When first receiving information around Sushi Ben, I was interested in how what I was reading would translate into Virtual Reality and then the trailer being released still left me asking myself the same question. So, I was very excited to get into the game and see what it would bring.
Release Date: October 19th 2023
Developer: Big Brane Studios
Publisher: Big Brane Studios
Price: US $24.99 / CA $28.99 / €24,99 / £18.99
Reviewed On: Meta Quest 3
* Code Provided For Review *
save kotobuki TOWN
You take the role of a stranger arriving in Kotobuki town, in what seems like a quiet and peaceful port. However, you soon find out that some dastardly landsharks are looking to shut down this peaceful town and the beloved local Sushi Bar to make it a fancy resort. The question is can this stranger help out the Sushi Bar and save Kotobuki?
keep the landsharks at bay
Sushi Ben is a single player story-driven narrative adventure, with a story that is really out there, with the feeling of being in your own manga – something that the team at Big Brane Studios were aiming for.
As mentioned in the story you are going to need to save the Sushi Bar, but how are you going to do this? You will need to help the lovable residents of Kotobuki town, which comes in various tasks to make their day easier and open their days to either provide ingredients to Ben, visit the Sushi restaurant for their daily snack or even a mix of both.
These tasks come in a good mix that are all fun to play, from fishing, catching ghosts, walking a Shibu Inu or playing table tennis to name some. This mix helps the game keep that fresh feeling between the story and dialogue in the game and makes helping each resident feel different and match with their role in this little port town.
After completing the tasks, you will invite them to partake in eating Sushi at Ben’s restaurant and build up his clientele, that will help him keep those pesky landsharks at bay.
BE IN YOUR OWN MANGA
The visuals are designed around offering that true manga feeling. With the textures being colourful, simplistic with the cartoon-block colour approach and this really suits what the game is doing. To cement the feeling of being in your own manga, comic book panels with load into the world throughout the narrative sections – and I am surprised on how well this worked in portraying more of the story the game is telling. This has also allowed the team to bring in quite bold narrative boxes in that comic style (that can be to where suits you best).
With what the game is doing to get you immersed into the world, the team have used the atmospheric sounds and music to bring the game to life. What was going to be important was the voice-acting because the games main feature is this the story of Sushi Ben. The team have made sure this is covered with full Japanese voice acting by talented VA’s like Hideyuki Tanaka, Chiaki Takahashi, and Mamiko Noto, with this is mind the voice over is Japanese only. But, this really suits the game, and has allowed the script by Moa (the talent behind critically claimed visual novel, Hatoful Boyfriend) really bring all the unique characters to life – and personally even if other languages were available, I feel for the true experience I wouldn’t change it from Japanese.
COMFORT
THE VERDICT
Summary
Sushi Ben is one of those games that you see and think does it really need to be VR? But, as soon as you are playing it you realise it something VR needed. The crazy premise of the story, the mix of mini-games to break up the narrative and some of the choices like the pop-up panels in the game really make you feel like you are in your own manga. The charm of the town, the lovable residents and nasty landsharks are all brought to life by the great script and voice acting, and it all comes together perfectly in Virtual Reality to make a truly unique experience - and one that you should not miss.
