Bugsnax is an adventure video game developed by independent game studio Young Horses. In the game, players explore a mysterious island and attempt to find and capture the eponymous half-bug-half-snack creatures.
The game was unveiled via an announcement trailer shown during Sony's PlayStation 5 livestreamed reveal event on June 11, 2020. British indie pop band Kero Kero Bonito performed the game's theme song, which was featured in the announcement trailer.
The game was released on November 12, 2020 for the PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, and macOS.
Gameplay
Bugsnax is a first-person adventure game, in which players traverse Snaktooth Island trying to find and capture different species of Bugsnax using various contraptions.
Over 100 Bugsnak species are available for capture. Once captured, the Bugsnax can be fed to the local Grumpuses, which transforms their bodies based on the properties of whatever Bugsnak they eat.
Plot
Players control a nameless newspaper journalist, who one day receives a film strip in the mail from Lizbert Megafig, a disgraced explorer. Lizbert details the mysterious Snaktooth Island, inhabited by creatures called Bugsnax who are "half bug and half snack", and encourages the journalist to come to the island and document them for the world to see.
Intrigued, the journalist makes their way onto the island, only to discover from Lizbert's assistant Filbo Fiddlepie that she has gone missing, and all the other Grumpuses that joined her on her expedition have scattered.
Filbo requests that the journalist help him bring the others back to their makeshift home of Snaxburg so that they might band together and find out what happened to Lizbert.
After the journalist manages to bring all residents back to Snaxburg, a volcano erupts, triggering an earthquake that destroys the village. They are soon joined by Eggabell Batternugget, Lizbert's partner, who leads the journalist and Filbo to Lizbert's location.
Upon arriving, they discover that Lizbert has been mutated into a giant creature made up of various Bugsnax. She reveals that Bugsnax are actually parasites that eventually transform anyone who regularly consumes them into more Bugsnax, and urges the group to leave the island.
Eggabell stays behind while Filbo and the journalist return to Snaxburg, which is now under attack from various Bugsnax. After fending off the Snax, the journalist, Filbo, and any surviving villagers leave the island on a balloon ship.
After returning to the mainland, Filbo stays with the journalist and acts as a witness for their story, in which they intentionally omit any mention of Bugsnax. Their supervisor, Clumby, is impressed with the story, but fires the journalist as she did not expect them to return. Filbo then decides to run for Mayor, asking the journalist's help.
In a secret ending, Clumby can be heard talking to a mysterious voice. The two believe that the journalist is hiding the truth and decide to keep watch on them. Meanwhile, a single Bugsnak is revealed to have stowed away aboard the ship.
Development
Young Horses took about six years to develop the game in order "not to burn out", as well as "to figure out what the game was." The initial idea was when the company's creative director Kevin Zuhn drew a sketch of a "Wafflepillar"—a caterpillar made out of waffles.
Initially the gameplay was inspired heavily by Pokémon Snap, but over time the gameplay evolved into "a weird amalgamation of all of these different game ideas." In addition to Pokémon Snap, the final game also takes inspiration from Ape Escape, Dark Cloud and Viva Piñata.
The game was first revealed via an announcement trailer during Sony's Future Revealed PlayStation 5 event on June 11, 2020. The trailer featured the game's theme song "It's Bugsnax!", performed by British indie pop band Kero Kero Bonito.
The song became popular in its own right, with GamesRadar calling it "the internet's new favorite meme ingredient", also writing "even if you haven't heard of Bugsnax, the game, there's a good chance you've probably heard Bugsnax, the theme tune."
Reception
Bugsnax on the PlayStation consoles received "generally favorable reviews", while the Windows version saw "mixed or average reviews", according to the review aggregator Metacritic.
Several critics noted how the story and presentation was perceived as light hearted but that the ending's effect gave the plot a dark tone.
