Smushi Come Home Review

Smushi Come Home — a title developed by SomeHumbleOnion and published by Mooneye Studios — is an adorable adventure platformer title that I've been following on Twitter for many months. Now that it's finally out, I got to jump headfirst into it and see if it was as adorable and relaxing as I hoped!! 

In this platformer, you'll step into the shoes of a little mushroom who gets carried away by a bird and dropped in a place it doesn't know. In order to find its way back home, Smushi will go on quite an adventure where it'll help and get help along the way! The game works a lot like one of my recent favourite platformers, Lil Gator Game and A Short Hike, as you'll spend most of your time running around exploring the area and taking quests (or help) from tons of NPCs. 

Smushi's main goal is to find the river so that it can follow it back home to the lake, but every area it arrives at has a new obstacle it'll have to face, such as a hungry lizard blocking a tunnel and demanding food in exchange for passage. This is how the quests are implemented, as you'll need to explore the area to find the new cast of characters and a handful of quests to get to the next place. Additionally, throughout the journey, you'll unlock tons of new tools and objects, such as a glider and climbing gear, and they'll be upgraded through some quests, too!

There's a very nice variety in the number of tasks and interactions, which was quite wonderful. The developer did a great job at mixing both recurring quests, such as finding the wind spirits to upgrade the glider and new and intriguing ones that keep you guessing what's coming next. The only thing that remains consistent is that they're funny and bizarre, and I absolutely love them.

Moving on from gushing about the missions, another fantastic aspect of the game is the movement in general. I was able to play on both mouse & keyboard and controller, which was phenomenal because I have tendinitis, so I could swiftly change between the two depending on the tasks I was performing. Gliding, climbing, running — everything is smooth and comfortable, to the point in which I didn't feel like the lack of movement abilities (such as double jump and twirling) were missing at all. Especially thanks to the upgrades you can obtain!

This made it easy to want to keep exploring the areas and finding every nook and cranny, primarily to find more NPCs and quests to collect adorable caps that change Smushi's look. It's not a secret I'm a huge fan of collectibles, specifically those that change the playable character's look!

And lastly, I'd like to talk about the graphics and audio. Smushi Comes Home's style is phenomenal: simple, colourful, and adorable! As you explore the large forest, you'll find all kinds of human objects that serve as platforms. And although I do appreciate the awareness many games have brought about global warming and Earth’s health, I was thankful I didn't have to face them as I explored the cute world! As for the soundtrack, I was absolutely smitten by the soft indie tunes that really meshed well with the gameplay and graphics.

All in all, my expectation of the game was met and surpassed — Smushi Come Home is adorable, quirky, and has all the right choices one could ask for gameplay-wise! It quickly became one of my go-to titles for when I'm in desperate need of some peace and adventure, so I couldn't recommend it more.