Category: Puzzle

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Game Ramblings #123 – Bugsnax

More Info from Young Horses

  • Genre: Adventure
  • Platform: PS5
  • Also Available On: PC, Mac, PS4

I know this is kind of a weird first game to play on the PS5, but it was the perfect storm. I was in the middle of moving into a house, so games were getting delivered there. However, I was still working remote from my apartment, so I delivered the PS5 there to be safe. I wasn’t going to have the PS5 plugged in long term because it also had to move, but I needed something to test the system out, and this was free on PS+. I also knew that I was starting the dive into Yakuza: Like a Dragon, so I didn’t want to start something that was going to take long or require me to remember a ton of information.

That would all seem to indicate that this was a complete chance play through, and to some extent it was. I’ve been looking forward to playing this one for a while since I was a fan of Young Horses’ previous game – Octodad – and I have the physical release on preorder whenever it decides to come out. However, like that one, Bugsnax is not really a system seller, and it’s really not meant to be. Ultimately what it ended up doing was filling the same slot that the previous title did – be a mechanically quirky but interesting puzzle experience, have an absolutely absurd story, but end in a way that left me absolutely satisfied with the experience that was put in front of me.

That pic feels like as good a place to start as any, as it really encompasses a lot of the absurd aspects of the game. Yes that’s a giant living maki roll. Yes it’s something that you have to suss out the mechanics of catching. Yes, it’s core to moving the story forward for one of the side quest chains in the game.

Bugsnax works the best when you’re solving puzzles in order to catch things, and the handful of boss battles really nail the feeling of that. The general individual creatures you catch act as a sort of training method to get through the harder stuff. You generally use one trick in order to catch them. Sometimes it’s using the right sauce to lure something out of hiding. Sometimes it’s using the launcher to toss a thing at them. Sometimes it’s using a trip line to stop something running around at full speed. However, the boss fights tie it all together.

In the case of the sushi roll, it’s the recognition that you need to scan its path to figure out where it’s going to be moving, then setting up your zipline to trip it, then when it breaks apart, running around to catch the pieces until you have them all. In another example, it’s using a trap type that a creature hates to lure it into a specific location where you can then use the hook shot stand-in to pull a rock down on its head. For a game with only a handful of specific tool types, they get a lot of mileage out of their inventive use and combinations possible to really push what you learn against smaller creatures into clever capture mechanics on the larger ones.

Of course, it helps that you want to capture everything. To some extent, you’re drawn in by the clever and very groanable naming and visual scheme of the creatures, such as the crab apple – named after the plant, but very obviously a crab made out of apples, or things like the mothza supreme – a giant flying supreme pizza. You’re also drawn in by the behaviors of the creatures themselves. They emote out of fear when you’re chasing them, out of happiness and anger when you send their favored sauces their way, out of shock when something gets the drop on them.

However, the PS5 version definitely gets some unique touches that are already starting to show the promise of the new controller. Catching a creature does little audio cues of the creatures yelling their names in a way very reminiscent of the Pokemon TV show. It’s something that’s been done in the past on consoles like the Wii, but the quality of audio coming out of the DualSense controller is a marked improvement. Different tools do different things with the modifiable triggers, with custom click points that make it act like the old double action Gamecube analog trigger. It’s also worth noting that the quality of haptic feedback available here is a marked improvement over the last generation’s implementation on the PS4 and Xbox One and being more in line with what we’ve seen done with Nintendo first party titles on the Switch, with feedback on things like creatures walking into the player trap having obviously distinct feedback, allowing you to catch creatures just based on feel while you hide out of sight. It was surprising to see how much these little feedback changes improved the experience, but it’s a level of polish that I’m now hoping to see happen more often throughout this generation.

It definitely also helps that the NPCs and story play a nice balance between lighthearted and absurdist. From a non-spoilery perspective, the core of the story is that you’re a journalist documenting an expedition researching and cataloguing the Bugsnax, which when eaten change the character’s limbs into that snack. The expedition folks seem entirely unconcerned that they slowly turn into fruits and vegetables that you force feed to them, which is hilarious and absurd, and incredibly dark as you roll through the story. It lasts long enough to have its own set of twists and turns, but also doesn’t overstay its welcome. There’s also a nice balance of core story and side quest content, giving you an obvious golden path to go through, but plenty of options to venture out and learn more about the townsfolk if you want to, all while catching more new things to turn them into.

