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Umihara Kawase

It's truly a shame that the series didn't have any sort of presence in the west until quite recently. I feel like if the title had managed to grab an overseas audience we might've seen even more titles from the developers besides the three games they did end up releasing over the last two decades. The series certainly deserved it.
Umihara Kawase Game Cover
94%Game Brain Score
gameplay, music
grinding
93% User Score Based on 300 reviews
Critic Score 95%Based on 1 reviews

Platforms

PCSteam DeckWindows
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Umihara Kawase Game Cover

About

Umihara Kawase is a single player puzzle game. It was developed by Studio Saizensen and was released on November 2, 2015. It received very positive reviews from both critics and players.

Umihara Kawase is a challenging physics-based platformer following a skilled fisherwoman. Using her fishing line, players swing, climb, and navigate through levels filled with obstacles and enemies. With a variety of abilities and items, players must outmaneuver and catch creatures while managing resources to complete each stage.

Genres & Tags
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Umihara Kawase screenshot
Umihara Kawase screenshot
Umihara Kawase screenshot
Umihara Kawase screenshot
Umihara Kawase screenshot
Umihara Kawase screenshot
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93%
Audience ScoreBased on 300 reviews
gameplay42 positive mentions
grinding6 negative mentions
  • Umihara Kawase features incredibly satisfying and unique grappling mechanics that allow for a high skill ceiling and rewarding gameplay.
  • The game has a charming aesthetic with a whimsical soundtrack, making it visually appealing despite its challenging nature.
  • The addition of a practice mode and the ability to replay levels enhances the experience, allowing players to improve their skills and explore different routes.
  • The game suffers from frustrating enemy spawn mechanics and poorly designed boss fights that can detract from the overall enjoyment.
  • Players face a steep learning curve, with one-hit kills and a lack of checkpoints leading to frequent game overs and repetition.
  • The controls can feel awkward and unresponsive at times, making it difficult for players to master the game's mechanics.
  • gameplay
    126 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Umihara Kawase is a challenging old-school Japanese precision platformer that centers around a unique grappling mechanic using an elastic fishing line, offering deep and rewarding gameplay with a high skill ceiling. While the game features a steep learning curve and can be frustrating at times, it rewards players who invest time in mastering its mechanics, with well-designed levels that allow for varied approaches. The gameplay is characterized by its complexity and nuance, making it appealing to a niche audience that appreciates hardcore platforming experiences.

    • “Has surprisingly deep and rewarding gameplay, with a very high skill ceiling.”
    • “The entire game is built around the mechanic of the fishing line, and it is almost shocking how much depth and variety exist within that one seemingly simple tool.”
    • “Umihara Kawase combines airtight level design with an incredibly deep core mechanic (that crazy elastic fishing line) to create something special.”
    • “An old game with a unique mechanic that fails on its execution.”
    • “Everything about this feels impossibly niche, from the tiny resolution to the lack of options to the inscrutable mechanics.”
    • “The only trouble is that it may take a while to even get a familiar grasp on how the mechanics work.”
  • music
    48 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game is widely praised for its cheerful and playful nature, fitting well with the sushi theme and enhancing the overall experience. While some users noted issues with the volume settings, once adjusted, the soundtrack is described as beautiful and relaxing, complementing the game's vibrant visuals and challenging gameplay. Overall, the music adds a unique charm to the platformer, making it enjoyable despite the game's difficulty.

    • “The soundtrack is beautiful and fits the game’s theme.”
    • “Paired with pleasant music and nice surreal visuals, it's a lovely game.”
    • “Great music, great art, great gameplay - this game has really surpassed my expectations and become my favorite platformer.”
    • “And don't forget to turn up the music in the settings, for some reason it's so low that you can't hear it by default.”
    • “Soundtrack is decent but not really noteworthy, which is good because you're going to be hearing it a lot as you make your way through 50+ levels.”
    • “Some of the most absolutely sadistic level design I've ever seen in a platforming game, definitely not for the faint of heart despite its cutesy aesthetic and cheery music.”
  • graphics
    40 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of the game are praised for their unique and surreal aesthetic, featuring bright visuals and a charming art direction that enhances the overall experience. While some users noted minor issues like glitching water textures, the visuals are generally considered a standout aspect, complementing the game's challenging level design and catchy music. Despite the cutesy appearance, the game presents a brutally difficult platforming experience, creating a striking contrast that adds to its appeal.

