This Review contains SPOILERS. You have been advised.
Small preface: I'm no game journo, I'm just a gamer whose attention span has been rather ruined by a growing fast society.If enough people don't hate this too much, I may review more stuff.I will tell you if I finished the game or not and what I think about it, the rest is up to you. I'll try to be as brief as I can; any feedback or input is appreciated.
Did you finish the game: No, I could hardly be bothered to. I could hardly care going around to find the explorer or even find out WHY body parts turn into food after eating these hellspawns. Fortunately nice people on Youtube gave the answer to me, so either of us don't waste time on it.
Graphics: Cartoony, but I've seen better. But then again, I'm not expecting AAA stuff and neither should you you. It's Bugsnax.
Soundtrack: Trailer song is catchy enough for your kid to bother you with it for a couple of days. The rest I unfortunately cannot penalize the game for it as I found it rather decent. It's varied in nature, and some would even call it groovy. Get yourself a decent DJ and give them the Bugsnax soundtrack and you will get even nerds dancing harder than that time with Deadmau5 at TI5.
The Plot: You are abused by your Boss, a grumpy female furry version J. Jonah Jameson after your last scoop was revealed to be a fraud. You then convince her you have a better lead, and she then sends you to this Island which is the equivalent of the Bermuda Triangle fully expecting you to die. You fly your flying ship there, shamefully stolen by the Care Bears, until you get 9/11ed by a stray pizza Moth Man. You must find and interview Lizbert, the lesbian walrus version of Indiana Jones who employs questionable tactics to gather the attention of her lover, Eggabell.
The Gameplay: I always sought to have 3D pokemon as a child. This was not it. Yes, there are multiple ways to capture them (You can throw sauces, lead them into trees to stun them, cover a bugsnax in a ball and cover it with chocolate, then trap the bug), and you can even leave them in a farm take care of by the Vegan of the group, but why? To fight? To collect? To test if Mendelian genetics apply in this God forsaken, Furaffinity sponsored, Vore appreciator universe? No, you eat them. Raw.
The Pros: -The designs for the monsters are somewhat inspired
-They will make sounds that reflects their name just like Pokèmon.
-If you were looking into something that mixed furry, vore, body transformation, homoerotic relationships and the where the wild things, Satan responded to your calls. Congratz!
-It probably won't have a sequel.
The Cons: -NOT POKEMON (Albeit, Digimon was better).
-This game is rated for kids. Stuff here ain't for kids. You got explicit homo relationship, lesbian relationships, friends with benefits conditions, and you can't tell me that the favorite bugnax for one of the female members for the cast being a weiner is a coincidence.
-Once again, not for kids. The ending gave me nightmares in more ways than one. It's a soft horror psychological game.
-I found it boring, could not even play it for more than 3 hours.
What I think: I suggest you avoid this. If you want a game for your kids to play, go get them LEGO: The Hobbit. You can play together too. You want one similar to this, but better and less IDPOL? Get Slime Rancher. You want to know what I'm planning to play soon myself, out of the 200+ games I have installed and try some of those instead? Nioh, Code vein, and finish up DQ 11 (Which I won't 100%, I am no masochist).
Should I buy it?: It's on the Epic Games store, so go on lad, this one's on Tim. Sail the seas of the internetz.
**Should I try it? ** Only if you refer to this and furry, queer characters, and body transformation are one of your thing (or you can tolerate them).
From what I've heard, it looks like they were trying to pull a "Kirby" with this game. Have a pleasant setting with a surprisingly creepy final boss/scenario. The difference is that Kirby's world IS unironically sweet and innocent, which is what makes the contrast with the dark invaders so compelling. Here, it seems that despite the goofy muppets and food creatures, the writers couldn't avoid filling their world with a deep, adult cynicism that brings down the whole experience even before the big reveal.
Maybe not so much as "Kirby" as it is like those many, many "cutesy" horror indie games. I remember people, back when it was announced, expecting the horror reveal, or at least some adultish reveal, just by the trailer. Your description is still sound though.