If you’d told me a few years ago that I’d fall in love with a game about half-bug, half-snack creatures that you trap and eat, I’d have probably given you a look. But Bugsnax exists, and not only is it incredibly charming—it’s also sneakily unsettling in the best way possible.

A Whimsical Nightmare (With Cute Bugs)

At first glance, Bugsnax looks like the kind of game you’d introduce to a small child who’s just graduated from Peppa Pig to something mildly more interactive. Bright colours? Check. Goofy, round creatures? Check. Friendly, slightly chaotic muppet-like characters? Also check. But then you start playing, and beneath all the delightful nonsense, there’s an undercurrent of… something else.

The premise is simple: you arrive on Snaktooth Island, a place where Bugsnax roam free. These little creatures resemble living versions of your favourite snacks—Strabbies (strawberries with legs), Bunger (a bouncing burger with curly fries for horns), and my personal favourite, the Shishkabug (a sentient kebab skewer that panics and runs away at the first sign of danger). Your job is to document them, trap them, and, in most cases, feed them to the island’s Grumpus inhabitants, who then start sprouting snack-based limbs like some kind of eldritch horror disguised as a Saturday morning cartoon.

Fun Puzzles, Oddly Satisfying Quests

As much as the idea of eating sentient food should be disturbing (and it is—we’ll get to that), Bugsnax is an absolute joy to play. The puzzle mechanics are simple but incredibly satisfying, relying on a mix of tools like traps, slingshots, and bait to capture your snack-shaped targets. Some are easy—plonk down a trap and wait. Others require a bit of lateral thinking, like using one Bugsnak to interact with another in a bizarre food chain of absurdity.

The game’s quests mostly revolve around capturing specific Bugsnax for the island’s residents, but there’s a surprisingly compelling mystery woven in as well. Where did the island’s leader, Elizabert Megafig, disappear to? What exactly are Bugsnax? And why does everything feel just a little bit off?

The Existential Dread of Eating Your Friends

So let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Or rather, the sentient curly fry with googly eyes.

The Grumpuses—the fuzzy, muppet-like islanders—are obsessed with eating Bugsnax, despite the fact that, once consumed, their limbs start turning into whatever they just ate. This seems fun at first (turning someone’s hands into curly fries is objectively hilarious), but then you start wondering… what happens if they eat too many? What’s the endgame here? Are we sure these snack-monsters want to be eaten? And why does everyone on this island seem slightly unhinged?

Without diving into spoilers, Bugsnax takes a turn. A big turn. What starts as a lighthearted, whimsical creature-capturing game slowly morphs into something more existentially unsettling, and by the time you reach the end, you’re left questioning everything you thought you knew about this snack-based ecosystem.

An Absolute Delight (With a Side of Nightmare Fuel)

Bugsnax is, at its core, a brilliant mix of quirky fun and low-key psychological horror wrapped in a cutesy aesthetic. The characters are wonderfully written, the world is fun to explore, and the Bugsnax themselves are so ridiculously charming that you’ll feel a little guilty every time you trap one.

It’s weird, it’s wonderful, and it’s unlike anything else I’ve played. If you’re in the mood for a game that will make you laugh, puzzle your way through adorable challenges, and then leave you questioning your own morals—welcome to Snaktooth Island.