Developed By: Silver Lining
Published By: Krillbite Studio
Category: Simulation
Release Date: 08.07.25
Price: $19.99
*Game Download Code graciously provided for the purpose of review
Fruitbus came out on Steam more than a year ago and then finally dropped on the Switch a couple months ago. I thought it looked like what could be a chill and charming game so I decided to check it out without any info other than a simple description. Did I make the right choice? The game is about inheriting what is essentially a food truck from your grandmother after she passes away. You drive around the many islands of an archipelago, finding ingredients, recipes, and hungry customers along the way.
Many of the customers had already known your grandmother and now you’re tasked with growing your customer base now that she’s gone. As you explore each island, you’ll interact with the locals and take on various quests. I really enjoyed the overall art style and aesthetic of the world, so exploring each island was such a vibe. Though I didn’t really care much for the choppiness of how the characters moved. The game is often chill, but then seeing characters move like the early days of Pokemon Scarlet and Violet took me out of it at times.
While exploring the world is super relaxing, the bread and butter of the game is the cooking. You can find all the ingredients you need out in the world or you can purchase them from various shops across the islands. Once you have all the food you need and the right equipment, you just cook at your own pace. Not having a timer or a customer satisfaction gauge made the cooking aspect way less stressful than other similar games. I thought that was a really nice touch to ensure the game stays relaxing and chill.
The game can get pretty tough once you start being asked to remember a bunch of key details or juggle different kinds of requests and how your fruitbus looks but it never becomes undoable. Once you upgrade your fruitbus enough and figure out what you’re doing, the game just becomes a matter of exploring and patience. It isn’t really something that you can speedrun and the game really rewards you for taking your time and paying attention to everything.
Fruitbus costs a very reasonable $20, which is good considering you’ll get anywhere between 10 and 20 hours out of your playthrough. It’s a very sweet game with such a relaxing experience that you’re going to enjoy like I did. You just need to look past the movement animations and you’ll be fine.
4/5
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