Bugsnax is about catching snack food-themed bugs—sandopedes, grapeskeetos, weenyworms—and feeding them to grumpuses, furry explorers who crave bugsnax and whose body parts become the bugsnax they consume. It's a cute, sweet, charming body horror game that released on PlayStation and the Epic Games Store back in 2020, and now it's finally about to hit other storefronts.
On April 28, Bugsnax will release on Steam and PC/Xbox Game Pass. At the same time, all players will get a free update called The Isle of Bigsnax, which adds "three to four hours of new story content" on a new island—the jungle-themed Bigsnax, inhabited by big bugsnax—as well as a few additions to the game's original landmass, including "your very own hut to decorate."
One of my favorite parts of Bugsnax was the voice acting. I specifically praised Fryda Wolff's performance in my Bugsnax review, but it wouldn't make any story sense for her character to appear on the update island. Actors Yuri Lowenthal, Casey Mongillo, Debra Wilson, and Haviland Stillwell did record new lines for the update, however, and Lowenthal's character is another of my favorites (the one and only Chandlo Funkbun).
What I didn't love about Bugsnax was the actual catching of the Bugsnax. It was more like solving the item combination puzzles of old adventure games than manipulating or predicting the behaviors of simulated creatures and laws of physics.
Not quite what I'd hoped for, but it's an entertaining game, and I like its kid-friendly-but-also-kinda-not vibe. It's a bit like Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, but gentler. (I looked up some Aaahh!!! Real Monsters clips before making the comparison and did not remember the characters casually calling things "skanky".)
Bugsnax is $25, and will launch on Steam with a temporary 20% discount on April 28. It'll also release on Switch and Xbox at the same time, and Game Pass subscribers on either PC or Xbox will get the game as part of their subscription (at least for however long Microsoft offers it). It'll definitely be worth catching a weenyworm or two if you're already a subscriber.
