Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling

I’m not a big turnbased RPG player. I always feel like I want to be but once I actually play them I’m always put off by the way they tell stories (or more accurate to say, lore dump) and the turnbased combat loses me so quickly. Chrono Trigger has been the only JRPG that I’ve loved. The only one that’s ever lived up to what I imagined the genre to be. Well now Bug Fables joins that velvet rope club.

Another game I feel the need to compare Bug Fables to is Hollow Knight. The Bug themed Fantasy setting is obvious but the actual comparison I intend is that it’s obviously an indie game attempting to capture a similar tone as a famous game or genre. Hollow Knight (Metroid, Castlevania) and Bug Fables (Mario RPG, Paper Mario, TTYD). Both of these indie titles have evolved past that homage into their own identity and in my humble opinion, surpass their inspirations. Also there’s the value. Like Hollow Knight, Bug Fables is absolutely packed to the gills with content, extra boss fights, challenge modes, collectibles, side quests, mini games. Secrets upon secrets for an absurdly low price. Value for money Bug Fables is an objectively good product.

That’s all to say nothing about the simple but charming story. The fantastic characters and music. The turnbased combat is incredibly simple but deep as an ocean. At first I was disappointed there are only 3 party members but that allows you to actually care about your tight knit group of explorers. This is the problem I’ve always had with this genre. The reason no jrpg can recreate (much as they’ve tried) Chrono Trigger’s campfire scene is because that team bond is so hard to earn. Bug Fables comes very very close.

The thing this game does so well imo is that it mixes the sense of adventure of a fantasy jrpg with a deep combat system but wraps it all in this cozy and charming N64 style world. It’s colorful and bright but there are dark and sinister corners of this world. There are light and funny moments of charm and adventure but not without darkness and danger and sincerely hard boss fights. As someone who played Chrono Trigger at 30 years old. Don’t be put off by the look of this game. This is the game I’ve been searching for ever since Chrono Trigger. Give it a try. It may be what you’re looking for too.

I can say this is one of my favourite games of all time. The characters, the music, the story, all fantastic. While some bits get tedious, It was a joy to get everything in the game. I PRAY for a sequel. I need another Bug Fable. I need to see more of this creature design. I need more from this world.

Bug Fables is an incredibly charming game from the characters to the visuals and audio.

One of the very best turn based RPGs I've ever played. I'm at the final dungeon now, and while I don't want the game to end, I feel like I owe it to my bug friends to see their journey through to completion

I tried this game through Xbox Game Pass when I first had it and I liked it so much that I bought it for my steam account to enjoy it longer. I love this game. I like how it is based off Paper Mario but it does a lot to stand on its own. I enjoy how the combat works, the dialogue, the characters, and even the puzzles. I have done almost all the side quests for the game until the final boss, and I'm very certain that I will complete whatever post-game quest available afterwards too. I have not taken the time to play the side quests of a game like this in years. That's how much I enjoyed it. Some of the quests even contribute to the worldbuilding of Bug Fables and character arcs which I adore. For the stealth portions, I wasn't really a big fan of them, but I understand the purpose of those sections nor did I find them grating. It's a me thing. Despite this, I still have a hard time putting the game down once I got the ball rolling past chapter 2. I hope the dev team are proud of what they've created. It's an awesome game and I hope more people enjoy it too.

This game is AMAZING! It deserves to be better well known and I truly believe everyone should try this game.

Bug Fables is a Paper Mario-like game with a lot of inspiration, and it does a very good job to keep the feel for the Paper Mario games. The characters have interesting designs and are jam-packed with fun dialog to keep you entertained for hours. The combat is smooth and unique enough to be able to stand out, and can be addicting when you're able to do over 60 damage in one turn(the base attack is 2).

The story is pretty lack-luster at the start, but once you get into the game, it starts to shine. I won't spoil anything, but Leif is probably my favorite character. The music is BEAUTIFUL, AWESOME, AND PERFECT IN ANY WAY(just look up "Oh no, Wasps!"). And there is enough content to be able to do other stuff than just explore and fight.

