From Krillbite Studio, an indie studio hailing from Norway, comes Fruitbus, a new cozy, open-world, adventure game developed on the Unity engine. 

During your childhood, your Grandma was your best friend and mentor. When she passes away, she leaves you her famed Fruitbus; a travelling food truck that offers salads and smoothies made with local ingredients foraged from across the land. In exchange, her only request is for you to travel the world and get her valued customers and friends to attend her funeral service.  

Though the plot is kind of sad, Fruitbus is a relaxing and cozy open-world game with 3 huge islands to explore. After picking up the Fruitbus and ferrying to the first island, the Banamas, you explore new areas to forage for fruit and vegetables, turning them into salads and smoothies for your customers, and your story is driven by the questlines given to you by locals.  

Selling your goods earns you money, which you can use to upgrade your truck with more storage, bench space, new appliances, and extra supplies for your travels. New tools are also available to purchase, such as the shovel to harvest root produce, like carrots, or the fruit fetcher, handy for collecting hard-to-reach fruit growing on tall trees, and a spanner allows you to install any decorations you’ve purchased to the exterior of the Fruitbus. 

When you’re exploring areas and driving the Fruitbus to new locations, managing your fuel level is crucial – it can be a long walk to the closest fuel station if you run out, but you can pick up jerry cans for an emergency supply. You should also remember to apply the handbrake – you can’t run very fast. 

The game itself is an awesome concept and it’s well-executed. There are a few weird little bugs, like where it can become unresponsive if you Alt-Tab out of the game, or when you trigger an autosave, where your view shoots to the sky, but it’s an overall enjoyable experience. 

The graphics are adorable, filled with really cute animals that have distinct personalities and aesthetics, giving a whole lot of character to the game. When not admiring the cute animals, there are plenty of eye-catching and well-designed points of interest to take it.

My only gripe is that I wasn’t able to disable motion blur. As someone who suffers a lot from motion-related nausea, I always find it is the first thing I look for in the settings of a new game, and I was sad to see this was missing. There were times when the game made me feel physically sick, even with the camera sensitivity being reduced and the camera toggling smoothly. I hope to see this option in a future patch as I’d like to play this game more in the future. 

The sound design definitely matches the aesthetic of the game. Dialogue is all gibberish, giving it a similar vibe to Animal Crossing. It feels appropriate considering the characters in this game are animals too. Music is also very relaxing, and the in-game radio has several channels to choose from. You’re sure to find the vibe you’re going for; be it anything from funky beats to chilled lo-fi. Sound effects, such as when you’re picking fruits, or the whirring of the blender, are also well-produced, adding a sense of cozy ambience.  

Fruitbus is a great indie title with a really cool concept, even with the heartbreaking plot. It has a couple of bugs, but they aren’t really game-breaking, with the exception being it can sometimes become unresponsive if you Alt-Tab out of the game.

The graphics are pretty unique, and coupled with the sound design, it offers a cozy and relaxing atmosphere, letting you drive around and listen to some cool music. I feel like it would benefit from being able to disable motion blur as I wasn’t able to play it for as long as I would have liked due to making me feel physically sick, but all in all, Fruitbus is one to watch for sure.  

Written by: Emily France