Nostalgia is a tricky force to harness. There’s nothing wrong with looking back fondly on the past, but getting lost in the feeling can leave you numb to the here and now. The My Summer Vacation series has always walked that fine line, lovingly re-creating the vibes of summers long past while highlighting the beauty of nature that remains in the present. New on Nintendo Switch, the spiritual successor to that life sim series addresses nostalgia a bit more directly, while still maintaining the simple joy of a lazy summer.
You could see Shin chan: Shiro and the Coal Town as a game made up almost entirely of fetch quests. You’ll spend most of your time in the game catching bugs and fish, searching for machine parts, and trading all of your discoveries back and forth with a large cast of NPCs. But rather than feeling like drudgery, Shiro and the Coal Town is a laid-back treat thanks to its clever writing and the immaculate atmosphere of its world — well, worlds.
