Rolling Hills: Make Sushi, Make Friends

Rolling Hills: Make Sushi, Make Friends is a game for a very specific kind of cozy and management game fan. While some might find the gameplay simple and challenge lacking, I enjoyed dipping into Rolling Hills: Make Sushi, Make Friends as a break from other games, and it feels right at home on Steam Deck with solid performance.

Casting players as Sushi-bot, your goal in Rolling Hills: Make Sushi Make Friends is to run the best sushi restaurant you possibly can. This is a thoroughly cosy and relaxing sim where stresses are kept to a minimum — and while it may be simple, we've enjoyed every moment we've spent with it.

If you’re looking for a management style game – time, financial, etc. – you won’t find it here. This is more of a game about collecting things – sushi recipes and ingredients, décor for your shop, hats for your bot, … – and interacting with a quirky cast of locals. Animal Crossing fans will certainly enjoy their time with the game, although the number of things you can do and collect here pales in comparison. Rolling Hills oozes charm, though, and even though your time in town might be relatively short, it will definitely be cozy and relaxing.

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.

Rolling Hills: Make Sushi, Make Friends is a sweet and cute game with an easy gameplay loop that keeps me coming back for more. With all the customization options, as well as so many different recipes to max out, there’s quite a lot to do even if you’re not interested in the story. Just make sure you have the number of your local sushi shop on speed dial! You’re going to want a plate of nigiri or two while playing this game.

You may find some things about it lacking, like the fact it has a pretty big cast but only focuses on a few of its characters, or that its graphics look a little sloppy, but at its core, it is a really good time. Especially when you consider how many minigames it has! I certainly plan to do another playthrough to see if I can change the ending or if there’s anything important I missed during my first run. Overall, this is for sure a solid addition to any visual novel enthusiast’s library.

There’s magic in Rolling Hills for sure. But it’s a very fleeting magic, and a little more sauce would have made it a much more impactful source of wonder. It was definitely cute, though!