Loop8: Summer of Gods


Loop8: Summer of Gods is a role-playing video game developed by Sieg Games and published by Marvelous Entertainment and XSeed Games. It released in June 2023 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows.

Gameplay

Loop8 plays as a story-heavy JRPG with turn-based battles. The story is advanced through reading text and selecting response options through a dialogue tree. Multiple paths and endings occur based on said choices. Time management is also an aspect of gameplay - the game plays out on a calendar system, with various actions and choices taking up units of time. Character's moods and reactions vary based on when in the story they are addressed by the player.

Story

The game takes place in the fictional Japanese town of Ashihara in 1983 in an alternate reality where humanity is fighting for its survival against demons called Kegai. The game follows the main character Nini, a male teenager who grew up in a space station that was destroyed by the Kegai. He is the sole survivor, and after it, becomes gifted with the special ability "demon sight", the ability to see what other characters are thinking and how they are feeling. Nini can also reset events and try them again, either by failing to save the world, or manually resetting by speaking to a certain character. Nini finds refuge in Ashihara in August, and spends his time making connections in the town in efforts to find the Kegai before they destroy Ashihara as well. The game's title of Loop8 refers to its premise, as Nini continually relives his time in the month of August to find and eliminate the Kegai.

Plot

On August 1, 1983, Nini arrives in Ashihara and is welcomed by Konoha, a relative from his Earth family, the Oyama, an ancient clan of sorcerers that holds major political power in Japan. The next day, Konoha takes Nini to school to finalize his enrollment paperwork, where he is introduced to Kuni, his homeroom teacher.
On August 3, Nini heads to school for supplementary classes. He notices a gigantic, transparent sphere floating in the sky over the town's mountain, which no one else seems to acknowledge. At the beginning of the first period, a student with fox ears and tail, Beni, announces that a Kegai will soon launch a full-scale attack on the town. Kuni and Micchi, a girl in class, don't seem to acknowledge Beni, while the only other boy in class, Saru, drags Beni away. Konoha handwaves the announcement as Beni's "quirk." Kuni then comes to her senses and introduces the other new student, Ichika, who claims to be here to protect everyone's peaceful lives. Konoha reacts negatively to Ichika's arrival. After school, Nini visits the shrine and meets Musasa, a flying squirrel god and a messenger of higher-ranking Shinto gods of the Celestial Realm, who delivers to him a blessing from the goddess Sakuya and tells him to check mini-shrines scattered around town often to receive more blessings.
On August 4, a Kegai infiltrates the town, leaving behind a trail of shredded paper talismans. Nini investigates and finds that a gateway to Yomotsu Hirasaka, the underworld, has opened up at the shrine. Beni and Ichika also arrive, and Beni identifies Ichika as the Oyama clan's "God Slayer," an anti-Kegai warrior deliberately possessed by a god who enables her to wield divine power. Beni reveals that she herself is a fox goddess who has come to combat the Kegai, and proposes that they act together. The three enter Yomotsu Hirasaka and manage to vanquish a minor Kegai, but are easily killed by Kukunochi, a gigantic plant-based Kegai and a former god of trees. Kukunochi conjures a forest that engulfs the whole world, killing all humans.
In the afterlife, a voice tells Nini to continue the "mission" he himself has willed to carry out, and Nini reawakens on August 1, at the moment he arrives in Ashihara.
The second loop onward begins with Konoha making an offhanded comment on how they "meet again." August 1 and 2's events proceed mostly as they did the first loop, but once Nini goes to school on August 3 or later, some details start to diverge such as him meeting Kuni for the first time then instead of on August 2, and Ichika already being present as a student rather than a new arrival. The school is also visited by several people who weren't there before: Nanachi, a geeky boy who offers to help Nini out with anything he might need in exchange for stories about his life in space; Takako, a younger girl from another school who immediately considers Nini a sort of brother figure she could boss around; Hori, a slightly older boy who seems to think Nini is his father; Max, a German teacher who expresses condolences to Nini's loss of family and encourages him to be strong; Hazuchi-Machina, Max's daughter and an eccentric girl who enjoys people's reactions to her antics; and Terasu, a mysterious woman who can manually loop Nini back to August 1.
At this point, the player is free to decide Nini's activities however they wish, with the only mandatory activity being to enter Yomotsu Hirasaka and combat the Kegai before each one destroys Earth. Building relationships with characters and triggering events will reveal not only details about their personal lives but also explanations about the Kegai conflict, the roles and interventions of the gods, the nature of the Oyama clan, and Nini's self-imposed "mission," among other things.

