Review: Rolling Hills is a sweet relaxing way to unwind

When you first received it Rolling Hills: Making Sushi, Making Friends, that title is no joke; you actually spend time in Rolling Hills making friends and making sushi. Although the game loop and plot are simple, Hill is a relaxing game that made me finally understand the appeal of the so-called “cozy” genre.

Game Hill follows Sushi Bot, a sushi-making robot, who moves to the town of Rolling Hills. This is a pretty strange place, but residents hope the novelty of a sushi-making robot can revive the town. As you play through the story, you’ll meet a lot of new people in town, as well as learn that there’s a curse on Rolling Hills, making the place dark. Well, that’s not good! With the help of the people, together you complete several rituals to lift this curse and put Rolling Hills back on the map. At its heart, this is a story about community. The writing style is very simple and clearly shows its theme. But complexity doesn’t always make for a better story and Hill is proof of that.

Rolling Hills: Make Sushi, Make Friends has a very addictive game loop. I often find myself thinking I’d like to go in and make some sushi to relax after work in real life. Each day is quite short, as there isn’t much to do in the game. Each day, you can buy items from different characters in town, spend time with them in the cafe, and then get back to work. Food service lasts about three rounds, but customers tend to eat only three plates of food before leaving. Because each day is short and bite-sized, it’s easy to play for hours without realizing it.

As for the serving part, the Sushi Bot doesn’t actually make any sushi. Another robot is making multiple plates at a time and then placing them all on the conveyor belt. The Sushi Bot’s job is more like that of a human waiter. When a customer walks in, they order a flavor, along with a quality. For example, they might want a Veggie with a quality of 5. Your job then is to find the corresponding dish and give it to them.

If there aren’t any dishes that match the customer’s description, you can bite the bullet and give them something else that will give you fewer stars, or you can restock the conveyor belt. Truth be told, I’ve given customers a meal that wasn’t the quality they wanted, or a meal that was the right quality but tasted different. As far as I can tell, there’s really no downside to this, other than the customer giving you fewer stars for that meal. They pay as they go, and negative reviews don’t make you less likely to visit. I suppose it’s a way to keep the game from getting too boring.

As you increase the level of your restaurant, you have to start managing more than just serving orders. Customers can fall asleep or take pictures of Sushi Bot with the flash (which can stun him). I understand customers complaining about dirty tables, but some customers give me bad reviews if I don’t wake them up when they fall asleep on the table and they leave early. It’s funny because they really don’t have to. Sushi Bot didn’t kick them out or anything. I suppose it’s like a buffet or a time-limited buffet (especially because of the customers Hill pay at the door). But the image of someone writing a bad review on Yelp even though Surname It’s funny to me that people fall asleep at restaurants. It’s funny, but I can definitely see people making such ridiculous complaints in real life.

In recent years, “cozy” games have become a genre much like “soulful.” Many companies market their games as “cozy,” even when they’re not. Hill It really feels like a laid back game, in the true sense of the term. Everyone in town is very nice and sweet, the game doesn’t punish you for your failures, and there isn’t much risk. Stardew Valleyfor example, is quite a popular game, but the constant passage of time can make it a bit stressful. I always want to get my money’s worth when it comes to both profit and harvest. Animals crossing It also gets a little less cozy at times due to mechanics like flower breeding and island creation. In that sense, the game’s simplicity and lack of a calendar system make it easy to just focus on making sushi every day.

For all the praise I give Hillit has some minor issues. This is personal preference, but I don’t like your method of resetting the conveyor belt. It seems like the sushi disappears into thin air so it’s not like the Sushi Bot is throwing them away. Still, it feels a bit sad to see perfectly good sushi go to waste like that, especially if the entire sushi conveyor belt has to operate due to customer demand. I know that’s not true, but it’s still bad to see in the early levels when there’s more time to hang around and relax.

Additionally, after meeting Gibson, you can unlock a small helper robot. Even after raising Gibson’s friendship, the robot is still more of a hindrance than anything. It is responsible for helping Sushi Bot by cleaning and upgrading furniture around the restaurant. But it’s too slow to get to the table before the customer complains (which means it’s easier for me to handle it manually), and it can block both Sushi Bot and the customer’s path. I wish I could sell it for scrap.

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 plenty to do even if you’re not interested in the story. Just make sure you have the number to your local sushi shop on speed dial! You’ll want to grab a plate or two of nigiri while playing this game.

Hill available on Xbox One and Windows PC. Windows PC version considered.

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