Bug Fables has been my favorite indie game for half a decade now. There is just so much to love about this game, and although it isn't perfect, I believe all that is great here still makes it one of the best games of all time.

Never played the first 2 Paper Marios so I can't compare this game to its source inspiration ( I did grow-up and love the Mario & Luigi games though and this is close enough to that series ). You are little bugs who go around a big world, meeting many other bugs, solving lots of puzzles and fighting every enemy along the way. The game is split into set chapters that open up new parts of the map to explore. You get more abilities both in and out of battle to use which allows you to explore more and find secrets. The platforming itself is simple, but the variety in locations and the clever little puzzles used to get around always freshens up the gameplay.

The combat is quite in depth. You get a lot to always consider and to use to your advantage, such as the bug in front being the one who gets targeted the most but also gets an attack bonus. There are of course also status effects, special states that enemies can enter, more powerful special moves to use, a blocking system, etc. What is very cool is your ability to relay a turn to another bug, meaning you can really optimize all of your turns to make work whatever strategy you've come up with. What really adds on to all of this are the medals. There are an abundance of medals doing all sorts of things that allow one to come up with a variety of strategies. You may find yourself switching your entire team dynamic 3+ times a playthrough if you interact with the system enough and think of something great. You also have items and an entire cooking system to consider which can in itself create many new possibilities and synergies.
I have a lot of fun with battling, but I must admit that I believe it has 2 big issues. My biggest issue is the fact that spying on enemies costs you a turn. This means that for every new enemy you'll lose a turn revealing their health and finding out about them. More importantly, this means that you'll lose a turn while going up against bosses, meaning that the best course of action is to spy, allow yourself to be defeated and then retry the boss to start it off with its stats being revealed because it saves you spying it. There is a medal that solves this issue but it makes you work a bit for it and really should just be basekit. The other issue is that medal points are just objectively the best stat to increase upon level up. This is because there are medals that you can equip that increase your team points and health, nullifying the need to increase the other stats. Medals can also give you other bonuses that also make up for you having low health or team points, so there really isn't any reason to bother with the other stats besides a few team point increases here and there.

More and more sidequests unlock as you progress which reward you for completing them. It's made very easy to do these sidequests in succession so they rarely feel like a chore. There are also many areas housing special bosses that provide greater reward and challenge for you to go out and defeat. You have the option to refight bosses at any time and to play through boss rushes for extra rewards. There are also some minigames to play, the best and most in-depth one being the card battling game which itself is a lot of fun. If you try to do all of the side content as you play the game, you'll at least get 40 hours out of it which is real good for the price I'd say. There are also special codes that you can utilize to give your playthroughs a spin, whether it be making the game harder, making the game straight-up unfair, changing how the leveling system works or making all of the medals randomized to provide greater replayability.

What I think I love the most besides the exploration and combat is the world design itself and the characters within it. This is a once human ran world that sentient bugs now inhabit. The ways they make the world make sense, such as the desert area being a child's sandbox, is really cool. These characters are some of the best in indie gaming, being my personal favorites. The bug designs can get quite varied with a lot of them looking very cool or honestly pretty cute! A lot of characters that you interact with have interesting personalities that mesh well with each other and the main characters' backstories especially are heart-touching and get integrated into the story well. This is my favorite fictional world and I really wish I could visit it. The story itself I would say is pretty good, but not consistently impressive throughout. The first three chapters I think are great. Chapter 4 though feels uninteresting due to there not being a lot of new things that are introduced or really matter. It's not unfun, but is the only one that could be skipped besides a few events and one interesting location. Chapter 5 and 6 are also good, except for the second half of chapter 6 not being as interesting in its location and story. The final chapter is shorter but is saved due to its amazing setting and tense finale. There isn't a bad chapter here at all, only some downs here and there.
There is one fatal flaw in the story though, and its how the main villain and antagonists are handled. The Wasps are the antagonists and only really get screentime a bit into the game, which is honestly sorta fine. The main villain however only appears 4 times throughout the entire story, first time being half-way through the game! They spent a lot of time telling the lore behind the other characters in the story and showing how they progress throughout the game, but besides from a few lines that one may miss here and there, you never find out the actual motive or backstory of the villain. You have to... purchase and read the artbook to truly learn more about them. This really feels like they just couldn't come up with a way to fully integrate the villain into the story.

I LOVE how this game looks. It may not be as polished as something like The Thousand Year Door, but it has its own indie style that, combined with the cool and cute bug designs and interesting area theming, is extremely charming. There are some oddities there though. The main grass texture for the Outskirts region for example is very very visibly scuffed with the textures having a different tone of green without any blending between. Then there is also the silly fact that signs are always forced to face the camera despite it not making any sense. Also, some sprites here and there do look a little rough. These graphical mishaps aren't really anything to get upset about though and shouldn't take away from one's enjoyment.

The soundtrack of this game is one of my favorites of all time. The instrumentation and sounds here give it such a unique feel PERFECTLY fitting of a game about bugs. The sound effects especially are unique, most notably the hitting sounds. There are so many bangers and chill tracks here. Some of my favorite tracks are Oh No! WASPS!!, Work That Honey and Forsaken Lands. It does on rare occasions get generic, Rubber Prison's theme being a prime example, but generally the compositions are beautifully unique and fitting for whatever scenario or location they're for.

Replaying it on Steam after dropping 140 hours on the Switch only solidifies this game as being one of my favorite games of all time. It is truly a crime that it isn't more popular than it currently is. It means so much to me, is why I've the passion to do art, music, writing, and is probably why I love indie games in general. You should EXTREMELY-SO consider playing this game as it's very likely that you'll fall in love with it if you like in-depth combat and appealing characters especially. Thank you, Bug Fables, for being so so great.

A bee, a beetle and a moth walk into a bar...
And other bug jokes you can tell yourself

other than that this game is simply a must for those who are hungry for Paper Mario RPGs. would willingly do something to experience this blind again

This game reminded me of the love I had of videogames when I was a kid