Disclaimer: I wrote this for my Facebook in 2022, and the first half is based on the pre: Isle of Bigsnax expansion. I've added my thoughts to that, as well as relevant patches & improvements at the bottom, so some of the points in this review are dated and have since been patched/improved
Bugsnax is the only game anyone needs to play ever. It is perfection in storytelling, mechanics, voice acting, deliciousness and cuteness.
All other games are bad and Sony has won the console wars forever off of the strength of this title.
1000000/10
Genuinely though, Bugsnax is a lot of fun, and while arguably a bit short for a PS5 launch title, it’s definitely a fun time for what it is. Playing mechanically like a weird mix between Ape Escape and Horizon Zero Dawn – Bugsnax is an adventure puzzle game where you take the role of a reporter in a world of beings called “Grumpuses” who’s big scoop is about an expedition on Snaktooth island, and the intriguing magical and delicious inhabitants of it known as the Bugsnax.
This is one of the games that I don’t know how it was pitched or why it was greenlit, but I am so happy events transpired to make this possible. I’m very happy that a strawberry just happened to be in the same elevator as an ant, and they got talking to make one of the most ground-breaking titles that should not have worked in the last 20 years.
The story is suitably bonkers, but, at the risk of spoiling the game for those yet to play it – really fucking creepy. It’s not a horror game, but there’s a lot of psychological body horror undertones to the plot, which is at odds with the cute and chirpy aesthetic of the game, but not wholly unpredictable if you even take a second to actually process what the fuck is happening in the game.
While exploring the island – you meet the other Grumpuses (Grumpus’? Grumpi?) who you have to do quests for in order for them to talk to you to allow you to conduct your interview. These quests typically (but not always) involve catching Bugsnax, and feeding them to the hungry grumps.
This is the main gameplay loop – catching Bugsnax – which is done with a number of gadgets you receive throughout the game. Some of these are easy, which just involve setting up a trap in its path and activating it at the right time, and grabbing it before it escapes. Others you have to use the environment and other Bugsnax to stun or subdue before you can catch. Some are even on fire or frozen, meaning you have to bring their temperature to something more manageable before you can catch them. Some of these can actually be pretty challenging, and even when you look up instructions the execution can still be fiddly but not unfair.
The only issue I have with the main gameplay mechanics, is there are times where you need to quickly switch between gadgets to execute an intricate strategy needed to catch certain Snax, and this is a little bit clunky (on console at least), but by no means impossible or even difficult, just a little bit stop and starty which can interrupt the flow and reduce satisfaction as a result.
The game is kind of open world, in the sense that it takes place on one island, but it is quite small, made up of only about 9 areas, with a central camp area and 4 ways to travel. The levels don’t really cross with each other, which makes progression pretty linear, which isn’t a bad thing – although some questlines do make you go back and forth quite a bit – which can be tedious with no fast travel and only one route to take.
The levels all have distinct personalities for the most part. Most of them can be grouped into themes of 2, with your grassy/farmland/nature levels, your beach/water levels, Desert levels and mountainous levels. But they’re small enough and have their own little quirks that don’t make them all that samey. The game also features a day/night and weather cycle – with certain snacks only appearing in certain times and in certain conditions. This is fine but I don’t feel it super adds anything to the game other than a bit of tedious waiting around for weather to change to catch one specific Snak that only appears in the rain. You can rest in beds and sleeping bags if you need a certain time of day, although this has no other benefit except to occasionally advance the story – so it's more of an arbitrary extra dimension to slow the game down than anything else. I think it could have been left out and the game wouldn’t’ve suffered because of it, but one thing I will say is it does make the island and inhabitants, both Grumpus and Snaks feel more alive.
Snax have very basic AI – usually with set paths they roam on – and different temperaments and specifics that force you to be strategic – such as the more aggressive “Spuddys” and “Bungers” being all too happy to send you flying if you get too close/are covered in the right sauce. There is no health or death in this game, at least not for the player character, so this just serves to push you back a little bit. In the first-person view this can get a little disorienting, but not too bad.