    • “Really amazing platformer with a very specific charm you can't find anywhere else thanks to the graphics, music, art direction, and fish.”
    • “Each level is full of bright visuals, wonderful music and challenging obstacles and enemies to overcome.”
    • “The art style is unique at least and quite surreal.”
    • “I bought this back in 2019 as soon as I saw the SNES aesthetic (completely unaware this originally released in 1994) but soon dropped it because I couldn't make much progress past the tadpole.”
    • “Graphics and sounds are exactly the same as the Sufami version, if not extremely similar.”
    • “Don't be fooled by the cutesy graphics and laid-back music.”
  • story
    20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's story is minimal and often considered secondary to the gameplay experience, with many players noting a lack of overbearing narrative or character development. While some find enjoyment in the exploration of an interesting world accompanied by good music, others point out that the game lacks a clear motivation or storyline, culminating in a simple credits roll at the end. Overall, it is described as an arcade experience focused more on challenging gameplay than on storytelling.

    • “Greatest story ever told in the medium.”
    • “No overbearing story, no annoying characters, no unnecessary padding and cutscenes.”
    • “It's hard to say what the story or motivation is, but with a few good musical tracks and an interesting world to explore, it's a lot of fun.”
    • “There's no real story as far as I know since reaching an ending just brings up the credits.”
    • “UK is a purely arcade experience, with no story or any other unnecessary trappings.”
    • “Just when you conquer a challenging field, you'll be filtered by the next immediate level, and have to spend a long time in practice mode trying to get through it before you return to the story mode to try and do it for real with limited attempts.”
  • humor
    10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game is described as a mix of quirky and dark, with players noting its amusing elements, such as a funny hat and a "funny fish" theme. Overall, the game balances its comedic aspects with a sense of mischief, creating a unique and entertaining experience.

    • “It can show you both how funny and how evil this game can get.”
    • “This game sure has a quaint sense of humor.”
    • “It's pretty funny.”
  • replayability
    10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game offers high replayability due to its non-linear structure and maze-like levels, where players cannot access all areas in a single playthrough. The challenging mechanics and interesting gimmicks encourage repeated attempts, making it a rewarding experience for those who enjoy mastering platformers. Overall, players find it to have significant replay value, enhancing the enjoyment of the game.

    • “This gives the game tons of replayability, as you won't see every level in each playthrough.”
    • “Fantastic difficult 2D platformer with tons of replay value.”
    • “The world of Umihara Kawase isn't some linear trip, but instead is structured like some sort of maze. Each field (level) has a door that you have to find to proceed, some of which fork with two doors; it's impossible to see every field and access every door in one playthrough. Coupled with the never-ending learning curve of the physics, there's tremendous replay value.”
    • “The world of Umihara Kawase isn't a linear trip; instead, it is structured like a maze. Each field (level) has a door that you have to find to proceed, some of which fork into two doors. It's impossible to see every field and access every door in one playthrough, so coupled with the never-ending learning curve of the physics, there's tremendous replay value.”
  • grinding
    6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious due to the lack of continues or saving, which forces them to repeatedly redo levels and face certain bosses multiple times for completion. While this system encourages skill improvement rather than relying on luck or stat grinding, it can lead to frustration, especially with fixed battles that require numerous attempts. Overall, the grinding experience is seen as a double-edged sword, appealing to a niche audience but potentially off-putting for others.

    • “There are no continues or saving, which I personally don't like - it just gets tedious redoing levels you know how to do extremely well at a certain point, and there are some frustrating moments, which especially suck because there's a lives system.”
    • “The most notable problem being the tadpole boss in field 8, which is really not hard and takes about 3 minutes (it's a fixed 'battle', so you can't do it any faster). You'll have to be fighting him many times if you wish to do 100%, it gets rather tedious.”
    • “There are no continues or saving, which I personally don't like - it just gets tedious redoing levels you know how to do extremely well at a certain point, and there are some frustrating moments, which especially suck because there's a lives system.”
  • optimization
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game has received significant performance improvements over the original SNES version, eliminating the lag caused by its heavy physics engine, resulting in a smooth gameplay experience.

    • “The gameplay overall is still exactly the same as the Sufami version, with many performance improvements.”
    • “The original SNES game suffered from lag due to the heavy physics engine, but this runs smoothly without any problem.”
  • atmosphere
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game is consistently praised for its pleasant atmosphere, evoking a warm and inviting feeling that enhances the overall experience.

    • “This game has a very pleasant atmosphere and a warm feeling to it.”
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95%Critics’ scoreBased on 1 critic reviews
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Frequently Asked Questions

Umihara Kawase is a puzzle game.

Umihara Kawase is available on PC, Steam Deck and Windows.

Umihara Kawase was released on November 2, 2015.

Umihara Kawase was developed by Studio Saizensen.

Umihara Kawase has received very positive reviews from both players and critics. Most players liked this game for its gameplay but disliked it for its grinding.

Umihara Kawase is a single player game.

Similar games include Sayonara Umihara Kawase, Umihara Kawase Shun, Project Earth, BZZZT, Grapple Dog and others.