Hello Playstation fans! I’m Kevin Zuhn, creative director at Young Horses. If you don’t already know, Bugsnax will soon get a free update called Isle of Bigsnax and the release is coming to an amazing end. As such, I thought I’d take a moment to dig into the details of the five new features coming to Bugsnax.
Discover a new island
The iconic Isle of Bigsnax is a brand new biome to play with, twice the size of any other biome. Bugsnax there is also about the same size (but more later). You and your colleagues are shocked when this new land mass bursts into the ocean just off the coast of Snaktooth Island. You’ll quickly assemble a team of volunteers including Chandlo, Floofty, Triffany, and Shelda, and set out to investigate its mysteries.
With this field, we’re focusing more on environmental quizzes that put your tools to the test. You’ll come across vertical mazes that can only be navigated with your buggy ball, and they increase in complexity; Some are even inhabited by mischievous snakes. There are also machine ruins that can be opened up using clever use of your ride footage and its ability to spread fires. Fun fact: The temple door opening from a lit fire sounds like a fantasy, but we were inspired by real-life Archimedes works.
Catch Bigsnax
Like I said, the new island is home to an absolutely massive Bugsnax collection. They are so large that they can bypass your usual traps and tools. So how do you catch them? There is a useful substance on the island called Shrink Spice. If you throw it at Bigsnak, it will shrink to a much more manageable size, giving you a chance to get trapped. Unfortunately, this spice is extremely volatile, and when you pick it up, you have 30 seconds to use it before it explodes.
Even with Shrink Spice, Bigsnax won’t be a walk; They have a lot of other defenses. For example, the Clawbsteroni (a lobster made of mac and cheese) uses a giant trampoline to push the seasoning out of its head. Aside from the somewhat familiar Bunger Royale, all snax on the island are brand new, so there’s a lot to discover about their behavior and abilities. We had a lot of fun coming up with designs for them, and this update gave us the opportunity to fit both bugs and foods that we didn’t have a place in the first time around.
Decorate your Hut
Of course, the island itself isn’t the only thing worth trying in this update. Back in Snaxburg, Filbo introduces you to your own hut. We’ve always wanted to give players a home among their cranky friends, but sadly were left on the cutting room floor. However, we still left a half-built hut in Snaxburg in the hope that one day it might turn into something different.
Indeed your hut is initially just a modest pile of wood, but over time it can become a luxury two-story residence. You can decorate and personalize the hut with all sorts of unique furniture, wallpapers, and lawn decorations (my favorite is the 20-foot-tall grumpus skeleton). There are about 180 decorations to collect. How do you come across all these decorations? Good…
Check your mail
Your hut is also attached to a new set of activities that are sent through the mailbox. The mean people in town will send you requests and challenges, and every time you complete them, you’ll receive a thank you letter with some gifts. You’ll also receive letters and gifts to mark various milestones throughout the game (so returning players will have quite a bit to start with).
We built these letter challenges to encourage players to explore the game in new ways. You may be tasked with observing unique Bugsnak behavior, solving a puzzle, or climbing to the top of a level. One of my favorites is posting ads for Cromdo Mart around Snaxburg. The letters are also filled with jokes, anecdotes, and secrets from your favorite cranky people, so we hope you enjoy reading through them.
Collect bug hats
Last but not least, we have added the Bug Hat! When you feed the bad guys in Snaxburg, the transformations eventually cause their hats to fall off and never be put back on. You may have wondered at some point; What happened to those hats?
Well, Bugsnax has them! In the wild, you can come across a Bugsnak wearing a hat. If you catch it, the hat is yours and you can now proudly put it on any Snax in the Gamble’s cage. Once you’ve found your first hat, the Hat Board will spawn in Snaxburg, giving you hints on where to find your next hat. We think it’s nice to have a rare event like this shake up your bug hunt.
That’s it for our most exciting new features, but there are plenty of other stories and secrets to find throughout the update. Isle of Bigsnax will launch for free on April 28 for all Bugsnax owners on PS4 and PS5.
I hope you all enjoyed taking the second course of Bugsnax!
