Skip to main content

Bugsnax

Shacknews is finally allowed to talk about Bugsnax. Just how great is this highly-anticipated PS5 launch title? Find out in our review.
Bugsnax Game Cover
87%Game Brain Score
story, gameplay
grinding, stability
98% User Score Based on 7,080 reviews
Critic Score 76%Based on 44 reviews

Platforms

Nintendo SwitchPlaystation 5Playstation 4Xbox Cloud GamingXboxSteam DeckWindowsPlayStationXbox Series X|SPCCloudMac OSVirtual RealityXbox One
Buy Nowfrom $5.64
Buy NowGet on Steam $9.99Buy NowGet on Xbox Games Store Buy NowGet on Epic Games Store Buy NowGet on PS Store $24.99
Bugsnax Game Cover

About

Bugsnax is a single player action adventure game with fantasy, mystery and comedy themes. It was developed by Young Horses and was released on April 28, 2022. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and overwhelmingly positive reviews from players.

Buy Bugsnax on PS4 and PS5. Embark on a whimsical adventure to Snaktooth Island, home of the legendary half-bug half-snack creatures, Bugsnax.

Genres & Tags
Play Modes
Bugsnax screenshot
Bugsnax screenshot
Bugsnax screenshot
Bugsnax screenshot
Bugsnax screenshot
Bugsnax screenshot
Bugsnax screenshot
Bugsnax screenshot
Bugsnax screenshot
Bugsnax screenshot
Bugsnax screenshot
+5
Skip User Reviews

98%
Audience ScoreBased on 7,080 reviews
story723 positive mentions
grinding44 negative mentions
  • Charming and unique creature collecting gameplay with creative puzzles and multiple ways to catch Bugsnax.
  • Deep and engaging story with memorable, well-written characters and great voice acting.
  • Beautiful and vibrant art style complemented by a catchy soundtrack, creating a cozy yet sometimes unsettling atmosphere. Includes meaningful LGBTQ+ representation handled naturally.
  • Gameplay loop can become repetitive, especially with fetch and mail quests that may feel like chores.
  • Some puzzle solutions and catching mechanics can be clunky or unintuitive, occasionally requiring external guides.
  • The story pacing can be uneven, with a twist ending that some find rushed or not fully satisfying. Some characters and dialogue may not appeal to all players.
  • story
    1,577 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Bugsnax offers a surprisingly deep and engaging story beneath its cute and quirky exterior, featuring well-developed characters, meaningful relationships, and emotional depth that evolve through main quests and numerous side missions. The narrative combines humor, mystery, and dark themes, including body horror and psychological elements, creating an unexpectedly mature and memorable experience that keeps players invested. While some quests can feel repetitive or tedious, the compelling storytelling, voice acting, and plot twists make the story the standout aspect of the game, appealing to both casual and completionist players.

    • “The story of Bugsnax is surprisingly more complex than it appears on the surface, featuring shocking twists along the way and much deeper character development than one would expect from the game's appearance.”
    • “Each character has their own personal story and identity, revealed through side quests that give the game rich emotional depth and engaging interpersonal relationships, making you genuinely care about the residents of Snaxburg.”
    • “The game starts off cute and whimsical but evolves into a mature, sometimes dark story that explores themes of mental health, relationships, and self-acceptance, all wrapped in clever storytelling with memorable characters.”
    • “Many of the quests given are side quests of course.”
    • “Between these interactions, you're stuck doing dull fetch quests that feel more like errands than entertainment, and annoyingly this part is 75% of the game.”
    • “The story i thought started off fine and near the end i thought it might actually get interesting with a big twist, but the finale was so meh and out of the blue that it didn't even manage to land that right.”
  • gameplay
    735 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Bugsnax features a charming and addictive gameplay loop centered around creatively capturing a wide variety of unique, food-themed creatures using diverse tools and environmental interactions. While generally easy to pick up and suitable for all ages, the mechanics offer surprising depth and puzzle-solving elements that keep the experience fresh, though some players find certain capture tasks repetitive or occasionally clunky. Combined with its engaging story, lovable characters, and delightful soundtrack, the gameplay is widely praised for its originality, accessibility, and the rewarding sense of exploration and experimentation it fosters.

