VR Gaming

Published on February 9th, 2026 | by Nay Clark

Umami Grove Review (PSVR2)

Forage, cook, and share meals in a cozy world full of charming creatures! Umami Grove is a physics based VR adventure cooking game developed by Pomshine Games and published by Pomshine Games alongside DANGEN Entertainment. It first launched on April 24, 2025 for SteamVR, Meta Quest, and PICO before making its way to PlayStation VR2 on January 27, 2026. The game draws its inspiration from the culinary concept of umami, widely known as the fifth basic taste alongside sweet, sour, bitter, and salty. Discovered in 1908 by Kikunae Ikeda, umami represents a savory, deeply satisfying flavor often associated with foods like mushrooms, aged cheese, soy sauce, meats, and tomatoes. That philosophy of richness and balance translates directly into Umami Grove, which blends exploration, cooking, and environmental interaction into a cozy VR experience centered around helping adorable creatures by crafting meals and completing various challenges.

You are dropped off on a mysterious island by a boatman who cryptically mentions finding golden acorns before sailing away and leaving you to fend for yourself. From there, the narrative unfolds through exploration and interactions with the island’s bizarre yet endearing inhabitants. You might encounter a tiny snail girl living inside a tree, a mole dreaming of seeing the world from higher ground, or an energetic flower creature that darts around with chaotic enthusiasm. Completing their requests earns you golden acorns, slowly building curiosity about why they matter and what the boatman truly wants. The narrative leans fully into a comforting, whimsical tone. The characters carry much of the storytelling weight through their personalities and quirky dialogue, creating a world that feels welcoming and strangely hard to leave.

Movement and exploration form the backbone of Umami Grove’s gameplay. The island is split into four seasonal themed zones, each filled with ingredients, environmental puzzles, and character driven quests. You traverse these areas by physically jumping, climbing tree roots and frozen peaks, crossing ropes, scaling rocky cliffs, and occasionally misjudging jumps in a way that feels natural within VR’s physicality. Progression is tied to collecting at least five golden acorns per zone, allowing the boatman to ferry you to new regions. Acorns are rewarded through a variety of activities ranging from simple environmental tasks like building snowmen or retrieving items, to more structured cooking quests that serve as the game’s central objective.

Each zone begins with a campsite that acts as a central hub, equipped with a pan, a boiling pot, a preparation table with a knife, and a local resident who requests specific meals. Recipes are tracked in your in game book, which also logs discovered ingredients, characters, and collected acorns. Gathering materials involves physically interacting with the world by picking apples, foraging berries, pulling carrots from the ground, or catching fish. Inventory management is handled naturally in VR, allowing you to place items behind their head to store them or manually manage inventory through menus.

Meal preparation is incredibly accessible. You activate a cutting mode by holding ingredients and using the knife to slice them according to recipe instructions, such as halving mushrooms or chopping carrots into smaller pieces. Ingredients are then boiled or fried depending on the dish, and once cooking is complete, ringing a bell finalizes the meal. The system feels responsive and satisfying thanks to its tactile nature and intuitive controls. The simplicity keeps the pacing brisk and prevents tasks from becoming overwhelming. However, the streamlined approach also reveals one of the game’s biggest missed opportunities. Despite the wide variety of ingredients, the actual cooking methods rarely expand beyond cutting, boiling, or frying. More complex systems like mixing ingredients, preparing salads, or experimenting with creative combinations could have added meaningful depth and player expression. The recipes often differentiate themselves through ingredient sourcing rather than preparation variety, which can limit long term engagement.

Outside of cooking, Umami Grove thrives on its playful side activities and environmental interaction. The world is packed with optional minigames that showcase VR mechanics in fun ways. Archery requires physically pulling arrows from behind your back and firing them with a bow, while snowboarding segments rely on leaning your body to steer. These diversions help maintain variety and reinforce the physical immersion the game is built around. Climbing mechanics stand out as particularly polished, allowing you to scale surfaces naturally with your hands rather than relying on button prompts, which strengthens the sense of presence within the environment.

