ysannah
2021
This review contains spoilers
The gameplay was SUPER tight. It was honestly the best co-op game experience I've ever had. The game felt like it was designed from the ground up with the goal of providing each player with enough moments as a supporter, and enough moments in the spotlight, to never get bored. And I would leave it at that if it weren't for the insufferable writing. Cody and May are just kind of ... bad people? And they're being rightfully tormented by a horribly obnoxious, somewhat racially insensitive, cutscene hogging talking self help book. They deserve this fate, but I, the player, did nothing wrong!!! Why do I have to listen to him too??? Also, don't love the intrinsic message of the game is that divorce is for bad people who don't try hard enough to love each other. Like, oof. I wish the game ended with them learning how to cooperate but still going through with the divorce. Would've been way more appropriate given all the writing leading up to that end.
Four stars is a high rating for a game whose writing my partner and I almost uniformly hated, but the gameplay really is that tight. It's a great game to play co-op, the graphics are gorgeous, and those cutscenes are beautifully animated. Just... mute them, maybe.
Four stars is a high rating for a game whose writing my partner and I almost uniformly hated, but the gameplay really is that tight. It's a great game to play co-op, the graphics are gorgeous, and those cutscenes are beautifully animated. Just... mute them, maybe.
Yeah boy they're BIIIIIIG
2020
Everyone's talkin 'bout Bugsnax! And they SHOULD be. I was completely blown away by how much I liked pretty much every aspect of this game. I played this on Game Pass so the lack of direct monetary obligation meant I could oh so easily just play the first area, say "omg Strabby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" and then never pick it up again. But no, I was genuinely invested in seeing this thing through from early on.
The gameplay is super fun - it taps into the same lobe of my brain that's dedicated to catching Pokemon. There's a really satisfying difficulty curve that keeps it satisfying to encounter new areas with new creatures, and to figure out how best to catch them. I don't consider myself to have great reaction time or dexterity and I found the game to be quite accessible, while not feeling excessively coddle-y. As well, no joke ... I think this game has some of the best written characters I've seen in a game in a long time. Even the comic relief characters (let's be real though... they're all comic relief characters to a degree) are written with such love, charm, and DEPTH! You can tell a lot of thought and care went into the cast of characters and their history with one another. This sounds stupid because they're all flappy colorful muppet creatures. Just trust me on this one. You too can become overly invested in the personal affairs of flappy colorful muppet creatures and then you'll understand.
I don't want to go into any more detail than this on the off chance that somehow someone reads this and is persuaded to play the game. I think this game benefits from going in somewhat cold so I'll leave it there. But honestly, this game is so deeply weird and wonderful and worth your time.
The gameplay is super fun - it taps into the same lobe of my brain that's dedicated to catching Pokemon. There's a really satisfying difficulty curve that keeps it satisfying to encounter new areas with new creatures, and to figure out how best to catch them. I don't consider myself to have great reaction time or dexterity and I found the game to be quite accessible, while not feeling excessively coddle-y. As well, no joke ... I think this game has some of the best written characters I've seen in a game in a long time. Even the comic relief characters (let's be real though... they're all comic relief characters to a degree) are written with such love, charm, and DEPTH! You can tell a lot of thought and care went into the cast of characters and their history with one another. This sounds stupid because they're all flappy colorful muppet creatures. Just trust me on this one. You too can become overly invested in the personal affairs of flappy colorful muppet creatures and then you'll understand.
I don't want to go into any more detail than this on the off chance that somehow someone reads this and is persuaded to play the game. I think this game benefits from going in somewhat cold so I'll leave it there. But honestly, this game is so deeply weird and wonderful and worth your time.
2015
This review contains spoilers
I want to play this again so bad but the game told me I would retraumatize my lil buddies :(