    • “The mechanics of capturing bugsnax are simple to grasp but offer surprising depth; players must learn each creature’s habits and vulnerabilities, employing bait, traps, and tools creatively to succeed.”
    • “The gameplay itself is amazing, even at my second playthrough and 100%ing it I still found the bug catching mechanics very fun; you'll find yourself trying different (often scuffed) ways of catching these critters, it maintains a good amount of difficulty without being too annoying—sometimes.”
    • “Catching each and every uniquely designed bugsnax is a treat within itself—that core gameplay loop never becomes stale thanks to the large variety of methods and strategies the game allows you to experiment with when it comes to snagging one.”
    • “Catching the various bugsnax was novel at first, but it grew old and one-note, and at times pretty frustrating trying to figure out which new mechanic the game wanted you to employ to catch the next bug.”
    • “The main mechanics of the game (capturing bugsnax) are clunky and annoying.”
    • “The core gameplay loop is pretty tedious and unfun to me because the controls feel very clunky.”
  • humor
    295 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game is widely praised for being charming, silly, and often absurd, blending lighthearted, goofy moments with surprisingly mature and emotional undertones. The quirky characters, witty dialogue, and creative creature designs consistently elicit laughter, making the game both funny and heartwarming. Overall, the humor complements the engaging story and endearing world, creating a uniquely enjoyable and memorable experience.

    • “A genuinely amazing game, with great and funny writing!”
    • “The dialogue is genuinely funny at times, but at other times it's bizarrely mature without being inappropriate.”
    • “The characters are all so quirky, the bugsnax themselves are adorable and hilarious, and the gameplay keeps me moving from quest to quest.”
  • graphics
    291 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of Bugsnax are widely praised for their charming, colorful, and stylized art style, featuring cute, muppet-like characters and vibrant environments that create a cozy yet deceptive aesthetic. While not hyper-realistic or technically intensive, the visuals perfectly complement the game's quirky, playful tone and deeper, sometimes darker narrative, making for an engaging and enjoyable experience that runs well even on modest hardware. Overall, the art style's unique blend of whimsy and underlying sophistication is considered a standout aspect that enhances the game's storytelling and atmosphere.

    • “Bugsnax is a well-made game with great visuals and creative designs for both the characters and the bugsnax themselves.”
    • “Absolutely amazing, this game has to be one of my favorites, it has so much in it, the visuals are stylized and absolutely adorable, the voice acting both for the characters and titular snax is incredible, the main story is captivating and mysterious, all the side stories are charming in a unique way, there's so much to do that even after beating the game, there's still more to do.”
    • “The graphics in this game are stunning, with bright and vibrant colors that bring the island and its inhabitants to life.”
    • “Overall art style is kinda underwhelming, very 2016-looking VR game.”
    • “Considering this was a PS5 launch title, I'm surprised the PC port doesn't give the user options to increase the resolution scaling or other graphical options to improve the visuals.”
    • “Didn't get far into it but it doesn't deliver for the first segment in gameplay, graphics, or story so I'm giving up.”
  • music
    285 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in Bugsnax is widely praised for its catchy, charming, and memorable soundtrack that perfectly complements the game’s whimsical and quirky tone. Featuring a blend of playful electronic, lo-fi, and ethereal tracks, including a standout theme song by Kero Kero Bonito, the soundtrack enhances the immersive and joyful atmosphere, leaving many players listening even outside the game. Overall, the soundtrack is considered a standout element, pairing beautifully with the voice acting and character designs to create a truly engaging experience.

    • “Endless charm, creativity, and most of all a great gameplay loop with an amazing soundtrack I keep coming back to even outside the game.”
    • “The music is incredible and fits the game to a tee; just like how the game is unique, the soundtrack is also unique.”
    • “Complementing the visuals is a cheerful soundtrack and lively sound design that enhance the game’s joyful and sometimes silly atmosphere, making exploration feel rewarding and immersive.”
    • “Music feels way too generic, not a single track stuck with me, most sound like elevator songs you'd just forget as soon as you hear them.”
    • “I cannot really say anything too special about the music; in a way it has its charm, but it’s honestly long and drawn out—it's like a modern 1950s grocery store music that just becomes a part of the ambiance.”
    • “The music and atmosphere are not anything that left an impression on me.”
  • emotional
    179 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Bugsnax delivers a surprisingly deep emotional experience beneath its whimsical, colorful exterior, blending heartfelt storytelling, quirky humor, and complex character relationships. Players often find themselves genuinely attached to its lovable, flawed characters, with themes of friendship, trust, and personal growth evoking strong emotional reactions, including moments of joy, sadness, and nostalgia. Despite its playful style, the game thoughtfully explores mature and sometimes dark themes, offering a unique mix of charm, warmth, and emotional depth.