Endings

Depending on the relationships Nini has built, whether or not everyone survives, if Nini is killed in battle, or if the Kegai threat is ignored, the story can reach 14 different good endings and 6 bad endings:
  • If Nini is killed in any Kegai battle, or if the player fails to reach any of the six major Kegai battles before the deadline, the Kegai will destroy humanity and threaten the Celestial Realm, at which point time is automatically looped back to August 1.
  • At the end of the final Kegai battle, if the player chooses to save Konoha, the Kegai threat will overrun the Celestial Realm, freeing Earth from the time loop and the interventions of the gods, but most of humanity is destroyed and the dead reemerge in the world of the living. Nini and Konoha live on, happy that they have each other, and Konoha reassures that they can salvage the situation somehow.
  • If the player chooses to save the world and Nini is close to Konoha or not particularly close with any of the other characters, the Kegai threat on humanity will be completely eliminated but Konoha is killed. Nini finds that he is alone with no particular purpose in life, so he leaves Ashihara to find purpose elsewhere.
  • If the player chooses to save the world and Nini is close with any character aside from Konoha, he will reach one of the 11 character endings where he continues his friendship or romantic relationship with them. Micchi, Nanachi, Kuni, Max, and Takako have special epilogues that depict their lives and relationships with Nini further into the future if their endings are achieved.
  • If every character is alive and Nini is close to Konoha, the player has the option to "resist fate." If chosen, Nini severs the "thread of fate" connecting Earth to the Celestial Realm, freeing Earth from the time loop and the interventions of the gods. Konoha is saved, and the Kegai are eventually wiped out. Nini and Konoha leave Ashihara unannounced to live elsewhere. Some time later, Terasu and Musasa are about to go track them down when they cross paths at the train station, back for a visit. A special epilogue is also unlocked, which depicts Nini and Konoha's relationship further into the future.

Characters

Main characters

Referred to as Warriors of Hope, individuals with strong spiritual powers or special connections to the divinity, chosen by the gods of the Celestial Realm as proxies for their interventions in the course of Earth's history. Their actions and motivations are influenced by the gods via the OVERS System, a fictional software with which extradimensional entities partially control individuals via processes akin to possession or hypnotic suggestion. In effect, they are compelled to defend Earth as well as the Celestial Realm from destruction.
;Nini / Novus Nemo / Taichiro Oyama
;Ichika / Ichika Oyama
;Saru / Kunihiko Sawada
;Hori / Sachi Hori
;Machina / Hazuchi-Machina Rothborden

Civilians

Inhabitants of Ashihara Nakatsu, a fictional port town in western Japan facing the Seto Inland Sea. They are acquainted with the Warriors of Hope, and throughout August, each of them is possessed by a powerful Kegai who takes advantage of their insecurities or desires. Whether or not they can be saved depends on their relationships with the Warriors of Hope who face them in combat, with Nini having an especially large influence.
;Konoha / Konoha Oyama
;Micchi / Michiko Hiume
;Nanachi / Nanachi Suhisa
;Takako / Takako Wakakuni
;Kuni / Kunie Enan
;Max / Baldur Max
;Terasu / Teruko Oyama

Gods

;Beni / Benihime Tenno
;Musasa

Development and release

Loop8 was first announced for the Nintendo Switch in a Japanese Nintendo Direct in February 2022. It was later revealed to be coming to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Windows platforms as well. The game is being developed by Sieg Games and published by XSeed Games and Marvelous Entertainment. The game is being produced by Yoichi Miyaji, who previously worked on entries in the Lunar and Grandia games. The game's designer and scenario writer, Yuri Shibamura, went to great lengths to capture the nostalgic and iconic aspects of Japan and its culture, particularly from the 1980s. Loop8 is considered a spiritual successor to Shibamura's previous game for the PlayStation Gunparade March. The game's soundtrack, along with theme song, "Love's Sweet Sorrow", was composed by music veteran Noriyuki Iwadare.
Originally, the game was announced for a late 2022 release only in Japan. It was later delayed into March 2023, and then another time to June 1, 2023. An English version of the game was later announced, and was scheduled to release days later on June 6, 2023. The delays were to add extra time to polish gameplay.
27 chapters of Loop8-related web novels were published on the game's Japanese website to promote the game. 7 chapters of the web novel were translated into English and came in a booklet included with the game's physical copies for Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4, and Xbox One.

Reception

According to review aggregator Metacritic, Loop8 received "generally unfavorable" reviews for both the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 versions. Destructoid favorably compared Loop8 to the Persona series of video games prior to release. Scott Adams of The OuterHaven who reviewed the full game described it as fantastic, praising the visuals, sound, and relationship mechanic, despite some issues with the game design.
Several other publications were less positive, with Cullen Black of RPG Site describing it as full of great ideas that never come together. George Yang of Nintendo Lifes view was that it fails to leave an emotional impact towards the end and is repetitive and frustrating. Thomas Knight of NookGaming and Jenny Jones of Push Square echoed the criticism of its repetitive nature, mentioning going over the same conversations repeatedly. Thomas Knight also mentioned issues with inconsistency in conversations too, with events happening earlier than they should or in the wrong order.
The Nintendo Switch version of Loop8: Summer of Gods was the ninth bestselling retail game during its first week of release in Japan, with 5,796 physical copies being sold. The PlayStation 4 version was the sixteenth bestselling retail game in Japan throughout the same week, selling 2,775 physical copies.