Bubbaruka is another niche little horror game in the “found game” genre, popularized largely by Inscryption but with other notable examples such as Buddy Simulator 1984 and Pony Island. In it, there are layers of meta, typically with a horrific backstory behind the development of the game that you slowly uncover while playing the game (within the game).

I enjoy the concept and execution of most of these. Bubbaruka though, it is probably one of the weakest I’ve played. 80% of the game plays like a minimalist survival horror game with somewhat frustrating level design and simple puzzles, interrupted by tedious “feed your pet” mechanics. That said, I was enjoying it enough to continue playing.

It wasn’t until the third act that I just sort of lost interest. Up until then; you are exploring a top down minimal office type setting, slowly solving very simple puzzles and reading bits of lore. There is a map you can reference, so it’s fun and easy enough. Act 3 just becomes pretty confusing to navigate, so I kinda just felt I had seen enough.

Not bad, but just nothing special. It doesn’t take crazy left turns like Pony Island; nor does it have the really fun gameplay of Inscryption (or just a typical Resident Evil game). It sort of floats in no-man’s land, so it’s an extremely light thumbs up as I definitely didn’t hate it. It just needed to excel at one or more elements, and it never did.