    • “The narrative cleverly blends lighthearted humor with surprisingly emotional moments, touching on themes of friendship, trust, and self-discovery.”
    • “There is a ton of emotional depth to each character, their flaws, their fears, and how they grow to accept one another, and how it all comes together in the story.”
    • “I cried multiple times while playing the game; I felt genuine joy, fear, surprise, sadness, anger—this game literally brought out every emotion I could feel.”
  • character development
    61 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Bugsnax is widely praised for its exceptional character development, with players highlighting well-written, engaging, and emotionally complex characters that grow realistically throughout the game. The unique and charming character designs, combined with strong voice acting and storytelling, elevate the narrative far beyond typical creature-collection games. Many reviewers consider character interactions and development the game's standout feature, often overshadowing its gameplay and mechanics.

    • “The character writing, dialogues, and character development of the cast beat most of what you find in games of this scope and much of what’s beyond!”
    • “The story of Bugsnax is surprisingly more complex than it appears on the surface, with a lot more depth and character development than you would typically expect from a game that looks the way it does.”
    • “Behind the game's basic premise of catching the titular creatures lies a brilliantly-paced story with plenty of intrigue and phenomenal character development.”
    • “Only complaint I can think of off the top of my head is the transformation mechanic (where the villagers change attributes based on the Snax you feed them) can't be undone, so character designs get thrown out the window unless you restrain yourself from feeding them Snax.”
    • “If it wasn't for the character development, I don't think I'd be recommending this game because the main arc and the gameplay really aren't that interesting once you get over the whole 'they eat bugsnax and it changes their bodies' concept.”
    • “The quests themselves are fine, but once again the thing that stands out the most is the character development, adding more depth to some and establishing stronger interpersonal relationships between others.”
  • grinding
    60 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Grinding in the game is moderately present, with several quests and capturing mechanics becoming tedious or repetitive, especially when aiming for 100% completion or achievements. However, most players find the grind manageable and balanced by varied capture methods, engaging story, and relaxing gameplay, making the overall experience enjoyable despite occasional slow pacing.

    • “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
    • “But it's not too tedious.”
    • “Challenging but not tedious.”
    • “Beyond that though, some of the bug catching solutions are more tedious than anything by trying to lure bugs over to each other with varying success or having arbitrary immunities to certain traps that don't make sense.”
    • “The core gameplay loop is pretty tedious and unfun to me because the controls feel very clunky.”
    • “Most times, capturing is tedious, weirdly exact, and frustrating.”
  • stability
    38 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's stability is generally solid, with most users experiencing few glitches or bugs that rarely affect overall progress. Some players report occasional minor bugs, freezes, or quirky physics that can be amusing or mildly disruptive, but these typically don't detract significantly from the fun. A few users faced troubleshooting challenges on PC, though many praised smooth performance on various platforms including Steam Deck.

    • “I just finished a second playthrough on Steam Deck (runs great) after originally playing elsewhere before the free expansion update.”
    • “Really good, everything is well bug-free.”
    • “This game runs great on PC and continues to be one of the most charming and creative games I've played in the last year.”
    • “I really wanted to enjoy this game, but the amount of tedious troubleshooting I've had to do just to get it to function has left a very, very bad taste in my mouth.”
    • “Game is so good and charming that I play through it when it freezes every five seconds.”
    • “The environmental areas were buggy and glitchy in parts; I was always getting stuck in ridiculous ways.”
  • atmosphere
    24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its charming mix of cozy, whimsical, and subtly dark tones, enhanced by lovable characters and intriguing mysteries. Its varied, visually beautiful environments are perfectly complemented by a cheerful, fitting soundtrack and immersive sound design, creating a relaxing yet engaging experience. Overall, the atmosphere balances light-hearted fun with occasional spooky or emotional moments, making exploration and gameplay deeply rewarding.

