Walkthrough Guide

This is the official walkthrough guide for the game "Mermaids are Seafood" on Steam. Note: this guide may make the game feel too easy. It's recommended that you try playing without the guide first then use it if you need help.

Bug reports and feedback: check the Steam Community page here. Please let me know if you encounter any bugs so I can fix them!

Discord & socials: join Discord the server to discuss the game. All other links/socials here.

Extra content: get artbooks, yuri art and other extras on the Kofi shop.

Table of contents

To survive, you need to keep your Blood, Credits and Reviews above 0. Frenzy should stay below 10. If your stats exceed these limits, you'll reach a "bad ending". You can choose to accept Lena's help to give you more stats and continue working, but she will refuse if you've used this too many times.

After every section of story, your target increases and you'll be able to work and visit the Office, Shop, or Restaurant. There are 20 story sessions (chapters). You can check your story/restaurant progress in the settings. Click the button with 3 dots on the top right corner, then click "Items" under Miya's files. 

1. Office

• Contact & Database: view info about the characters or world

• Online Shop: buy items that can increase blood and/or decrease Frenzy

• Web: you can choose one of these actions

  • • borrow 300 Credits, then you have to repay 350 the next time you use the web. Use this if you really need more Credits

    • spend 10 blood to buy 1 review. Use this if you're behind on reviews. It's recommended to get reviews from the restaurant because you'll see unique story and it costs less than 10 blood to buy the needed ingredients

    • buy 1 fish for 60 credits, or 2 for 110 credits. These can be used after story session 15 at the restaurant 

• Bet: spend blood for a chance of more blood and Credits. Chance to win changes randomly after every bet. It can be 10, 15, 20, or 40%. If you lose, you get nothing. The "back" button will not change your result

2. Shop

• Buy/sell ingredients using blood or Credits: prices change randomly after every purchase, not affected by the "back" button. It's possible to buy at low prices and re-sell at high prices to make a profit. Ingredients can be used at the restaurant. Here is the list of possible prices for each item:

Epipelagic: 100, 105, 110, 115, 120, 125 Credits

Mesopelagic: 150, 155, 160, 165, 170, 175, 180, 185 Credits

Bathyal: 200, 210, 220, 230, 235, 240 Credits

Abyssal: 3, 4, 5, 6 Blood

• Buy a scratch card: spend Credits for a chance to win more Credits. 5% chance for big prize, 25% chance for small prize, 70% chance for nothing. The "back" button will not change your result

• Buy intel: spend blood or Credits to learn about customers' backgrounds and tastes. Read the restaurant section for more details

3. Quit my job

You will get some story content. It is possible to choose to get bonus stats for free (reviews, blood, Credits). If you use this option too many times, it results in extra story content. After story session 3, you can also choose to whistleblow which leads to a specific ending. Check the endings section for more info.

4. Restaurant

Check the next section below.

Restaurant & Customers' Tastes

Each time you work at the restaurant, you'll see a new conversation in order. If you've finished all conversations and continue working at the restaurant, you will get a random customer without new story. At the restaurant, you have to serve dishes to customers. If they like the dish, they'll leave good reviews. If not, they'll leave bad reviews. When your number of performance reviews reaches your current target, you can choose to continue the main story.

After story session 15, you'll unlock a new restaurant interaction that can also give good reviews. More details in the "synthesise new Mereminne" section.

If the restaurant part is too difficult, you can switch to Easy Mode (details in its own section).

Customers will hint about what dishes they like during conversations. You can also buy intel about their exact tastes and extra info about their backgrounds from Harin's Shop. Here are their usual tastes for giving a good review:

• Lena, Jia & Dove: always gives a good review

• Harin: Crispiness at 1 or higher, i.e. Roast Scales / Any Meat / Diced Scales

• Clementine: Intensity at -1 or lower, i.e. Fish Mash / Any Meat except Hadal / Any Garnish except Blue Bile

• Seraphina: Sweetness at 2 or higher, i.e. Scaly Rice / Abyssal Meat / Any Garnish except MerJuice

• Elise: Spice at -1 or lower AND Sweetness at -1 or lower, i.e. Salad / Epipelagic Meat / Any Garnish except Plasma

• Marie-Rose: Spice at -1 or lower, i.e. Any Base / Any Meat except Bathyal / Mermaid Roe

• Masked Customer: Spice at 2 or higher, i.e. Coral Bread / Any Meat except Epipelagic / Plasma

Each ingredient will increase or decrease a specific flavour (look at the symbols on each ingredient) as seen below.

Restaurant story

There are unique conversations you'll go through when working at the restaurant. Here is the list in order:

1. Lena I

2. Clementine I

3. Elise I

4. Marie-Rose I

5. Seraphina I

6. Jia I and Aria I

7. Lena II

8. Clementine II

9. Masked Customer I

10. Harin I

11. Seraphina II

12. Harin II

13. Dove I

14. Elise II

15. Seraphina III

16. Harin III

17. Masked Customer II

18. Dove II

19. Harin IV

20. Seraphina IV

If you've finished all 20 conversations and continue working at the restaurant, you will get a random customer without new story, including Seraphina, Harin, Dove and the Masked Customer. It is recommended that you choose to synthesise new mereminne at the restaurant after you unlock it and have completed the 20 conversations, as it will have different story content.