So is it a next-gen showcase? Nah. Do I think it’s better on PS5 because of the controller? Yes. Do I think it’s worth playing? Depends. This one falls into a niche where I would easily recommend it to fans of games like Pokemon Snap or Slime Rancher. It’s distinctly an adventure/puzzle game, and it’s casual enough to get through but offers some nice range of easy to difficult content that fits into a lot of skill ranges. It was also the PS+ title for November for the PS5 launch, which right away puts it into the “why not” range. If nothing else it did exactly what I needed out of it – it entertained the hell out of me while giving me a way to test my PS5 and gets me started for the next generation.

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Mini Ramblings #4 – Gap Fillers

I had a bit of time to fill in between Dark Cloud 2 and the release of Final Fantasy VII Remake, so I took the opportunity to run through a whole slew of short games on my backlog. Below are some of the random notes about the ones I selected.

Gorogoa

  • Genre: Puzzle
  • Platform: Switch
  • Also Available On: Windows, iOS, PS4, Xbox One

Ultimately this is a really well crafted puzzle game that is meant for touch screens or mice, so I’m glad I played it on Switch. Originally released for Windows and iOS, the Switch version came over with full touch screen support, and that’s how I ended up playing it.

The core loop involves a 2×2 square board where interactive tiles can be moved around, layered on top of each other, pulled apart, and more. As a player, you end up interacting with multiple of these tiles at once to try and find the connections between them and move the story forward. This could be as simple as changing the zoom on a couple tiles until they can be placed next to each other, allowing a person to walk between tiles. This could be something like lining up two tiles with parts of a gear in order to rotate a third tile and find a new way to zoom into the interaction.

In practice, it’s incredible how much the game finds ways to just keep the interaction moving. At the start of the game you have one tile, and until the end of the game, you’ll never be at zero tiles. It sounds so simple to have a puzzle game of 2×2 tiles, but the amount of interactions that come out of it was astounding. This is all helped by a really vibrant art style that really pushes color as a helper for finding those puzzle connections. All of that made this a really enjoyable couple hour experience that I think is worth playing, particularly on a touch screen.

The Garden’s Between

  • Genre: Puzzle
  • Platform: Switch
  • Also Available On: Linux, macOS, Windows, PS4, Xbox One, iOS

This was another surprising puzzle game that I pulled out of the pile. The core idea is that you manipulate time to move the main characters through a linear level. The only other thing you really can do is interact with a handful of in-level objects that can move around, or pick up torches to clear away some obstacles.

The bulk of the puzzles involve generally passing the torch around in a fairly common pattern, moving time forward to grab the torch, backing up to get it to some important thing that is moving around or needs to be cleared, then moving time forward again through the new path. On the surface, it sounds simple but it’s an effective pattern that is used in surprisingly varied ways.

This was a pretty quick play through in about an hour and a half or so, but was an enjoyable experience that didn’t overstay its welcome.

Old Man’s Journey

  • Genre: Adventure
  • Platform: Switch
  • Also Available On: Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, PS4, Xbox One

This was my complete relaxation game during this whole stretch. While it’s technically an adventure game, and technically has puzzles, the game is really best thought of as a relaxing visual journey. The only real mechanic at play is the ability to drag the landscape in different directions, opening up the path for the title’s old man to move around.

Beyond the core mechanic, this was just a really relaxing little adventure. It tells a light story about an old man travelling to see an ex before her passing, but really it’s a replay of his memories along the way. If you’ve got an hour to kill, and want something to hit on the same relaxation level of a book, this is a good place to end up.

Gunvolt Chronicles: Luminous Avenger iX

  • Genre: Action/Platformer
  • Platform: Switch
  • Also Available On: PS4, Windows, Xbox One

Describing this as anything but Mega Man X would be a complete lie. The gameplay is the same, the pattern of killing bosses to unlock their powers is the same, the game’s structure is the same. Where it’s different though is in how it handles health, and it’s far more forgiving for it.

While there is a standard health pool there, if the player is playing well they won’t ever use it. Core to the experience is a reloadable energy store that powers both an impenetrable shield as well as things like an air dash. It can be reloaded quickly at any time with a quick double tap down, leaving it up to the player to manage it effectively. At its core, the real sway becomes less of a health management game and more of a choice of doing more damage quickly or staying safe.

