplay that Kaz Ayabe has been honing for over two decades.