Synthesise new Mereminne

After story session 15, you will unlock the ability to synthesise new Mereminne at the restaurant. Here's how to do it once you have this unlocked:

1. Go to the Office's web and buy Fish (1 for 60 credits, or 2 for 110 credits)

2. Go to the Restaurant and choose "synthesise artificial mereminne"

3. Spend 10 Blood and 1 Fish

4. Serve customers who may have preferences for certain tail or hair colours. You will randomly get 1 of 4 possible customers

If customers like your creation, you'll earn 300 Credits, 12 Blood and a good review. Otherwise, you'll earn 200 Credits and 5 Blood.

Here's all the customers' preferences:

• Harin: Brown hair and green tail

• Seraphina: Blonde hair and blue tail 

• Elise: Pale pink hair and purple tail

• Masked customer: No special preferences

Cheat to raise your stats & Easy mode

1. Bad ending cheat

If your stats are behind by a lot, you can use this cheat function to make the game easier. When Blood/Credits/Reviews reach 0 or less, or Frenzy reaches 10, you'll get a bad ending, but you can choose to continue the game and gain extra stats (you can choose how much to gain). This stops you from getting stuck.

Use this at your own risk because it might make the game feel too easy/boring. I recommend that you replenish your stats from normal ways listed in the work and restaurant sections. If you use this "Cheat" too many times, you'll reach extra story content (same as quitting your job too many times) and cannot use the cheat anymore.

2. Easy mode

If the restaurant part is too difficult, you can switch to Easy Mode by choosing "Help, it's too hard to earn reviews" at the end of a restaurant session.

Easy Mode will give:

• Every time you finish a restaurant session, your review count will be set to the target amount. For example, if your target is 5, your reviews will become 5, so you can continue the main story

• Decrease 1 Frenzy every time you finish a restaurant session. This negates the Frenzy increase for working 

• When you switch to Easy Mode, you'll get 400 Credits and 15 Blood

You can switch back to Normal Mode by choosing "Switch to normal mode" at the end of a restaurant session.

Ending requirements

Each ending comes with its own story content. Endings 4-8 occur after story session 20, showing the 'complete' story while other endings end the game earlier. For the best experience, it's recommended to play through multiple or all endings. You can check your progress using Steam achievements. Here are the requirements for getting each ending:

1. Spotless Mind

During story session 16, have 8 or more "morality" points (you can check this from the settings -> Miya's docs). When talking to Kelpie, choose "I want to join you". When talking to Lena, choose "I'll let you go".

2. Empress

During story session 16, have 8 or more "morality" points (you can check this from the settings -> Miya's docs). When talking to Kelpie, choose "I want to join you". When talking to Lena, choose "(Attack) I can't let you go".

3. Perfect Obsession

During story session 12, have 7 or more "rebel" points  (you can check this from the settings -> Miya's docs) and choose "I have to kill Elise!"

4. Human

Have 18 or more "rebel" points (you can check this from the settings -> Miya's docs) by the time of story session 20. When Clementine talks about quitting during story session 20, choose "I'll come with you. Let's start new lives"

5. Fish

Reconcile with Lena during story session 17 (details about this in the next section about choice requirements for story branches). Return to the ocean during story session 20 (details about this in the next section about choice requirements for story branches).

6. Seafood

DON'T reconcile with Lena during story session 17 (details about this in the next section about choice requirements for story branches). Return to the ocean during story session 20 (details about this in the next section about choice requirements for story branches).

7. Monster

DON'T reconcile with Lena during story session 17 (details about this in the next section about choice requirements for story branches). Next, when Clementine talks about quitting during story session 20, choose "That sounds tough". Next, when Marie-Rose asks you what she should do, choose "You should keep working at Upstream"

8. Mereminne

Reconcile with Lena during story session 17 (details about this in the next section about choice requirements for story branches). Next, when Clementine talks about quitting during story session 20, choose "That sounds tough". Next, when Marie-Rose asks you what she should do, choose "You should keep working at Upstream"

There are 2 variations in the Mereminne route:

• 8a: available if Lena's affection points are 22 or higher (you can check this from the settings -> Miya's docs) by the time of story session 20

• 8b: no special requirement

Premature Failure Endings (ends the game early)

• 9. Premature Failure - Drowned: Choose "Save myself" in story session 5

• 10. Premature Failure - Faded: Quit your job 3 times without whistleblowing OR Bad ending for 4 times (i.e. Reach 0 Credits/Blood/Reviews or 10 Frenzy)

• 11. Premature Failure - Erased: Quit your job and whistleblow (available after story session 3)

Requirements for story branches

Here are the choices you have to make to see major story branches, which will impact the story and even what endings you can get. There are also minor story branches that have smaller effects on the story, which won't be listed here.

• Story session 4 - Dinner swap: If you choose 'Yes', you'll see extra story and reduce Lena's affection

• Story session 9 - Who to support: There are 2 options. They will show different story variations for Story sessions 9 and 10

Affects endings:

1. Reconcile with Lena

• How to reconcile with Lena: Story session 17, when prompted with "Should I talk to Lena?", choose "Yes, talk to Lena", then "I'm sorry for not trusting you before". When Lena asks you to tell her everything, DON'T choose "I'm developing a drink with Marie-Rose". After Lena confesses her story, choose "I want to reconcile"

• What this branch affects: some parts of the story will be different in sessions 18, 19, and 20. Some endings are locked behind this.

2. Return to the ocean

• How to return to the ocean: Have 12 or more "morality" points (you can check this from the settings -> Miya's docs) by the time of story session 20. When Clementine talks about quitting during story session 20, choose "That sounds tough". Next, when Marie-Rose asks you what she should do, choose "Let's return to our true forms"

• What this branch affects: you will get a story branch after story session 20. Some endings are locked behind this.