The Bugger! Reviews

Really charming game with simple puzzles mechanics (I still got stuck a couple times though). Graphics and music really go well together for a fun playing experience.

I won't say that I loved the game, but it was a curious short playthrough with a strange idea, about 90 minutes with 100% completion. Essentially it's meta exploration game where you navigate a small town to find the bugs that escaped from the email. Not much in terms of optional content, just doing some funky errands around the town, with a few small optional interactions. The visuals and the atmosphere were probably the best part, I have seen this art style many times before, but the way you created the day cycle was something different, I am not sure if I have seen it done the same way, although the overall look reminded me of Nott Logna. Just the way the shading would bounce off the objects was very cool, although it's not actual light, just you putting a different pattern on the world to give it a sense of light movement. Also, I thought the music was very soothing so the game felt very immersive, I only wish you would put a bit more interactions with characters, it kind of felt like you didn't fully take advantage of the exploration, it could use more hidden content outside of the main story to hammer in the escapism. The dialogue and the funky story were not bad or anything, I just thought you left a bit of room there and not rewarding the curiosity. I don't really mind the fixed movement, but I am not a fan of the way you implemented directional input, maybe you were going for the retro feel but I didn't think it was necessary, especially with the character often getting stuck on the trees. [h1] Pros: [/h1] (+) Not even so much the art style, specifically the "light movement" in the game is something that really impressed me, it felt very unusual the way you would pattern the different angles to give the game a sense of shading. (+) I enjoyed the funky aspect of the story and the limited interactions with characters were cute, but I do think you could have done a bit more optional exploration because I think it felt too much like following a straight line despite having a town to explore. [h1] Feedback: [/h1] [u] Exploration [/u] - what you doing is perfectly fine, I would just say populate the space a bit more with interactions and just add a few more optional quests around, I think if you added a couple of hidden secrets it would make it feel more complete. I know some devs that would make exactly the same type of game, but there would be like a hidden quest underwater or something, try to reward that curiosity for exploration. [u] A few random things [/u] - after you fix the computer the dialogue from the owner was staying around, and the game froze once toward the end when I had to pick up the phone. Is the teleport on level 17 working properly, it kills me as I go in. I was often getting stuck on terrain like trees and such. I wish the input was a bit more generic because it felt confusing where down and up was. [b] Overall Thoughts: 7/10 [/b] $8 for about 90 minutes of creative game design and an unusual look, perfectly fine in my book, so if you don't mind small games you might enjoy it. I thought there would be a little more, if you want I would just say add a few side quests with other characters, just add a bit more time on the island that is not a direct progression for the narrative so you can get more of that cozy exploration vibe. Really cool "light" effects though, I said it 3 times now hehe. [code]Niche, obscure and underrated games: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/31294838-Hidden-Gem-Discovery/ [/code]