The first time Bugsnax was seen there was a reaction between good spirits and confusion because of course the trailer wasn’t. There was a kind of walking strawberry with big eyes that had just been chased and swallowed by an anthropomorphic seal disguised as a scout. And in that moment his arm turned into a strawberry, and he loved it! An absolute rarity, but you can’t expect less from the makers of Octodad: Deadliest Catch.
It is important to start with this analysis of Bugsnax and explain what to judge later when it is as wonderful as it seems. At first glance, it seems like a cute, colorful, and innocent adventure, but there is a much more murky tone hidden beneath it. It’s not a horror game, but when you discover the reality of this island the happy face of the start of the game disappears.
You put yourself in the shoes of a journalist visiting Snaktooth Island and going on a date with Elizabert Megatig (Lizbert for Friends), the trailer explorer who studies these creatures, half bug, half snack. But he does not appear anywhere, his bed is upside down and all his followers are scattered around the area alone and hungry. You start looking for her, but you run into Filbo who is confused with everything that is going on. At least he decides to take you to Sanxburg, a walk where many Bugsnax are spotted along the way. Because this island is full of these beings.
What is almost empty is the city itself. You can see that in another time, many people must have lived there because of the family names on the mailboxes, but now it’s declining. In fact, it seems all that remains is Filbo, who happens to be the mayor and whose sole purpose is to get everyone back. Where are they and why did they go The mysterious plot is served.
This is where Bugsnax really begins, in a series of missions that consist of finding the locals and convincing everyone to return home, although they all have every reason not to: their cravings for Bugsnax. Some want to eat them to change their appearance, others want to raise them. We even met a guy who tried to plant them. Hey, these are not plants! The missions they commission are almost always to catch creatures for them, regardless of what benefit they will get from the being.
The other part of the game is gathering information to find out where Lizbert is. Once they return home, they can answer questions that bring their whereabouts closer and closer. In reality, this mechanism of looking for characters, accepting their registration concerns, and getting some information repeats itself. Especially since most missions, with a few exceptions, have very little substance.
To find a Bugsnax, you have a couple of tools that gradually arrive. You start with a snack trap that only the youngest and slowest fall into and out of which they can escape. Other devices will be added later to help you do more creative things along the way. So that this process works before you know more about its behavior and that is what the scanner is intended for. For example, if they like chocolate, ketchup or hot sauce, if they are hideous, if they easily fight others of their kind …
The most fun part of the game is creating and defining a capture plan for everyone. There are a total of 100 species that need to be hunted and added to Bugapedia, but they don’t all need to be present in order to pass the game. Actually the grace is here so this is almost a must see. And to find them all, one must thoroughly explore and examine every corner of Snaktooth and have a good understanding of the island’s spaces and biomes.
By the way, another detail of great quality is that of the actors and actresses who cast their votes (in the original version in English). They managed to give each NPC a personality and they are all charming, with some twists of the voice that will surprise you when you see people out there who give life to various characters. There is a lot of dialogue in this adventure, but you never get tired of hearing it.
As for the negative part, and it doesn’t work with the second, Bugsnax has some bugs. For example, the typical mission in which the message of the finished work doesn’t jump even though you already have everything and therefore cannot move forward. This has happened more than once and it’s a bummer to have to restart and redo everything since you already know how to do it. Hopefully there will be a patch on launch day to fix this as we were playing before the premiere.
Still, I had a good time with Bugsnax. Weird and nice at first, but then he takes out the dense story he is hiding and which is tarnished with twists and turns and surprises. It is also fun to find and capture these creatures that have a highly original design. There are even legendaries out there, something that sounds like a joke more than plagiarism and acts like bosses. Although it fails in a very flat structure with repetitive missions and in the technical area. Another way to reach everyone, but now on PlayStation 5.
