The Legend of Bum-Bo
- November 12, 2019
- Edmund McMillen
- 18h median play time
A fun blend of puzzle and roguelike that inspires forward-thinking, but cuts your strategy short.
Get on Steam"The Legend of Bum-bo" is a turn-based puzzle combat game with deck-building elements. Play as Bum-bo, a sentient pile of goo, as you battle enemies, collect items, and uncover the mystery of the stolen wad of cash. With a unique art style and humor, this game offers a fresh take on the puzzle combat genre.
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Reviews
- The game features a unique match-4 puzzle mechanic that adds depth and strategy to gameplay.
- The art style is charming and fits well within the Binding of Isaac universe, with a fun cardboard aesthetic.
- The game has a variety of characters, each with unique abilities, which keeps the gameplay fresh and engaging.
- The game is plagued by bugs and glitches, including issues with the cancel button and crashes during runs.
- There is no save feature, forcing players to complete runs in one sitting, which can be frustrating.
- The game lacks content compared to other titles in the Binding of Isaac franchise, leading to a feeling of repetitiveness.
- gameplay786 mentions
- 36 % positive mentions
- 59 % neutral mentions
- 5 % negative mentions
The gameplay of "The Legend of Bum-bo" is a unique blend of match-4 mechanics and turn-based strategy, offering a surprisingly deep and engaging experience that rewards careful planning and strategic thinking. While many players appreciate the addictive nature and variety of character abilities, the game suffers from a lack of polish, unclear mechanics, and bugs that can detract from the overall enjoyment. Despite these issues, the core gameplay loop is generally well-received, with potential for future improvements and expansions.
“The gameplay is fun and addictive, and is very charming.”
“The core gameplay loop is wonderful, and engaging and the design is great, but the game is riddled with bugs and inconsistencies throughout.”
“The gameplay, while technically revolves around match-4 mechanics, incorporates a lot of strategy and pre-planning your moves.”
“The gameplay is slow, repetitive, and generally unintuitive.”
“The gameplay is just not that fun, the 3D graphics and interface felt way too clunky and convoluted with useless animations to be satisfying to play, and the game feels like it's missing polish.”
“The core gameplay loop is very solid and is essentially what I'd call a perfect blend of roguelite and 'match 4'.”
- graphics355 mentions
- 48 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 2 % negative mentions
The graphics of "The Legend of Bum-Bo" are characterized by a unique cardboard aesthetic that many players find charming and fitting for the game's quirky tone. While the visuals are often praised for their creativity and alignment with the Binding of Isaac universe, several reviews note a lack of polish, basic graphical options, and occasional bugs that detract from the overall experience. Despite these issues, the art style and soundtrack are frequently highlighted as standout features, making the game visually appealing to fans of Edmund McMillen's work.
“The graphics and visuals of this game are beautifully done, but this is by far the best part of the game.”
“The presentation is second to none, the visuals are fantastic, the music is banging and the cardboard puppet style is both well realized and aesthetically pleasing.”
“The cardboard-cutout art style and overall visual/audio presentation are awesome.”
“The graphics and menu are also very basic, illustrating the lack of polish of the game.”
“The faux-cardboard style looks bad in motion, the drawings look like the artist didn't care, and the 3D graphics add nothing to the gameplay - this should've been a 2D game that could run on a potato.”
“The gameplay is just not that fun, the 3D graphics and interface felt way too clunky and convoluted with useless animations to be satisfying to play, and the game feels like it's missing polish.”
- music261 mentions
- 41 % positive mentions
- 52 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many praising its catchy and immersive quality, particularly noting the contributions of composer Ridiculon. While some players find the soundtrack to be a perfect fit for the game's atmosphere, others criticize it for becoming repetitive over time and lacking variety. Additionally, issues with volume control and missing music in certain areas have been highlighted, detracting from the overall experience for some players.
“The music is absolutely amazing and those remixes of already known OST from Binding of Isaac bring back all my memories and echoes of difficulty, known by all of Edmund's previous games.”
“The presentation is second to none, the visuals are fantastic, the music is banging, and the cardboard puppet style is both well realized and aesthetically pleasing.”
“The soundtrack is dark and orchestral like the original Binding of Isaac, and does a good job of setting the right mood for a game where a fight can be decided in one turn.”
“The music can become tedious; I just turn it down and listen to my own playlist in the background.”
