When the artificial academy goes on summer vacation, SamabakeScramble forgets the plot.
Warning! This game includes content that is not advised for those under 18. It contains explicit, sexually explicit content that is appropriate for adults only.
Most open-world dating simulator offers little motivation to engage with the world around you. And if you’ve ever played Artificial Academy and thought, “What if this but no classes, just beach vibes, neighbor gossip, and AI-powered summer nonsense?”—congrats, your oddly specific wish has been granted.
SamabakeScramble, the developers at ILLGAMES, came up with Scramble by asking themselves, “What will happen if we let our super-advanced anime NPC AI loose in a beach town?” The answer is mostly awkward flirtations, interactions that seem like they were scripted, and a lot of standing around in bathing suits and thinking about the universe.
ILLGAMES decided to focus even more on the “interactive anime soap opera” genre after their previous attempt at ILLUSION’s AI Shoujo, which also featured sandbox-style relationship building and some AI behavior that left people scratching their heads. Even though SamabakeScramble isn’t a direct sequel to AI Shoujo, it’s a lot like that game if it had more sunscreen and fewer survival elements.
The “story,” and I use the word in a broad sense, is that you’ve come to a beach town over the summer. That’s it. You are real. There are also people. The next thing that happens is completely up to you, the person you talk to, how you talk to them, and whether the AI decides to make two characters date while you’re watching seagulls.
Instead of a single story arc, SamabakeScramble is meant to feel like a slice-of-life sandbox. It’s more like you’re a nosy neighbor who shows up to barbecues without being invited. Strange things happen in conversations.
One minute, someone is asking you about the weather, and the next, they’re debating whether ice cream is soup. There is no bad guy and no crisis that will end the world. You, your questionable wardrobe choices, and a town full of interactions that are surprisingly deep (or sometimes bugged).
You can walk around town, talk to people, go to events, and try not to walk into someone’s shower while controlling your custom character in full 3D. The main ways to play are to talk, watch, manipulate relationships (with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer), and sometimes give people gifts, just like in Persona, but with 200% more awkward silences.
Timed events and daily schedules mean that if you want to catch Ayaka at the beach, you should get there before 3 PM, or she might teleport to her next task. Depending on how you act around each other, you could become friends, lovers, enemies, or people who hurt your feelings. Often, funny or sad things happen when relationships start, end, and start up again.
You’re like the god of rumors. Want to push two people toward a love story? Simple, just go ahead and choose that option. Want to start a love triangle and then watch it fall apart while you watch popcorn? Another choice that will present itself. This game would be The Sims’ cousin if that cousin liked anime and wore sunglasses inside.
If you don’t count interrupting someone’s romantic conversation as combat, there isn’t any. There should also be no puzzles unless figuring out why a character hates you all of a sudden, because you said the sky was “kinda gray” is a psychological puzzle.
The hard part is figuring out how to change the social dynamics to your advantage and decoding how the AI acts. Try to picture it as putting together a Rubik’s cube, but each piece is an anime character with a secret.
There aren’t any typical puzzles or fights in SamabakeScramble, which might turn off some people, but it’s a risky move that kind of works. The social strategy has taken its place. You’re not dodging bullets or figuring out puzzles; you’re navigating the emotional ups and downs of sunburned anime characters. In this type of battle, people eat, look at each other, and maybe even wear matching swimsuits.
The system isn’t perfect, though. AI interactions can be charmingly complicated, and sometimes, someone will love you forever just because you gave them a soda. It’s kind of like emotional speed dating with an algorithm that sometimes fails.
XP doesn’t work the way it does in most RPGs. You gain “affinity” or “trust” with characters based on how you interact with them. If you’re nice, give them gifts, and don’t forget their birthdays, you’ll be able to see new scenes, get closer to people, and go to more events.
There is a grind to it, especially if you want to reach a certain goal. But it’s not so much about numbers as it is about making people feel bad. Think of Fire Emblem as a conversational game with more watermelon and less war.
SamabakeScramble is beautiful, but it also makes me feel uneasy. The character models are carefully made, the town is full of life and color, and the sunsets look like they belong on wallpaper. But the facial animations sometimes get too close to the uncanny valley, like when someone stares at you for five seconds before speaking, as if they just remembered how language works.
Still, it runs surprisingly well on average computers, and the customization options are the best. Want your character to have purple eyebrows and not wear a shirt all summer? Go ahead; the game is perfect for you.
The music is a soft mix of relaxing seaside tunes and happy, almost elevator music-like melodies. The soothing mood goes well with it, though some of the dialogue can come across as stilted or out of place.
There are still sounds in the background, like waves, cicadas, and people talking far away, that help create the feeling of being in a quiet summer town where nothing is happening at once. The music isn’t as catchy as Persona 5, but it’s great for taking a break while watching two NPCs fight over ice cream.
SamabakeScramble. Is cute. It breaks sometimes in the funniest ways. It tells you to slow down, pay attention, and understand that sometimes the best stories aren’t about epic quests or killing monsters but about three characters arguing about sandals while another tries to join in but is completely awkward.
Is SamabakeScramble for everyone? Without a doubt, no. You might enjoy it if you liked AI Shoujo or Artificial Academy, or if you’re just interested in dramas created by AI that have a bit of a summer breeze and scandal. It’s like Animal Crossing mixed with Sims and “What if my anime crush could choose for themselves?” SamabakeScramble is a social simulator, a chaos engine, and a platform for AI researchers to test new ideas. It’s fascinating even when it goes wrong.