That said, the game does encounter occasional technical frustrations tied to its physics driven systems. Ingredients left unattended on cooking surfaces disappear if you leave the immediate area, forcing meals to be completed in a single uninterrupted session. More frustrating are moments where physics interactions fail entirely. Instances of chopped ingredients falling through the ground and becoming permanently inaccessible can result in wasted materials and repeated ingredient gathering. These issues are not constant, but they are noticeable enough to disrupt the otherwise relaxing rhythm. The lack of inventory space becomes more apparent when you start carrying backup ingredients to avoid potential glitches, adding mild but persistent inconvenience.

Visually, Umami Grove delivers a warm and inviting aesthetic defined by colorful, cartoon inspired visuals with subtle cel shaded lighting. The seasonal zones each bring unique visual identities and charming environmental details. Food items are especially expressive, featuring humorous visual effects such as tiny ghosts escaping when slicing into ghost peppers. Character designs lean heavily into playful exaggeration, helping the cast feel memorable and full of personality. Unfortunately, environmental polish is less consistent. Certain areas reveal visible gaps or holes in terrain that expose empty voids beneath the world. Draw distance limitations become noticeable when viewing landscapes from elevated areas, and occasional graphical hiccups, including a brief screen blackout accompanied by unreadable white code, reveal rough edges. These moments do not break the experience but do highlight areas where additional refinement could have significantly strengthened immersion.

Audio design is one of the game’s strongest elements. The soundtrack carries a lively, cheerful tone that reinforces the cozy atmosphere without becoming repetitive. Environmental sound effects are surprisingly detailed, with subtle touches like crunching leaves underfoot or cracking ice beneath steps adding tactile realism. Character voice work is delivered through an expressive gibberish style that occasionally includes recognizable words, giving each creature personality without relying on traditional dialogue. There are minor audio bugs, such as looping environmental sounds persisting across zones, but they are rare and easy to overlook compared to the overall quality of the soundscape.

From a content perspective, Umami Grove is a relatively compact experience. A full playthrough typically lasts around four hours, with completionists able to extend that time by a few additional hours while finishing optional quests and collecting everything. The game succeeds at delivering a focused, relaxing adventure that never overstays its welcome. It evokes a similar emotional tone to titles like Bugsnax, combining lighthearted storytelling, quirky characters, and food themed exploration into a comforting package.

Final Thoughts?

Umami Grove is a charming and thoughtfully designed VR adventure that excels at creating atmosphere and personality through its world, characters, and tactile interaction systems. The climbing mechanics, immersive gathering, and satisfying physical cooking actions make it consistently enjoyable to play. Its simplicity keeps the experience approachable and relaxing, though that same simplicity occasionally limits its mechanical depth. Technical hiccups, physics inconsistencies, and environmental polish issues prevent it from reaching its full potential, but they rarely overshadow the warmth and creativity that define the game. Despite its shortcomings, Umami Grove delivers a genuinely delightful VR journey filled with heart, humor, and memorable moments. It feels like a carefully crafted comfort experience that values tone and interaction. With additional refinement and expanded cooking mechanics, a future sequel could easily transform this already enjoyable foundation into something truly special. Umami Grove is an easy recommendation for anyone seeking a cozy, character driven VR adventure that embraces creativity, exploration, and the simple joy of making food for friends.

About the Author

Nay Clark Gaming holds a special place in my heart and I never stop talking about video games. I really love all types of games and have an interest in games that have complicated stories and lore because I enjoy untangling the mystery of it all. When I'm not gaming, I unsuccessfully try to control three amazing and incredibly bright kids.

Related Posts

Mulan 2125 – Episode 2 Review (Quest) →

Shadowgate VR: The Mines of Mythrok Review (PSVR2) →

Roboquest VR Review (PSVR2) →

Sweet Surrender Review (PSVR2) →