“The music is mostly the same and gets repetitive; you really start to notice it after a couple of hours since the same music loops nonstop.”
“The music is grating and there is no option to turn it down or off.”
- stability182 mentions
- 1 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 99 % negative mentions
The game has received widespread criticism for its significant stability issues, with players reporting numerous bugs, crashes, and glitches that can lead to softlocks and loss of progress. Despite some patches aimed at addressing these problems, many users still find the game to be unfinished and frustratingly unstable, impacting overall enjoyment. While some players acknowledge the fun gameplay, the persistent technical issues overshadow the experience, making it difficult to recommend in its current state.
“While admittedly the game's level of polish is not yet on par with gameplay quality, Bum-bo is now mostly bug-free and a joy to play.”
“This game is incredibly buggy, in ways that can softlock runs (such as hosts that never open up for attack, or item room UI that has a tendency to make the menu impossible to click requiring a restart).”
“The game is buggy, crashy, it feels untested and unfinished.”
“It's a buggy mess at times, but it's very fun in spite of that.”
- story150 mentions
- 28 % positive mentions
- 67 % neutral mentions
- 5 % negative mentions
The story of "The Legend of Bum-bo" serves as a quirky prequel to "The Binding of Isaac," featuring a light-hearted yet dark narrative that explores themes of addiction and loss through its unique art style and humor. While some players appreciate the connections to the Isaac universe and the additional lore, others find the plot lacking depth and coherence, often overshadowed by the gameplay mechanics. Overall, the game appeals primarily to fans of the Isaac series and those who enjoy puzzle quest-style games, though its storytelling may not resonate with everyone.
“The legend of Bum-bo is a match-3 (or rather match-4) game from Edmund McMillen that acts as a little prequel to the story of The Binding of Isaac.”
“The story leads right up to where Isaac starts.”
“The story is really great; when you actually beat the game, keep watching... so good!”
“The story is a little stale, but the game is a must-have for RPG or puzzle gameplay seekers.”
“My second problem with this game is the story, or lack thereof.”
“In Legend of Bum-bo, you play as Bum-bo, who lost a coin and goes to get it back; that's it, that's the large overarching story.”
- replayability107 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 52 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The replayability of "The Legend of Bum-Bo" is a mixed bag, with many players noting that while it offers some enjoyable mechanics and random elements that can enhance replay value, it falls short compared to its predecessor, "The Binding of Isaac." Critics highlight issues such as fewer characters, items, and overall content, which limit long-term engagement, while some players appreciate the unique abilities of different characters and the potential for future updates to improve replayability. Overall, while the game has its fun moments and replayable aspects, it lacks the depth and charm that made "Isaac" a standout in the genre.
“The RNG elements are what makes this game infinitely replayable.”
“The game has tremendous replay value because of the spells and trinkets you obtain every run.”
“Each playable variant of Bumbo offers unique abilities and gameplay modifications that further add to the replay value.”
“But when the main bit of replayability is based on achievement hunting and the achievements are bugged out, it kills the vibe.”
“A part of why Isaac is so replayable are all the different unlocks, achievements, goals, bosses, alternate paths, items, etc., and this game is lacking in all of them.”
“Unfortunately, Bumbo isn't nearly as long as Isaac, so most of the replay value comes from trying to unlock characters and items.”
- humor78 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is predominantly characterized by its crude, juvenile, and toilet-themed jokes, reminiscent of the style found in the Binding of Isaac series. Players appreciate the quirky, whimsical art style and the amusing cutscenes, though some feel the humor can become repetitive. Overall, the game successfully blends challenging gameplay with a lighthearted, absurd sense of humor that appeals to fans of the genre.
“I love the cardboard aesthetic, the bum-bo humor, and the puzzle is enjoyable.”
“It's also really funny and has a great bit of lore for the Binding of Isaac, so I would definitely recommend this game to anyone that enjoyed Isaac.”
“The cutscenes are all pretty funny, due mainly to Bum-bo being a nonsensical, fun character.”
- grinding32 mentions
- 9 % positive mentions
- 3 % neutral mentions
- 88 % negative mentions
Overall, players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and unengaging, often leading to frustration rather than enjoyment. Many reviews highlight that the need to repeatedly farm resources or complete challenges can feel monotonous, detracting from the overall experience. While some appreciate the casual nature of the game, the excessive grinding and balancing issues have left a significant portion of the player base disappointed.
