There’s nothing like summer . After a few brutal winter months, the city is coming back to life and its residents are making the most of the warm weather. Été (French for “summer”) is a relaxing slice of life That deftly captures the essence of Montreal at this time of year, warts and all.
You play as an artist who spends the summer at La Metropole. The first order of business is setting up a bench in your apartment with little else but a mattress, no thanks to your somewhat intrepid landlord. Once you’ve learned the basic controls, it’s time to explore your new surroundings.
This version of Montreal is effectively your canvas. At first it is colorless, as if covered with snow. You can fill this world with a little watercolor. Developer Impossible does a clever trick here, as each object you paint becomes a stamp that you can use in your paintings – your artist character is literally inspired by the world around them.
I enjoyed spending a few hours ignoring the main missions and exploring the different levels, bringing color back to the market, alley, front yard and park. Like moving to a new city or neighborhood, the more I explored (and painted) the world around me, the easier it became to navigate. And as with most of life in this city, you do things at your own pace.
While the story is fairly by-the-numbers, the characters Été they’re surprisingly rich for such a short game (it’ll only take a few hours to beat, focusing on the main story). Montreal is a melting pot, and the game does a deft job of reflecting that in its NPCs. The characters you meet can be rude, friendly, or a mix of both, and you’ll run into more than a few skirmishes.
It’s a smart idea to talk to people you meet, as they will often ask you to draw something for them, including special items. So if you still haven’t found all the letters and symbols for the “I heart MTL” shirt, you’ll need to find and color them first so you can use them as stamps. You have a wide range of options on how to create these custom pieces, as well as custom ones to hang in your apartment or sell at a cafe. You can use the money you earn to furnish your residence – something I don’t worry too much about in my game.
My favorite part Été It’s a brilliant job Impossible does to distill the recognizable aspects of life in Montreal into an abstract world. Fairmount Bagel (the world’s best bagel shop) is instantly recognizable, as well there are many bird cages hanging from the balconies of the apartment above.
You will meet kids playing hockey in the alley. You might find someone making Canada Day decorations while complaining about a neighbor doing the same for Quebec’s national holiday. Cafe culture, second-hand furniture stores and wonderful farmers markets are all present and proper. Even the city’s anti-capitalist movement gets its own subplot. It nailed much of what makes The Impossible City so special.
Unfortunately, there are no festivals, although the real Montreal has a ton going on at the same time this time of year. Also overlooked is Old Montreal—a historic, heavily European-influenced riverside neighborhood that’s cat-like for tourists. But it would be difficult for developers to take into account everything that makes the city so great.
As someone living in Montreal, Été it’s a beautiful reminder of what’s on my doorstep. Maybe I should go drink more than that, even just to watch the world go by terrace While I’m painting the last few corners of this fancy fictional version of the same thing on Steam Deck.
Été it’s out now on PC.
