The last thing Michelle expected when visiting a shoe cobbler in Mong Kok was to share dinner with his daughter, Sam. Yet, she finds Sam interesting and, even though she doesn’t understand why at first, feels an undeniable connection to her. Their romance blossoms in A Summer’s End – Hong Kong 1986 – a visual novel created by the Vancouver-based independent game studio Oracle and Bone, a game which has drawn considerable acclaim for its tender portrayal of a LGBT+ romance since its launch last year.
Its creators, Charissa So and Tida Kietsungden, say they knew they wanted to make a game with a focus on an Asian LGBT+ storyline from the onset. “We felt there was a need and opportunity to tell such stories through the medium of video games,” they explain. “As LGBT+ identifying Asians ourselves, we understand the importance of representation and know that positive and authentic portrayals of ourselves are necessary in humanizing our experiences and also reducing the stigma that surrounds LGBT+ sexuality.”
Although the relationship between Michelle and Sam lies at the heart of A Summer’s End, it draws on many different elements to tell its tale, including new wave Hong Kong and Taiwanese cinema of the 1980s and 90s. As So and Kietsungden point out, these are films that explore intergenerational differences, cultural shifts, and political conflicts – topics as relevant now as they were 30 to 40 years ago and which the developers wanted to explore “in relation to current times through A Summer’s End.”