“You'll need a second life for grinding.”
“A bit grindy... sometimes.”
“A lot of grinding.”
“I want to like it, but man, it just feels so tedious to actually play while also not being as engaging as I'd hoped.”
“Its taken the Isaac mechanics and art style and charm and spun it into the most tedious gameplay I have ever seen in my entire life.”
“In the end, it's just very slow and tedious - the opposite of fun, engaging gameplay.”
- optimization24 mentions
- 13 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has been widely criticized, with players reporting significant performance issues, including slow loading times, laggy animations, and high resource demands that hinder gameplay. Many users express frustration over bugs and a lack of customization options, suggesting that the game feels poorly optimized despite its engaging mechanics. While some players note improvements following patches, the overall consensus is that the game requires further optimization to enhance the user experience.
“Still, at the time of writing this review, not a perfectly optimized game; it has its share of bugs and odd performance issues, but the developers are helpful and actively work on the solutions.”
“If you were put off by other negative reviews or the game's performance in the first week of its release, give it a second try now!!”
“As for the performance, I haven't had any issues so far (most likely because I started playing after several patches had been released), but it is very reassuring to know that the devs are doing what they can to fix bugs as soon as possible.”
“Art-wise they went for a sort of 'cardboard puppet theater' aesthetic, and while I do like the way it looks, I feel like they didn't put enough care into optimizing it for performance.”
“The game is incredibly poorly optimized; the mouse movement feels very floaty and there's a bit of input lag.”
“This game's performance is utter dogshit; it does not run in the slightest on a £600 laptop. Even at the lowest settings, I get 5-7 fps in the character select.”
- monetization14 mentions
- 7 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 93 % negative mentions
The monetization aspect of the game has been widely criticized, with many users labeling it a "cash grab" that exploits the goodwill associated with Edmund McMillen's previous work, particularly "The Binding of Isaac." While some players appreciate the lack of aggressive monetization tactics like ads, the overall sentiment suggests disappointment in the game's perceived lack of depth and polish, leading to a feeling that it was rushed for profit rather than crafted with care.
“As a huge fan of Binding of Isaac, I was really excited for this, and my excitement hasn't gone to waste as this game is really fun. It's very similar to some of those mobile puzzle games, but without the cancerous monetization that is attached to each screen.”
“The whole thing looks like a cash grab to profit off the name of McMillen as he didn't provide anything except the aesthetics.”
“This game is disappointing; judged on its own merits, it is a below-average matching game and ultimately feels like a cash grab from McMillen.”
“At this point, it seems like a bit of a cash grab using the goodwill from Binding of Isaac to get into your wallet one more time.”
- atmosphere11 mentions
- 64 % positive mentions
- 18 % neutral mentions
- 18 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of "The Legend of Bum-bo" is widely praised for its unique paper-craft art style and engaging soundtracks that enhance the gameplay experience. Reviewers note that the game successfully captures a whimsical yet eerie vibe reminiscent of "The Binding of Isaac," with each floor offering distinct musical themes that shift from calm to creepy. Overall, the game's atmosphere is described as charming, immersive, and a significant factor in its replayability and appeal.
“Each floor that you enter has its own soundtrack which perfectly sets and captures the atmosphere, making it either relaxed and calm in the early floors or kind of creepy and more dark in the later floors.”
“Graphically engaging, ultra-playable, oozing with atmosphere and possessed of a killer soundtrack, this game is infinitely replayable, endlessly rewarding, and addictive.”
“The game's art style, with its paper-craft aesthetic, is both charming and fitting, perfectly encapsulating the whimsical yet eerie atmosphere that fans of Binding of Isaac have come to love.”
“Really love the atmosphere; the Binding of Isaac style but with a different game style is very cool.”
- emotional5 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players express a mix of emotional engagement and frustration with the game, highlighting its potential to evoke strong feelings despite its unfinished state and gameplay inconsistencies. While some users report significant bugs and design flaws, others remain hopeful for future improvements and continue to find enjoyment in the experience, indicating a deep emotional connection to the game.
“10/10 would cry again”
“Yes, but I haven't encountered too many bugs myself and I trust that Edmund will follow through on his promises to finish touching up the game and adding more content, and even then, I still enjoy the game as it is.”
