"Hara Peko Meme" review. What you need is planning and determination. And if you're a pet lover, you'll love memes

 

The all-new "Harapeko Meme" will be released on Nintendo Switch by Clouded Leopard Entertainment on June 19, 2025 (the PC version will be released on July 31 from Doricom). It is a colony simulation characterized by exploration and cultivation using AI.

Creators Kenichi Nishi (representative works: "Moon", "Chibi Robo!", etc.), creators who have created numerous hit works, Mr. Yukito Morikawa (representative works: "Ganbare Morikawa-kun No. 2, "Astronoka" and others) were involved in planning and production, and the relentless difficulty setting of the demo version released in February 2025 has also become a hot topic.

Famitsu .com also posted a review of the demo version, but this time we will play the same version as the full version and deliver a review again.

A game that is contrary to appearances!

What is needed for "Hara Peko Meme" is the ability to plan and make decisions.

The goal of the game is to feed the memes "the world's best feast". The player guides the memes through the interior of the World Tree, gathering ingredients and cooking a variety of dishes in the Kiseki pot.

The main focus of the game is to explore the World Tree and cultivate memes and bases. The two elements of "time" and "status management" are intertwined with it, making it a full-fledged work that is contrary to the soft atmosphere colored by loose visuals and sounds.

The story progresses by fulfilling the "Toren-sama's request" at the base. It also serves as a tutorial and a play guide, so you can basically play around this.

However, even though it is called a guide, it does not teach you how to do it, but only gives you rough hints, so the player will proceed through trial and error based on that. At first, I thought it was a game where the game was taught by memes with AI, but it turned out that the player was the one who needed to learn the most.

For example, when you are asked to learn the skill of jumping. I knew that I should make them go over the steps many times, but I didn't know where to do it.

In fact, there was an area that could be explored just before that, and beyond that there was a place where you could gain experience to acquire skills to go over steps. However, I didn't notice it, and just wandered around the first area and thought, "What should I do...... I went back and forth a few times and finally realized it a few minutes later and smiled wryly.

On the other hand, the time in the game progresses rapidly while you are trying and error. A day in the game is only 10 minutes. The progress doesn't stop even while the menu window is open, and if you are absent-minded, the day will be over before you do anything.

What's more, at the end of the day, the memes' hunger level rises sharply. If you are hungry, you will be mentally exhausted during your exploration, and you will be at risk of "Yabayaba memeization" that will become uncontrollable and destroy the facilities in your base. In addition, memes only have a lifespan of 15 days......

What the player needs to do is to work backwards from the remaining time of the day and the capacity of the "owl" to store the collected materials, and decide in advance how far to explore, what to collect, and when to retreat. If you act haphazardly, you will usually fail.

You'll also need to decide what skills you want the meme to learn. In this game, you'll need to have the right skills to defeat enemies and invade certain terrains. However, since the frame of skill that can be memorized by one meme is fixed, it is impossible to train an all-rounder. It is necessary to train specialists for each purpose and introduce them as needed.

However, there are various happenings during the exploration. You may find unexpected treasures. In such a case, a drastic decision is required. As I've said many times, this game doesn't teach you how to do things with your hands, so it's important to taste the dead ground and learn it with your body.

On the other hand, there is a great joy when you discover your own solution. It's safe to say that this is an attraction that is not found in games that are too kind.

In addition, the extreme balance pointed out in the demo version is dealt with by setting three difficulty levels. The "normal" version of the product version is within a certain level of difficulty, so even if you were strict with the trial version, you can enjoy it if it is "normal" or "easy", and if you feel that the difficulty of the trial version is good, you should try the "difficult" version and enjoy it to the fullest.

After all, the meme was cute

We've touched on the full-fledged game content that belies the look and feel, but on the other hand, the appeal of the look and atmosphere is probably what you'd expect. The ugly memes are really cute, the worldview is highly complete, including the buildings, terrain, and enemies, and the world is full of charm. A little weak BGM and SE are also good.

When it comes to "AI" that controls memes, it is an excellent and reliable one represented by "generative AI...... You may have an image of that, but in this work, it's the fault of AI (thanks?) The memes are very animating. It's like a pet before you train it.

Even if you think you're doing your best to lead them, they don't move as well as you want, or they quickly exhaust themselves mentally and become a dangerous meme and throw ......away the material they have collected. There will be more trouble.

Before learning, they eat everything. The first time I tried to eat a tree branch, I was surprised, "Oh my gosh!" I'm going to spit it out right away.

However, they say that the stupider the child, the cuter, but as you gradually become more and more controllable, you will probably become attached to it, even if you have a hard time until then. It looks charming, too.

It has a lifespan of only 15 days, so when it comes time to say goodbye, it comes early. You can also build a grave in the base, so I thought it would be nice to keep memories with something like that.

Basically, it's a time-pressed game, so it's hard to afford it, but as you progress through the game and build various buildings, it will gradually become easier to play and you will have more time to enjoy it. This is the type of game we play.

On the other hand, I also want to place an order. If multiple steps appear on the screen, the process may stutter or the cursor may become unresponsive. When moving the viewpoint, it is necessary to enter the opposite direction to the direction you want to move, so there are some places where the operability is not good overall, so I would like to see it supported in future updates.

Despite these drawbacks, I don't think there are many games like this in recent years, so users who like new things should definitely give it a try.