Bugsnax

The 2010's were the age of games that subverted expectations. Not necessarily expectations of quality, but rather of content. Games like Doki Doki Literature Club!, Undertale, and OneShot have gotten famous for on the surface seeming to be simple and fun experiences, but hiding beneath that veneer a deeper tale. Bugsnax is no different, although it tends to take a turn that not even the user-assigned "Psychological Horror" tag on Steam can prepare you for.

The premise is simple. You are an unnamed Journalist looking for a big break, so you venture off to the remote Snaktooth Island in hopes of documenting the discovery of the titular Bugsnax within it. While there you make conversation with the many different personalities that have also sought after Bugsnax for whatever reason, all on the heels of an intrepid explorer who has mysteriously vanished. The core gameplay loop that attracts players is collecting Bugsnax, and engaging in quests with the other islanders to uncover the greater mystery of the creatures' existence. Indeed that remains intact through almost the whole game but... something is off.

It's difficult to talk about the details of why because, as is typical with these kinds of games, explaining it spoils the experience. However I feel it necessary to do so in this case because how the story develops has had a large influence on what I think of the game as a whole. If you aren't ready for spoilers yet, skip a few paragraphs down.

The one thing you sense fairly quickly as you get to know the islanders is this great sort of tension in the air. Almost everyone has split up before you arrived, over disagreements that aren't yet obvious to you yet. However as you fulfill your quests and convince the people to rejoin the village in the center of the island, their animosities towards each other are revealed, and try as you might to help them all make amends it seems to be a fruitless endeavor.

Similar struggles appear in the side-quests when you try to help inhabitants with their own lives and issues. An example I'll give is with Wiggle: a rather melismatic singer desperate to prove she's not a one-hit wonder. You try various ideas to fuel her inspiration, including engaging in a fight with one of the "Legendary" bosses in an epic battle... but it's all to no avail. Her questline ends with her dejected and resigned to the fact that she may never be known for music that is truly meaningful to her. After it ends you get automatically warped back to your own hut in the village, which happens to be next to Wiggle's. I heard snoring noises from her hut that night. Given the context though, I thought she was crying.

This isn't unique to her. Every other Grumpus ends up in a depressive episode through their questlines and there is nothing you can do to snap them out of it. Chandlo has self-esteem issues and is left scared that he'll never be strong enough for his partner, Snorpy. Wambus and Gramble are devoted to farming and caring for the Bugsnax respectively, and shame themselves as failures when it doesn't work out. Floofty's experimentation on the Snax almost lead to them essentially taking their own life, but the real gutpunch actually came slightly earlier, when I discovered one of the video diaries belonging to the beforementioned explorer Lizbert. In it, her assistant and partner Eggabell is directly being consoled through a depressive episode, and has to be convinced that her life still has worth.

That is the heart of Bugsnax. Not the creature collection, not even the ending which I haven't gotten to (although it certainly twists the knife), but rather an expose of a bunch of sad desperate people that can only spiral further into despair, with no real closure or remedy at the end of it.

If I had to describe this game in one word, it would be draining. The gameplay at first solid, only soured on me thanks to a story that emotionally debilitated me, while giving me barely anything for my troubles. Combine this with the fact that I initially came for Bugsnax with the seeming promise of a relaxed and cute experience? Let's just say it leaves me with a sick feeling in my stomach.

In a culture of greed, gluttony, and corn syrup, the amount of slop that we put into our bodies (myself included) goes right past our eyes. It's only fairly recently have we been able to see more and more of how our food is made, and how ineffectively it is distributed. Look up the food safety section on Wikipedia. If it's anything I want to take from this game, it's that you should be aware of what you eat. Be very aware of what you eat. Also, really cute creature design! Cheepoof definitely takes my crown. Also in love with Bunger as everyone should be. Bunger Bunger. Hahahaa.

In desperate need of more games that manage to capture the aesthetic and vibe of playing through some episodes of a goofy cartoon, because this game absorbed me for basically the entire time I was playing it. Really the game puts you into one of the most immediately inviting and charming worlds and then bases its entire gameplay around analysing said world with incredible detail to properly understand how it all interacts. This is really why a big part of why Bugsnax works as well as it does, it not only crafts a detailed setting, but then encourages the player to take it all in as well, with a lot of time being dedicated to just waiting around and trying to better understand how to approach any given situation, casually playing at their own pace and experimenting both with the tools they have, and with the world around them. There are of course other parts of the game that help support this core gameplay notably the writing surrounding it all and the way that the group of very simple mechanics are applied to so many unique interactions to constantly give a sense of discovery even when nothing much fundamentally changes with your capabilities.

