BlooMoon's review of Smushi Come Home.

Dylan’s Games Finished 2025 18. Smushi Come Home (Switch) Play Time: 5 hours Start Date: 12/27/2024 Finish Date: 4/28/2025 A very cute short platformer about a little mushroom guy trying to get back home. Very good vibes. The way the dialogue reads like chill discord messages is funny and reminds me of A Short Hike. I love the world design, the scale is reminiscent of Pikmin, and the autumn themed world gave me the itch to go back and play Bug Fables. But that’s enough comparing this to other games. This game is very elegantly designed with three large, open areas that branch off into linear segments and challenges. Sometimes the next step is unclear when you’re in the large open area, but you never have to travel far to find something pointing you in the right direction. Progression can also feel a little fetch-questy at times, but once you get into the groove, all the door keys and upgrades come pretty easily. I particularly liked the linear cave segments. They felt perfectly designed where it was always intuitive where to go next. I never got lost or had to double back to find a missed objective - very straightforward in the best way. Smushi controls very nicely, especially when you get some upgrades. You get hooks that you can hook once (eventually twice) onto vertical surfaces, for essentially a double jump. This worked really well to simplify mechanics (compared to the “climb anywhere” mechanic popularized by Breath of the Wild) and makes it very clear where you can and can’t go at a glance. Combine this with the gliding leaf from Wind Waker (plus a boost of horizontal movement you unlock when activating) and movement feels awesome and super smooth. I love games like this that give you really solid movement and drop you in a well designed world to hop around and have fun flexing your platforming. Nothing super demanding or difficult, just a chill experience. The story is good, a simple set up with plenty of fun NPCs encountered along the way. Dialogue is charming and funny, and most characters are memorable considering their short screen time. I particularly liked the two mushrooms trapped in the cave in area 2, and the family of capybaras in area 3. The game does a lot with a little and you feel a connection to all the characters. Oh, and of course, you desperately want Smushi to get home. Also, I want to shout out the graphics. Any game with an option for extra crunch pixel graphics (in this case, the setting is called “YO I CAN’T SEE”) is a win in my book. The simple art style really works for this game and looks great. I especially like the shading of the headlamp in the dark caves. At such a short runtime, it’s a little steep at $20 but I would really recommend grabbing it on a sale, or if it really sounds like your kinda game then grab it at full price to support the developer.