Platforms:
Xbox One, PC, Xbox Series X|S
Released:
June 4, 2024
Publisher:
Humble Games
Developer:
Catch & Release, LLC
If there is one way I can describe Rolling Hills: Make Sushi, Make Friends by Catch & Release, it would be “if Diner Dash has a story mode”. In this cosy restaurant sim, you play as Sushi Bot, a cute robot with dreams of becoming a renowned sushi chef and moves to Rolling Hills to make his dreams a reality. But does this game have what it takes to become the next sushi MasterChef?
Before you start, the game lets you know that you will need a controller if you want to have the best gameplay experience. It’s best to follow the game’s advice as the controls are designed to be best suited for non-keyboard players. When you first start the game, you’re introduced to Sushi Bot, who tells you his dreams of making and selling sushi. However, the moment he enters Rolling Hills, he learns that he was deceived by Coggie, who desperately needs him to make his small town grow.
Rolling Hills has a very simple goal, grow your restaurant and get to know the locals and the the town. As you progress, you learn that Rolling Hills carries a heavy secret, something that the next generation of residents want to unveil and solve. This was something that’s rarely seen in cosy restaurant sims, as most games usually just have you serving customers only, or if you’re playing Overcooked, have you yell at your teammates. While it is possible to finish the game’s main story in just 2 days, you don’t really have to do that. The game’s art, music, and design are made to encourage you to relax and progress at your own pace. It’s really cute and it makes the player feel that this place is worth visiting, even if it is located away from the city.
So how does one robot serve sushi in a small town? As you open your restaurant, you will have three rounds, with each customer having 3 sets of orders. Each order will be based on different flavour and quality types. Fortunately, you don’t cook the sushi, you have a machine that whips them out for you automatically through a conveyor belt called the Sushi-matic. From there, you pick up customers’ orders one by one. Once the restaurant closes, you get to see some reviews that your customers left for you. Most of the time, they will be positive if you do the job right. At the same time, your restaurant’s popularity grows, which allows you to learn more sushi recipes.
Further in the game, more challenges and obstacles will be added, and they will be reflected in your review if they’re not met or dealt with. This is a pretty neat feature as it reminds you what you’ve done wrong and how you could improve. It’s a shame the negative reviews don’t impact your restaurant’s popularity progression, but then again, it’s a cosy game and it shouldn’t stress you out. But it would be an interesting feature to add a bit of progress negation if the customer isn’t happy.
It’s not just running a restaurant that this game has to offer. You can decorate your restaurant to your liking, buy groceries to improve the quality of your meals, and partake in coffee dates to get to know the locals. It’s pretty chill and the more you learn about the people of Rolling Hills, the more secrets get uncovered. For example, one of the locals contemplated moving out for better opportunities. Meanwhile, others would reveal their old love life before moving to this small village.
While this game has enough to keep you busy, there are features in the game that were underutilised. When you’re introduced to the coffee date friendship mechanic, you learn that the residents have different personality traits. You’d think that would affect how you grow your trust and friendship, but it doesn’t. It also doesn’t help that their personality traits were highlighted but it ended up not meaning anything. Also, the fishing mechanic is not that great because you don’t do the fishing, Coggie does it. While it’s nice to see a not-so-complicated fishing mechanic, it’s super weird to not get that much opportunity to fish at all.
Unfortunately, Rolling Hills: Make Sushi, Make Friends has some gameplay features that feel like they got shelved as of writing and were only added during certain story beats. It also doesn’t help that you pay a large amount of money to “unlock” these features, only for it to do nothing. For example, you pay 500 coins to access some farmland for a story plot. But you can’t use it for other means, like planting your ingredients. Or how you pay 2000 coins for a treasure tracker-type device, only for it to be rendered useless during the rest of the game. That’s very frustrating as these features could add more activities before opening shop.
7.5
Good
Positive:
- Great artistic direction
- Cute soundtrack
- Adorable robot protagonist
Negative:
- Underutilised features
- A bit grindy, especially during the post game
- Repetitive if you're not participating in the story
Rolling Hills: Make Sushi, Make Friends is a game that shouldn’t be rushed to be completed. It’s a game that allows you to live vicariously as a wannabe chef in a small town with big dreams. However, the game has the potential to do more and the lack of gameplay features is proof of this. Regardless, it’s a fun restaurant simulator with a story to tell, which allows it to stand out from other restaurant sims like Diner Dash and Overcooked. So if you want to learn more about this small town, as well as serve up some fresh sushi, then grab that controller and put on that apron, you have a restaurant to open!
About the Author
Erielle Sudario
If she's not podcasting, Erielle Sudario is seen either playing Baldurs Gate 3, The Sims, or a really cute cozy indie game that she found either in conventions or on TikTok. Outside of gaming, she's either embracing her inner Swiftie, building keyboards, or watching shows/films in theatres or streaming platforms.
