Frost hasn't yet replaced New England's morning dew, but cold air is starting to settle in. Days feel short, and the sun sets before I've signed off from work for the day. I complain all summer about the heat, then want it back just as it starts to fade: Long, meandering days that are full of potential. It feels fitting – and maybe a bit ironic – that as soon as my mind (and maybe yours) starts wandering back to summer, Kyoto-based studio Denkiworks released its homage to summer in rural Japan with Tanuki: Pon's Summer. It's a game that feels just as warm as the summer depicted, and a nice reprieve from the looming cold.

Tanuki: Pon's Summer is set in an idyllic Japanese countryside that's centered around an aging shrine. Pon, the tanuki tasked with tending to it, let the shrine's grounds crumble while he ate chips and played video games. Tanuki gods bully Pon into getting his act together and fixing the shrine before a big festival. But that'll cost money, and money comes from a job. Pon's skills are limited, but he does have a BMX bike. To the post office it is! You play through a month of Pon's summer, delivering the island's mail to earn money to fix the shrine, and days are all marked on a calendar. Along the way, it so perfectly captures the lazy opportunity of summer in its moment-to-moment about a relaxed town.

The island is not big, but it's quite dense with several distinct, lively parts of town and Pon must figure out how to get around efficiently on his bike.

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