Sushi Ben’s move to non-VR is less than ideal

Sushi Ben has popped up in my social media feeds a few times in the run up to the game’s launch on PC. Despite not having known much about how it actually plays, its impeccable visual style really left an impression on me. And after spending a few years as a VR-only title, you can now play this mini-game filled slice-of-life story without a VR headset. However, I don’t think it really holds up once you take the VR aspect away.

Set in the quiet seaside town of Kotobuki, you play as someone aiming to get away from the big city. But their attempt at a peaceful life is quickly interrupted by a real estate group aiming to buy up everything and turn the town into a resort. Finding yourself helping out with a failing sushi restaurant, most of Sushi Ben has you running around town meeting strange people and completing a number of minigames.

Character models and the overall visual style are excellent.

From a visual standpoint, Sushi Ben looks great. Its bright colours and lack of shadows make for a distinct style, matching the game’s lively characters. Adding to this are the 3D manga panels used during most dialogue and activities. They’re a great way to make events more dynamic even with the overall limited use of animation.

Unfortunately, once you’re not in a story scene or going through one of the game’s main activities, Kotobuki is essentially dead. Sure, the town is supposed to be quiet, but most of the time it’s straight up lifeless; Characters usually have nothing to say if you’re not doing a quest for them, standing around listlessly with no dialogue. When half the gameplay is just walking back and forth for quests, the lack of energy really drags the experience down.

Minigames don’t fare that much better, though a lot of this is due to the transition to non-VR gameplay. An easy example of this is fishing, something you’ll be doing a fair bit during your stay in Kotobuki. In the VR version, you’ll naturally cast out your line, reel in fish manually, and hold onto the rod with both hands to tire out fish as they try to pull away. On PC, most of this is replaced by simply holding buttons or moving the mouse a bit.

Gameplay feels lacking when not playing in VR.

Sushi Ben really loses a lot in the move from VR, from its UI being clunky to most of the minigames becoming bland. This is clearly a game designed around VR that really doesn’t work when you take that away. I’d imagine even the empty town would feel a little more interesting to walk around in when using a headset.

This release also comes with an added helping of bugs. Many of them have been fixed over the days following launch, though even now it’s a less than stable experience. My first day of playing was filled with a number of bugs and issues, and despite currently being on the latest patch I’ve still had the game softlock on me.

I really want to like Sushi Ben, and I perhaps might if I ever pick up a VR headset later down the line. Everything about it is created with VR in mind, and I just don’t think it offers a fun experience without it. I’ll definitely revisit this if I end up moving into VR, though for now it’s hard to recommend Sushi Ben if you only plan to play non-VR on PC.

Sushi Ben was reviewed on PC via Steam using a code provided by the publisher.

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