UMIGARI | ウミガリ Review Summary

Creative and unique atmosphere: The game stands out with its creative and slightly bizarre feel, offering a fresh and fun approach to the genre. Players enjoy the unique and intriguing gameplay elements, as well as the surreal and horrific setting.

Enjoyable and unique gameplay: The game offers a fun and engaging experience with its unique spear-fishing mechanics and enjoyable gameplay loop. Players appreciate the satisfying gameplay and the creative approach to fishing games.

Positive reception of Chilla's Art style: Players enjoy the unique style of Chilla's Art games, appreciating the creativity and the break from the usual horror mold. The game is considered a good addition to the Chilla's Art catalog.

Good for beginners: The game is accessible for beginners, offering a low entry barrier due to fewer horror elements and providing a good introduction to the series.

Convenience features: Players appreciate the convenience features in the game, such as the pause feature when accessing the menu and the save system that allows completing the game.

Performance and optimization issues: The game suffers from significant performance issues, including crashes, poor optimization, and bugs. These issues make the game almost unplayable for some users.

Repetitive and boring gameplay: The game features repetitive tasks, particularly with fishing, which becomes tedious over time. Players report that the novelty wears off quickly, leading to fatigue.

Lack of horror elements: The game lacks the horror elements that were prominent in previous titles by the same developer. This has left many players disappointed and feeling that the game is misrepresented.

Disappointing overall experience: Many players express overall disappointment with the game, citing various issues such as lack of horror elements, repetitive gameplay, and performance issues.

Excessive grinding and upgrades: The game requires excessive grinding and frequent upgrades, which can be costly and time-consuming. This aspect of the game adds to the repetitive and tedious nature of the gameplay.

Fishing and boat mechanics: The game heavily focuses on fishing mechanics, including spear-fishing and using a boat to explore and unlock new areas. Players can upgrade their boat and equipment, although these upgrades may have limited benefits.

Gameplay variety and length: The game offers a variety of gameplay mechanics, including exploration, fishing, hunting, and cultivation. It is described as the largest and most gameplay-rich game by Chilla's Art, with a significant length and multiple endings.

Horror elements and atmosphere: The game features a mix of horror and surreal elements, creating an unsettling atmosphere. It includes tense moments, strange occurrences, and Lovecraftian horror, but is suitable for non-horror players.

Graphics Settings Ineffectiveness: Changing graphics settings, including upscaling, ray tracing, and switching between DX12 and DX11, does not affect FPS. Players note that even high-end GPUs like the RTX 5080 only achieve 60-80 FPS regardless of settings.

Game Crashes and Stability: Several players report game crashes, especially during streaming and on lowest settings. Some players experience stable FPS on specific hardware, but crashes are a common issue.

Steam Deck Control Issues: Controls are reported to be problematic on the Steam Deck, making the game difficult to play on this platform.

Mixed recommendations based on preferences: Players have varying opinions on whether to recommend the game. Some suggest it is worth buying based on reviews, while others advise against it, especially for those expecting traditional gameplay.

Technical considerations for players: The game may not be suitable for low-spec users. Additionally, players are advised to wait for updates regarding controller layouts, especially for Steam Deck users.

Save game before ending: Players are advised to save the game before progressing to the ending, indicating a potential issue or significant event at the end of the game.

Value for price: Some players feel the game offers good value for its price, especially for those who enjoy horror in a surreal world with unique elements like fishing.

Refund awareness: Players should be aware of the refund time and consider it seriously, suggesting there might be issues with the game that could lead to refund requests.

Steam Deck: The Steam Deck experience is marred by significant technical issues, including frequent game crashes, performance problems requiring extensive tinkering, and specific gameplay bugs. These issues collectively result in a highly frustrating user experience.

FPS Workaround Used: Players have reported locking the FPS at 80 and using lossless scaling x2 as a workaround for performance issues.

Copyright Issues with BGM: Content creators on YouTube have faced copyright issues due to the ending background music of the game.

Pufferfish Not Worth Catching: Players find that the pufferfish at the beginning of the game is not worth catching due to its flavor, and it is more efficient to aim for tuna instead.

Movie Adaptation Mention: There is a mention of '夜勤事件' being adapted into a movie, which could be of interest to fans of the game.