Appearances can be deceiving sometimes, especially when it comes to video games that advertise themselves as one thing but then turn out to be something more than its style and tone suggests. This is the case with the little indie game for PS4 and PS5 simply titled Bugsnax. It's easy to think that this game is simple, sweet and wholesome from its cover, but this game proves to be more than the sum of its parts by adding material that is fun for beginner and experienced gamers alike.
You play as an unnamed grumpus who happens to be a journalist who is tasked with heading over to an mysterious island called Snaktooth island to figure out a mystery of a missing explorer named Lizbert Megafig. Unfortunately, your ship breaks down on the island and you are greeted by the mayor of Snaxburg who goes by the name of Filbo. Filbo helps you to find Lizbert but first you need to help Filbo to get the former residents of Snaxburg to come back to town. As you convince more and more residents to return back to Snaxburg, you start to realize that there are more complexities to the characters that you initially thought and some of the bizarre characters of the island may know a thing or two about Lizbert’s disappearance.
The storytelling goes beyond the call of duty as it incorporates a somewhat simple narrative with characters that are memorable and surprisingly complex. Realistically there really is no reason for the creators at Young Horses to go so far to give the game so much personality, but they sure as heck worked their hearts out to make something that is easy to get emotionally involved in and is just overall fun to be a part of. Character interactions are a ton of fun and each character has identifiable human traits even despite the fact that they are not human in the slightest. There are many hidden secrets in snack tooth island among characters and the island itself which is great to keep the players invested in playing through the entire story. The story is only part of why this game is super charming, but it's surely a nicely put together story overall.
The gameplay is rather simple to understand as the only thing required of the player is to catch bugsnax and complete missions for your fellow grumpus’s. The game controls in the first person point of view and you’ll be playing as an unnamed grumpus who is basically you. The game is a collectathon, meaning you’ll have to collect all sorts of bugsnax to progress throughout the story. This is not quite as easy as it sounds as some snax will require different techniques to capture them. Still, it's quite fun to hunt down to hunt the various types of bugsnax whom of each have unique designs based of an item of food and there are many creative variations of how they present these mischievous creatures. Completing missions throughout the game will allow you to get more devices to trap bugsnax some of which require different methods of capturing.
From what I've heard, Young Horses have said that the visual style is inspired by games such as Pokemon Snap and Viva Pinata. The inspiration shows as the game looks quite similar to those previously mentioned games, but it still has enough of its own stylization to stand out from the competitors. The character designs are great and I like how you can customize the said characters limbs when you feed them bugsnax. Like mentioned before, the designs for the bugsnax are creative and fun but the locations you will find them in are each made unique with having the main hub town of Snaxburg, a tropical beach, a scorching desert and a snowy mountain top. The game is great at not only creating a unique world to explore every nook and cranny of, but also great at creating a mood that is laid back but also mysterious. The music is also inspired by many other gaming soundtracks such as Minecraft and so on and so forth. Don't expect yourself to be humming the tunes in your sleep, but do expect that you will hear soothing and relaxed tunes that will no doubt put you in a relaxed mood.
Bugsnax won’t win any awards for groundbreaking gameplay or the deepest storyline ever created, but that isn’t really the type of game that Bugsnax is trying to go for. Sure, the game's storyline is a lot more emotionally involved than the overall appearance suggests. In the end however, Bugsnax is charming and lovable game with a laid back attitude, interesting storyline, fun gameplay, and great cartoony visuals. You should definitely play this game if not for any reason than to witness something that is wholesome and even kinda sad at times with some added funny humor and deep complexity in its storytelling. Bugsnax is the little game that could and it for sure went above and beyond with creating a great experience for every gamer of every type.
(Final Grade: B+)