The writing brings things even further along for a few reasons, my favourite of which being the way that so many interactions and situations feel really off to be in a game that has the aesthetic of something purely family friendly and happy. Seeing these muppet-like creatures just absolutely despise one another’s presence, shouting vitriol at one another about the reasons for their failed marriages and even lamenting capitalism’s grip over society is a sight to behold, especially since the way it’s presented never crosses the line into anything that could be conceived as edgy. At the end of the day you will have so many moments like this that feel wrong and kinda miserable, but it’s still something entirely appropriate to give to an 8 year old and just watch them explore the vibrant beauty of it all. It also cannot be understated how much I love how casually queer the game is, having 2 gay couples along with a non-binary character, all of which who get represented in a very blatant way without ever drawing attention specifically to the fact that they’re queer, they’re just as they are and it’s 100% normalised and I love that a lot in this context.

Bugsnax is a delight and really pushes the whole vibe of monster collecting up far beyond what I’d ever have expected, everything about this game is either offputting or an absolute delight without any real inbetween, something that’s especially prevalent with how many darker themes are kinda just, swept under the rug, the most obvious being the body horror of your limbs turning into the food you eat. Not really a game that I feel I can go on forever about because so much of it is purely based on the immaculate atmosphere and vibes, but it’s an incredibly strong recommendation nonetheless.

Bugsnax really was a surprise for almost everyone when it came out. The game sort of became a joke and meme when it was first revealed during the Playstation showcasing back in June, and most people brushed the game off as a silly kid game with outdated graphics and quirky music. I mean most people were looking forward to games like God of War, Horizon, and Uncharted or Elden Ring and when we got this game trailer thrown into the mix, it just seemed a little out of place, even if the game looked fine, so people overblew the criticism to this and many people were already joking this was going to be the Knack of PS5.

Well this game ended up being free on PS+ for PS5 owners the first month, and I feel that softened the blow to a lot of PS5 owners that were expecting some ground breaking AAA game, and then this released and many people were shockingly surprised. Bugsnax is a very mature and interesting game, and its one that keeps you want to keep playing to find out more of the mystery and collect all the bugs.

The game is essentially if a 3D Pokemon game meets a mystery/detective game. Most of the game you'll be going between different areas, using your tools to catch different Bugsnax and recruit different residents to live in a camp on the island you are on. You are sent their by your boss to investigate Bugsnax, which as everyone knows are half bug, half snack, and you end up crashing your blimp and get stranded on the island. As the story progresses you find more characters and learn more of the mystery of what happened to the missing leader of this group, and also become closer to the characters and develop friendships with them.

I think the strongest part of Bugsnax is its characters. Many of them feel realistic and are multi dimensional. Most of them have doubts about themselves and are skeptical of the other residents living with them. All the characters feel unique and have their own personality traits and specific doubts. All the side characters have side missions they give you, and it helps you learn more about each character.

The other part I enjoyed was collecting the different Snax. Many of them require using tools and finding a way to stun them so you can catch them, and require you to experiment and find different ways to catch them, and can often be approached from many different angles. Although I will admit, some Snax are a bit annoying trying to catch, and also even though there are 100 Snax, many Snax are just redesigns of other Snax, I'd say there are probably closer to 60 unique Snax, which is still pretty impressive. The Snax are pretty fun to encounter the first time and like Pokemon say their name over and over and actually are pretty creatively designed. This is perhaps one of the most original things I've seen in a while.

Now the story is mostly in the background since most of the game you'll be recruiting different residents and fixing issues with the town, but every few hours the game will throw some plot, but a majority of the plot is dumped into the first hour and last hour. The game isn't too long and can be beaten around 15 hours depending how much side content and exploring you do, I did everything but if I just did the main quest I could have probably finished it closer to 10 hours. But the game actually makes you want to do the side content, even if it does get a little repetitive and mostly consists of going back to previous areas and catching different Snax. The ending is actually somewhat dark and ties the whole mystery together, and its cool seeing all the characters get sent off the way the do, especially if you do all their side quests. It does end on a cliffhanger that hints at a sequel.

Buxsnax is a really fun and charming game despite its flaws. Really the biggest flaws are the repetition and lack of difficulty. It is impossible to die in the game and really hard to fail, so you'll mostly be playing the game for its charm. The other thing is a lot of missions end up being repetitive, but catching the different Snax and using the different tools do make the repetition a little less tedious. The story was the best part of this and the characters were all very memorable and this game has some great voice acting, with some big name game voice actors. Its a game I think everyone should play, its a lot deeper than it looks and has a perfect mix of quirky charm and serious themes. Its probably my second favorite launch PS5 game second from Demons Souls, and yes that includes Miles Morales, Miles mainly felt like Spider Man 2.0, where Bugsnax actually feels like a unique and new idea.