Smushi Come Home Review: A Fungus Full of Heart

Note: mild spoilers ahead

Since playing the demo for Smushi Come Home (formerly Shumi Come Home) at PAX East early this year, I have not been able to stop thinking about this game. From wondering how the little guy got separated from his family, to thinking about his adorable little face, it was constantly on my mind. I’m so happy SomeHumbleOnion shadow-dropped this when they did. If you like feeling good, Smushi is definitely the game for you.  

Human Items Repurposed for a Mushroom

In Smushi Come Home, you play as a tiny mushroom who gets separated from both his siblings and home island, and must journey through different forest biomes (and seasons!) to get home. The controls are pretty straightforward, which makes for an easily maneuvered game, especially for someone like me who is notorious for struggling with a game and immediately giving up. You’re given a set of rusty fishing hooks for climbing, a leaf for gliding, and eventually an Allen wrench for smashing. Throughout the adventure, you meet different creatures that will upgrade your tools to climb higher, fly greater distances, and eventually go diving!

{image description: Tiny mushroom friend with a red cap inside of a halfway snow buried blue mug in a snowy rocky area with another buried mug nearby}

{image description: small mushroom character with a yellow flower on his head, upside down like a hat in a hole in the ground surrounded by large red capped mushrooms}

Tiny Hats? Yes please!

The detail SomeHumbleOnion put into the game is refreshing. Spores falling off environmental mushrooms was a small joy of mine to run through and experience. As you glided through the air with your leaf it would dry out with your stamina, turning from a fresh green to a crunchy brown with holes widening. Smushi’s little arms trailing behind and his eyes changing to be super concentrated as he ran just added to the cute factor. 

Best of all, you can unlock different skins and hats for your little friend. The delight I felt every time I got a new skin or topper was like a warm cup of tea on a cold day. From a strawberry hat to an inky black mushroom cap with little tassels, the options are so varied and adorable. I, obviously, am partial to a goth mushroom; envision that how you will.

A Game with Science

A surprising and welcomed new addition from my time with the demo was the Mycology Journal. Throughout the different biomes, you discover so many different types of mushrooms. This section gives you facts about the mushrooms, how to identify them, and even little notes from Smushi (“I’m fascinated and terrified at the same time…”).

Breakdown

Game: Smushi Come Home

Developer: SomeHumbleOnion

Availability: PC, Nintendo Switch

Reviewed on Nintendo Switch Lite

Pros:

+ Witty humor

+ Tiny hats

+ Easy to play with minor challenging bits

Final Thoughts

Overall, I adored Smushi Come Home. It’s a value for anyone to play, adults or children. Such as; lessons that teach Smushi that maybe it’s not so important to be tough, but be brave instead, or how to resolve conflicts with siblings. The witty, dry, sometimes sarcastic humor of the game and its characters is fantastic. Using text shaking as a means of emphasis really was the icing on the cake.  Plus there is a certain “world’s largest rodent” surprise that left me squealing. And as a sucker for a good story, you know I cried at both the end and the beginning. In the end, Smushi truly is a special game that I highly recommend anyone play. At just under four hours for the main story (about 5 hours completion), it’s a bite sized snack that fills you up like a meal. A stuffed mushroom if you will. 

{image description: mushroom character in a grassy cliff area near a cave with yellow flowers speaking to a character who looks like a living strawberry saying “I thought you were that crazy girl who tried to eat me”}

Written by Kelsey Lynn Towndrow