Bugsnax is a first-person adventure game with a delicious mystery at its core

Last week’s PlayStation 5 had a LOT of games to show off. From the first sequel to Horizon Zero Dawn to an expansion for Marvel’s Spider-Man that features Miles Morales having a chance to shine, there was a ton of exciting gameplay on offer. And out of nowhere, arriving like a wacky haymaker from your blind spot, there was Bugsnax. From the creative minds that brought the delightful Octodad to console and PC so many years ago, Bugsnax can easily be summed up as you are what you eat. Literally.

You’re on a tropical island, the entire ecosystem is made up of strangely delicious creatures that resemble all manner of popular foods and taking a bite out of them has the potential to transform your appendages into delectable meals. It’s basicaly like that one episode of Invader Zim when Dib’s DNA gets infected with a virus that slowly turns him into a giant sausage. Taste me Gaz, I’m delicious!

So what’s the game actually about then? “Bugsnax is a first-person adventure game where you play as a journalist who is sent a mysterious film from an adventurer named Elizabert Megafig,” Philip Tibitoski, co-founder and President of Young Horses, explained to US Gamer.

She says she’s found these things called Bugsnax, these half-snack half-bug creatures, and she wants you to come and document her discovery with her group of misfit followers. You go to the island, you find that she is nowhere to be found, and instead run into some of her followers.

From that point, you’ll need to explore the island, study the Bugsnax and observe them in their natural habitat as you search for clues to the location of Megafig. And then eat them. As for which Bugsnax do what to you, don’t expect any hard rules as to which creatures can transmogrify your body. “We’ve never been very good at sticking to a perfect set of constraints,” Tibitoski said.

Octodad, for instance, that game technically takes place in the 80s, but has a sort-of 50s aesthetic, [and] then we break that rule multiple times. Similarly, in Bugsnax, some of the foods are definitely snack foods, and some of them are ‘oh here’s a cheeseburger with curly fry legs.’

As for that catchy theme song? That catchy melody and fun vocals is the work of music group Kero Kero Bonito being the perfect fit for Young Horses composer and sound designer Seth Parker. “Doing the theme song approach worked out so well for Octodad that we wanted to see if we could do that again,” Tibitoski explained.

We were looking through a bunch of options, and a Kero Kero song ‘Picture This’ was something that we were immediately like, ‘oh, that is the Bugsnax style.’

There’ll be around 100 Bugsnax to observe, capture and serve on a plate with some Fava beans and a nice chianti while you make that weird lip-smacking sound, with the game coming out on PS4, PS5 and PC during the holiday season.

Last Updated: June 18, 2020