The interview and dialogue mechanics are nothing special – you will sometimes have choices on what to say, but rarely do they do anything substantial. Not that they should in a game of this size, but the game does at least attempt to make the interviews more engaging by showing your character start their cassette recorder, and giving you a notebook full of questions, which often branch into follow up questions. It’s presented nicely, but ultimately, you’ll just pick them in the order they show up and then end the interview. There’s no benefit to not asking every question, even though some you can skip – and you don’t get any bonus for skipping to the end or not. I guess if you want you can tailor the question order to the parts of the plot you yourself are interested in hearing more about – but you will just be asking all the questions for the most part anyway, so the order doesn’t really matter.
These are nit-picks though – and the gameplay, character and story all have a charm to them that I can only really compare to cute animal based simulation games usually for Nintendo systems. Gotta be one of my favourite genders.
As you do more side quests – you will also unlock mostly optional boss Bugs. As you don’t have any health these serve more as set pieces with slightly longer puzzles which test your skills of observation and use of the gadgets. These are all pretty fun – and apart from Daddy Cakelegs, I enjoyed them all. Seriously fuck that fucking cake – there’s nothing more annoying than when you’ve figured out the puzzle, but the execution is so arbitrarily precise.
I won’t spoil the specifics of the story here – but what I will say is all of the characters are enjoyable – even if they’re not all likable.
Some of the characters I’d hate in real life, but I still found myself invested in their personal journey, insecurities, and growth. And I would be very amiss not to mention how openly queer this fucking game is. There are 2 canonically homosexual relationships in the game, one of them being revealed within the first 5 minutes of the game. Neither of them are main plot points – but they’re unapologetically present in casual dialogue and cutscenes in a way that just makes it feel real and part of these grump’s lives. This is queer representation done right.
Not to mention many of the characters are referred to with they/them pronouns, including yourself – which not only accounts for the majority of people playing the game, it also cements that gender is not binary in this world. So Kudos to the developers for just putting this in the game and not making a big deal about it.
The general ambience of the island is pretty good too – there is a main motif that repeats over the whole island, although it dynamically changes based on the setting and status of the player. It’s suitably homely as well as being just a little creepy the further you get to the endgame.
I don’t know what else I can say without giving away too much, so I’m just going to say that this is a short and unforgettable romp through an pleasantly disturbing plot with satisfying if a little janky gameplay. It’s not worth getting a ps5 just to play it – but you’ll be perfectly fine with it on your PS4 or PC as the game doesn’t use too much of the DualSense’s unique features – only really the speaker to mimic the Bugsnax call whenever you catch one (which is as cute as it is creepy.)
The only major difference between ports is the ps4 has longer loading times as far as I can tell. This is hardly pushing the current gen to its limits. But not all games have to. I think the industry as a whole is forgetting that games can just be fun and out there conceptually, and we don’t all have to compete to make another brown shooty bang bang extort money out of you games. Very pleased to see the PS5 launch with such a solid indie title, and looking forward to see what this studio puts out next.
So not long after I made this review originally in 2022 (on facebook, reposting here since I've just made an account), a significant and free expansion was released, which has fixed many of the few issues I have with the game. It expands the runtime with two whole new bonus areas, filled with content, story, lore, new snax and puzzles.
Fast travel has been added, which really removes some of the tedium of going back and forth to complete some tasks. You get your own dedicated house which you can customize, and unlock furniture for by running little bonus errands and challenges, ranging from feeding a particular snak to a particular grumpus, setting up scenarios and taking pictures, and finding hidden items. These add a great deal of extra content for completionists, and are a nice bonus for casual players as well.
Also you can dress up snax in little hats.
The Isle of Bigsnax itself is a great bonus area, featuring a new challenge in that all the snax are huge, and require shrinking before catching. Some of them are genuinely terrifying, and some require very careful strategizing and execution to catch. While it's by no means essential, it does also add some nice character moments for Chandlo and some of the others.
Without going into spoilers you also can access a hidden area to uncover audio logs and puzzles, as well as the Island's fastest bugsnack, which have implications for the overall lore of the universe, which is really exciting for a potential follow up, or just a nice twist to top off the complete story.
All in all it's the same lovable experience but more expanded. While you could argue that this stuff should've been included in the base game, the fact that the update and expansion was free points away from publisher greed on this occasion.
If you didn't like the game before this won't make you like it, but it addresses nearly all of the nitpicks I had with the base experience, albeit with some of its own unique bugs in both senses of the word.