While this may sound like it’s just making the experience easy, there’s still options for truly skilled players to show off. Avoiding being hit allows a score combo to grow, so truly good players are able to use the score and completion time as true measures, while less skilled players can still complete the game on their own terms. It’s one of the more interesting ways I’ve seen in this style game to open up the experience to more players, and I think it ends up working really well.

Jupiter & Mars

  • Genre: Adventure
  • Platform: PS4

In a lot of ways, this was a modern take on specifically the Dreamcast version of Ecco the Dolphin. You play a dolphin going around trying to save the planet from environmental catastrophe, either shutting down machines or rescuing other animals along the way.

This was ultimately a better experience than it is a game though. There’s nothing particularly offensive about it, but there’s nothing particularly standout either. Controls are alright, but weird since you control a dolphin in first-person. The AI companion that you command generally does what you want, but often gets stuck behind obstacles. Your goal is generally not that clear, but there’s not a ton of exploration to do so you generally end up finding your way. From a gameplay experience, I’d probably describe it as something akin to Flower, but with significantly less polish.

However, this is an absolute standout visually. The entire game takes on a sort of realistic, but also sort of Tron style and it’s generally a sight to behold. Things are already lit up in interesting ways, but then you activate sonar and the whole scene lights up in crazy colors. If there’s anything to point at as a reason to experience this one, it’s easily the visuals.

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Game Ramblings #104 – Octahedron

More Info from Demimonde Studios

  • Genre: Puzzle/Platformer
  • Platform: Switch
  • Also Available On: Steam, Xbox One, PS4

Octahedron is a wild ride. At its core, it’s a really mechanically tight puzzle platformer. However, that’s way oversimplifying it. As you dig in, it becomes a wildly fun experience dripping in an ’80s color palette that moves wildly between tight platforming sections, quick movement sections, and even a little bit of offensive weapon flair to your move set.

I figured I’d start with this short video, because it kind of shows a bit of everything. You see the core mechanic of the game – the ability to create a platform that moves underneath you. There’s a bit of the puzzle and offense, where my platform drops an explosive to open up my path, then I use my platforms to get around the enemy spawner. You’ve got the over the top visual style and audio, which the game is largely synced to.

The most important thing about all of this is that it’s mechanically really tight. That’s always the big differentiator between good and bad platformers. Jump heights and jump distances feel really consistent. The height gaps between platforms as you move up and down are obvious, so there’s no second guessing whether you are going to make a jump or need to lay down a platform of your own first. The obstacles moving in time with the background music sets a great internal rhythm to threading the needle through the level which added a nice secondary layer of confirmation to the way I was playing the game.

That’s not to say that things are necessarily easy. What it comes down to is the precision places everything on player skill to complete the game. Generally speaking there’s levels of difficulty to this. Simply completing the level generally provides a nice challenge that ramped up slowly throughout the game. Doing a full completion pass on the level started to add things to grab that were in out of the way or more challenging spots. Then completing a level quickly and with minimal use of player-created platforms is another level of difficulty altogether.

This ends up providing a bit of a choose your own adventure style to the game, and is where it really leans into the puzzle side of things. You’re no longer simply getting from point A to B in safety. You’re now having to be more precise with your jumps to minimize platforms. You’re taking some risks to move through the level as quick as possible. You’re keeping an eye out for secret areas that hold the last few bits of collectables that you need to grab. It all just works very well as a whole. If you’re having trouble with a level, you can kind of pick and choose what your goal is and come back later to wrap things up, so even the hardest content has ways to alleviate frustration and keep you moving forward.

Also a bit of a shoutout to Demimonde themselves. I hit a bug where a section of a later level wasn’t aligned properly until I restarted a couple times. We had a bit of a back and forth trying to narrow down what was going on. While we ultimately don’t have an answer, it was good to see them digging for info to potentially fix the issue, especially in light of the great speedrunning potential for a game of this style.

This is going to sound kind of weird, but if I were to give this one a comparable, it would probably be Super Mario Bros 2. Something about the way that the platforms you create move and glide with you gives it the same sort of floaty kind of platforming feel with similar amounts of precision really feels like that one. However, Octahedron is so much more when you really start digging into it. It takes those tight mechanics and adds a bunch of completionist tasks to really hone in on a super tight puzzle platformer. Combined with great audio and visual style, this one’s a pretty easy game to recommend.