    • “Snaktooth Island itself is beautiful and has a lot of variety in its environments and atmospheres, all soaked in a really fun original soundtrack that perfectly matches the tone of the game.”
    • “Complementing the visuals is a cheerful soundtrack and lively sound design that enhance the game’s joyful and sometimes silly atmosphere, making exploration feel rewarding and immersive.”
    • “It's not very difficult (more about puzzling things out than quick reflexes), with a really relaxing atmosphere, played at your own pace, and filled with funny and wholesome moments.”
    • “The music and atmosphere are not anything that left an impression on me.”
    • “Not really a game that I feel I can go on forever about because so much of it is purely based on the immaculate atmosphere and vibes, but it’s an incredibly strong recommendation nonetheless.”
    • “The game has light-hearted atmosphere while also tackling heavier relationship problems.”
  • replayability
    24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game offers moderate to high replayability, largely driven by its rich story, character development, and branching narrative paths that lead to multiple endings. While some players find it highly replayable due to collectibles, secrets, and different outcomes based on choices, others feel its replay value diminishes after completion, viewing it more as a one-time puzzle experience. Overall, replayability is enhanced by the depth of content and the fresh perspective gained on subsequent playthroughs.

    • “This has replay value like how a good movie or series has a rewatch value, because the very essence of the game is its story, and its great characters and their development.”
    • “The game's replayability is further enhanced by the branching narrative paths, which provide different outcomes based on your choices, inviting you to embark on a second playthrough to uncover all its secrets.”
    • “The replay value is also very high, with multiple endings and a lot of collectibles to find.”
    • “I think you'd get about twenty hours out of a full (100%) playthrough, to say nothing about replayability.”
    • “There isn’t much replay value in it, it’s more a puzzle game than a creature collector.”
    • “The game is also not really replayable.”
  • optimization
    22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Optimization in the game is generally praised for smooth performance on both PC and Steam Deck, with minimal stuttering and plenty of options to tweak settings. However, some users report occasional performance issues and surprisingly poor optimization on high-end hardware despite the game's modest graphics. Overall, when the game runs well, it delivers a seamless and enjoyable experience.

    • “Also really well optimized, never noticed a single stutter on the Steam Deck.”
    • “It's also great on Deck and PC; I didn't have any performance issues whatsoever.”
    • “That is all though performance-wise, this game runs very well and the optimizations that you can do in the options are plentiful.”
    • “I will say this game is very poorly optimized, but when it works, boy does it work.”
    • “For a game that looks like it could run on a PS2, it is poorly optimized and constantly dips below 5 fps on a Ryzen 9/RTX 4070 build.”
    • “My main complaint would be the occasionally iffy performance, which really isn't justified by the game's graphics.”
Skip Critic Reviews

76%Critics’ scoreBased on 44 critic reviews
Skip Game Offers

Buy Bugsnax

22h Median play time
40h Average play time
12-45h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 29 analyzed playthroughs
Skip Videos

Videos

Skip Games Like Bugsnax

Games Like Bugsnax

Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion Image
84%9.6kreviews

Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion

2021Role Playing
Nintendo SwitchAndroidPlaystation 4+16
Games like Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion
Dredge Image
89%42.8kreviews

Dredge

2023Open World Role Playing
AndroidPlaystation 5Playstation 4+14
Games like Dredge
Stray Image
88%135.1kreviews

Stray

2022Open World Action Adventure
Playstation 5Playstation 4Xbox Cloud Gaming+10
Games like Stray
Slime Rancher Image
87%114.8kreviews

Slime Rancher

2017Open World Shooter
LinuxXbox Series X|SPC+8
Games like Slime Rancher
Smile For Me Image
88%2.6kreviews

Smile For Me

2019Casual Role Playing
Nintendo SwitchXbox Series X|SPC+8
Games like Smile For Me
More games like Bugsnax
Skip FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Bugsnax is a action adventure game with fantasy, mystery and comedy themes.

Bugsnax is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Steam Deck and others.

On average players spend around 40 hours playing Bugsnax.

Bugsnax was released on April 28, 2022.

Bugsnax was developed by Young Horses.

Bugsnax has received mostly positive reviews from players and mostly positive reviews from critics. Most players liked this game for its story but disliked it for its grinding.

Bugsnax is a single player game.

Similar games include Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion, Dredge, Stray, Slime Rancher, Smile For Me and others.