Review - WabiSabi SushiDerby

Publisher: Kodansha

Developer: ITAMAE STUDIO

Available on: PC (Steam), Nintendo Switch

It's a Kentucky Derby! But they're sushi? Okay, the premise of WabiSabi SushiDerby is quite silly, but hear me out: It's sushi. The game's objective is simple: train your sushi and enter them into races. Use boosts and skills to get them across the finish line first. Win. It's silly, but it's also kinda fun.

Ready, Set, Sushi???

WabiSabi SushiDerby is all about sushimaxxing. You mold your sushi and train them and it's off to the races. The sushi itself makes the run, the only part you have control over is boosts and use of skills that your sushi either learned or comes with the type of sushi they are. If the sushi is nabbed by a pair of chopsticks, it's an automatic loss as it's been eaten, but hey, you get paid for it. How much depends on whether you've given it skills that increase it's market price.

After every race, the sushi loses freshness and grade, eventually spoiling and disappearing. By this point, it's a good idea to give the sushi some skills that will increase its price and allow it to lose the race so you can recoup the loss the day before it spoils.

Eat up!

Every race is training and every bit of training increases your skill level and the base level at which sushi pieces start. Different sushi types are unlocked as you level up your sushi training skills. Much of this game is repeating the same races over and over again as you train and build up skill levels. Before each race, there's also a chance at doing some training and picking 3 skill ups out of a draw of 5, giving WabiSabi a bit of that roguelite feeling.

Round and Round We Go

Unfortunately, this is where WabiSabi can get a bit tedious; watching races over and over and over again can get boring and grindy. If you're looking for excitement, it's not quite here.

Beyond that, WabiSabi does have a cute aesthetic with its pixelated sushi running on little rice legs. It's great for a quick play and then get back to work or other activities going on. There's not much happening in the game that requires any major skills beyond hitting a boost at the right moment so WabiSabi is a pretty easy and accessible game.

Overall, the presentation is solid and I didn't encounter any sort of technical issues. While this game isn't something I would play over and over again long term, it does hit the spot if you're looking for something to kill time.

WABISABI SUSHIDERBY IS RECOMMENDED

Thanks to StridePR for providing a code for the purpose of review.