Sights & Sounds
- Honestly, the game looks incredible. I was consistently surprised by the quality of the textures and lighting. Pretty unexpected for a game about catching edible bugs and feeding them to muppets
- Speaking of The Muppets, I grew up watching them, so the design of the Grumpuses (Grumpi?) felt oddly familiar and nostalgic
- The music and voice acting are both top notch. Really, the overall presentation of the game, from the character animations to the menus, is very well done
Story & Vibes
- Plot-wise, you play as a journalist trying to find out what's happening on a mysterious island after receiving a strange invitation from a famous explorer named Elizabert Batternugget. Over your boss's objections, you depart for the island to figure out what's become of Elizabert and the group of Grumpuses who followed her there
- Although the bright colors and Henson-esque characters definitely play into the game's robust sense of humor, there's some surprising emotional depth to the game. As you help out the Grumpuses on the island, you learn more about them, their insecurities, their personal tragedies, and their hopes and dreams. These puppets have some surprisingly heavy backstories. I was also pleased to find that the game took a tasteful approach to the topic of mental health
- The vibes are hard to pin down. Sure, everything is colorful and reminiscent of a children's morning show, but Bugsnax manages to leverage that silliness to enhance the tongue-in-cheek humor while additionally going on to pull off moments of touching sincerity. The quality of the coordination between the artists and writers is really evident
Playability & Replayability
- The presentation isn't the only thing that's good. The gameplay is also pretty fun if you're looking to chill out. Bugsnax is part 1st-person adventure game, part creature collector, and part platformer, and all of those gameplay components work cohesively together
- Movement feels snappy, quick, and responsive, so playing in the first person perspective feels better than what many FPS games try to pull off. Movement factors heavily into the creature collection and platforming components (which often go hand-in-hand), so getting the "feel" of it right really enhances the experience
- The equipment you accumulate over the course of the game adds further interesting wrinkles to the bug catching and platforming, and most of it is fun to use
- Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed by some of the adventure parts of the game. Most (but not all, thankfully) of the side quests boil down to a bunch of fetch quests. This is especially annoying when you run out of places to store bugsnax or accidentally feed/donate a bug right before a Grumpus requests it for them
- I also kinda hated the overuse of invisible walls. There are some parts of the game that look traversable but aren't for arbitrary reasons. I understand if they exist to prevent a player from leaving an area, but it feels silly to not let me jump onto a moderately sized rock to get a better view
Overall Impressions & Performance
- I'm glad I finally pulled this game off my backlog. I just wanted a colorful, silly game to play for 12ish hours. That desire was definitely fulfilled, but all the additional depth and snappy gameplay added so much more to the experience
- Even the performance was good. My hardware is all stuff that came out in 2019, and I was surprised with how much I was able to up the visuals with virtually no impact on framerate
Final Verdict
- 8.5/10. While not a perfect experience, Bugsnax exceeded my expectations in virtually every respect. I thought it was going to be shiny and colorful but lacking in substance, but the writing and presentation were top notch
- Honestly, the game looks incredible. I was consistently surprised by the quality of the textures and lighting. Pretty unexpected for a game about catching edible bugs and feeding them to muppets
- Speaking of The Muppets, I grew up watching them, so the design of the Grumpuses (Grumpi?) felt oddly familiar and nostalgic
- The music and voice acting are both top notch. Really, the overall presentation of the game, from the character animations to the menus, is very well done
Story & Vibes
- Plot-wise, you play as a journalist trying to find out what's happening on a mysterious island after receiving a strange invitation from a famous explorer named Elizabert Batternugget. Over your boss's objections, you depart for the island to figure out what's become of Elizabert and the group of Grumpuses who followed her there
- Although the bright colors and Henson-esque characters definitely play into the game's robust sense of humor, there's some surprising emotional depth to the game. As you help out the Grumpuses on the island, you learn more about them, their insecurities, their personal tragedies, and their hopes and dreams. These puppets have some surprisingly heavy backstories. I was also pleased to find that the game took a tasteful approach to the topic of mental health
- The vibes are hard to pin down. Sure, everything is colorful and reminiscent of a children's morning show, but Bugsnax manages to leverage that silliness to enhance the tongue-in-cheek humor while additionally going on to pull off moments of touching sincerity. The quality of the coordination between the artists and writers is really evident
Playability & Replayability
- The presentation isn't the only thing that's good. The gameplay is also pretty fun if you're looking to chill out. Bugsnax is part 1st-person adventure game, part creature collector, and part platformer, and all of those gameplay components work cohesively together
- Movement feels snappy, quick, and responsive, so playing in the first person perspective feels better than what many FPS games try to pull off. Movement factors heavily into the creature collection and platforming components (which often go hand-in-hand), so getting the "feel" of it right really enhances the experience
- The equipment you accumulate over the course of the game adds further interesting wrinkles to the bug catching and platforming, and most of it is fun to use
- Unfortunately, I was a little disappointed by some of the adventure parts of the game. Most (but not all, thankfully) of the side quests boil down to a bunch of fetch quests. This is especially annoying when you run out of places to store bugsnax or accidentally feed/donate a bug right before a Grumpus requests it for them
- I also kinda hated the overuse of invisible walls. There are some parts of the game that look traversable but aren't for arbitrary reasons. I understand if they exist to prevent a player from leaving an area, but it feels silly to not let me jump onto a moderately sized rock to get a better view
Overall Impressions & Performance
- I'm glad I finally pulled this game off my backlog. I just wanted a colorful, silly game to play for 12ish hours. That desire was definitely fulfilled, but all the additional depth and snappy gameplay added so much more to the experience
- Even the performance was good. My hardware is all stuff that came out in 2019, and I was surprised with how much I was able to up the visuals with virtually no impact on framerate
Final Verdict
- 8.5/10. While not a perfect experience, Bugsnax exceeded my expectations in virtually every respect. I thought it was going to be shiny and colorful but lacking in substance, but the writing and presentation were top notch