Republished on Wednesday, August 10, 2022: Following the announcement of the PS Plus Extra, Premium lineup in August, I’m reviving this review from the archives. The original is below.
As Bugsnax’s PlayStation 4 review has already established, this game is very different. A semi-open-world adventure game about catching sentient snacks and feeding them to your fellow grumps? There’s a narrative thread.
PS5 owners with PS Plus will get this version of Bugsnax at no extra charge. This is definitely the best way to play the game. After crash-landing on Snaktooth Island, your task is not only to hunt down the famous creature, but to bring them all together to solve the mystery of what happened to him Elizabert Megafig. She’s the one who summoned you to a food-infested paradise, but she went missing in the meantime.Piece things together, you can traverse the entire island and catch her Bugsnax of all shapes and sizes. I can do it.
One of the PS4 version’s biggest drawbacks was its reliance on loading screens. These have all but disappeared on PS5. Often, you’ll have to go from one side of the map to the other to hunt down specific creatures. To do this on PS4, you have to sit with some load. On PS5, these loading times have been reduced from around 30+ seconds to just a few seconds. Now it’s more or less a fade-out and a fade-in. This means there will still be short pauses between each area of the island, but they will be significantly shortened, making travel across the map smoother.
When it comes to framerates, the PS5’s extra power also helps. You’re looking at 60 frames per second. This isn’t necessarily a game that needs to run at 60, but it’s a nice bonus and definitely better than the PS4’s slightly choppy performance.
A large part of Bugsnax’s gameplay is related to catching culinary creatures. With different tools that are unlocked as you progress, you can eventually catch all the species. The DualSense controller’s great features are subtly used here, adding subtle but effective feedback via triggers and haptics. When Bugsnak gets stuck in his Snak Trap, you can feel it about to pop out, and when you take a picture, the adaptive he trigger gives the camera a “click.” Other tools, such as Sauce Slinger, also use triggers. Sauce Slinger pulls the slingshot back and he tenses the R2 button. These aspects don’t reinvent gameplay in any way, but they do provide a pleasant tactile feel.
Other than those factors, this is exactly the same game available on PS4. There’s still a problem or two – it’s a shame there’s no Fast Travel – but it’s a fun, quirky game at its best.
Conclusion
Bugsnax gives a good time regardless of platform, but it excels on PS5. Significantly shortened load sequences, improved performance, and unique DualSense features. All this makes for a more enjoyable excursion to Snaktooth Island. If you play Bugsnax, definitely play it on PS5.
