Only Journalism Can Save Us in This First Look at Bugsnax Gameplay

“You’re pretty good at stuff and nobody hates you yet!” says a mysterious, orange citizen of Snaktooth Island. Weird, these folks must not know that the main character of the upcoming Young Horses adventure Bugsnax is a journalist, otherwise, they’d never say that. New Bugsnax gameplay was revealed today during Sony’s State of Play live stream event, giving fans their first look at the first-person gameplay, narrative elements, and uh… a big scary flying pizza monster that doesn’t seem to fit the tone of this island of tasty bugs and Muppet-adjacent denizens. Hmm. Check out the trailer below while I mull over the concept of an unhated journalist.

“Bugsnax is a first-person adventure game where you must solve the mysteries of Snaktooth Island by observing, hunting, and capturing Bugsnax using an advanced array of Snak-catching traps you’ll discover on your journey. Shortly after arriving on the island and encountering Filbo Fiddlepie, the well-meaning interim mayor of Snaxburg,” says the PlayStation Blog post on the tasty new game coming to PS4 and PS5. Our journalist character’s goal is to get the people of the island to open up about the Bugsnax mystery, most likely becoming embroiled in it themselves. Of course, the only way to do that is by helping them and, in most cases, feeding them some tasty bug-like snacks.

Wait, journalist getting caught up in a local mystery they are covering… is Bugsnax actually a horror game?

That’s all a lot to take in, but regardless, Bugsnax is shaping up to be a unique adventure with a focus on unraveling a mystery that may just get dark and scary before its final chapter concludes. Given developer Young Horses pedigree for zaniness, we haven’t seen anything yet. We’ll know more about what to expect on the Isle of Bugsnax as its holiday release date approaches.

And hey, we got through an entire Bugsnax-based article without the theme song getting stuck in my hea–crap, there it is.

Oh-oo-oh, talkin’ ’bout Bugsnax.