The only complaint I really have is the balancing. Normal mode is too easy, but hard mode can just be downright unfair, with dying in 2 or 3 hits.

I am currently doing a second play-through with special run codes that change how you play the game, so there is some replay value, but not too much.

All in all, I think if you have 20$ to spare, it would be an amazing game to sit down and play occasionally, and I highly recommend it! 9.5/10

Really charming, unique, and if you want, also very VERY challenging, worth a lot for the experience and for how much you can personalize your own strategy in and outside battle, awesome =D

i could write a joke review like i do for many of the games that i play, but i genuinely don't think it'd do this game justice, this is genuinely of the best games and rpg's i've ever played, the characters are fun and loveable, the combat system is simple to get ahold of, the paper aesthetic is charming and pleasant to look at, the puzzles can make you actually think for a moment on how the hell you are just supposed to solve them from time to time and the difficulty is not too much where you want to throw your controller in rage, but just enough where the game isn't mind-numbingly easy, and the music is very catchy with plenty of memorable tracks from the game, finally to end this review i'll say in a shitposty way moonsprout games is like god calling to us mere sinners and bringing the second coming of christ aka bug fables to us starving paper mario fans

Very good game that feels near to paper mario standards. solid

bugs.. my beloved..
(this contains my favorite cast of characters from anything ever made)

Look I'm gonna be real, this just doesn't do it.

I adore Paper Mario, and I see the vision, I am so close to grasping it. I see the kind of game the devs wanted to make, the formula they wanted to improve on...

But it falls short in a couple of ways I can't quite put into words. It's action commands ain't fun, the combat doesn't really flow, and it's missing some of that *sauce* if you catch my drift.

There's also a boss that's a questionable transgender stereotype, certainly leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth.

Paper Mario but it's bugs and also PEAK

For those looking to satisfy that Paper Mario itch from the 64 and the Gamecube. I feel this game may be for you.

It's amazing. The characters, art, gameplay, everything is top notch.

Good to see they're people who are willing to give us a proper Paper Mario game. Except with bugs, which are all well designed.

I do not treat such titles lightly when I say this has to be my favorite game of all time. Never before have I found a game where everything just WORKS for me. The graphics, the mechanics, puzzles, and the characters. Oh the CHARACTERS, their writing, backstories, and dynamics all feel so fun and thought out. Team Snakemouth is the paragon of a main trio, I can only hope to write characters with as much chemistry as they have.
I've replayed this game a consecutive 5 times as of writing this, and plan on increasing that number in the near future. Though I have never played a paper Mario game, as I've been told this is a tribute too, I've enjoyed it immensely. If you're like me and haven't played anything from that series but enjoy puzzles and character interaction; you'll enjoy this. If you're a PM fan looking for something great? You'll enjoy this.
This is the first game that comes to mind when someone asks for recommendations. I love it with all my heart and soul and implore you to go into it as blind as possible. I was so insanely lucky not to be spoiled. Stop reading reviews, stop risking losing an amazing experience, and play this game. You won't regret it.
I look forward to whatever these developers choose to make next. No matter how long it takes, I will always be excited to grow invested in such masterfully crafted worlds again.

As a good friend once said: "Play Bug Fables cowards."

Playing this game feels like playing Paper Mario TTYD for the first time again but with totally different characters and story.
I'm honestly surprised a game as good as this hasn't gotten more attention, and I highly recommend it.

In my top 10 games

Very fun game. The main gameplay is great, and there's plenty of minigames that I actually enjoyed (often when a game has minigames they kinda suck but I liked most of these). I also enjoyed the story and character interactions. My favorite part was that when trying out different builds I found several very different builds that all were fun and viable, which makes replaying the game feel good.

This game rules. I've never really played RPGs before and this is an excellent introduction :D

Funny bug game :D

that sure was a bug fable

It's like the first two paper mario games but with bugs
what more could you want?
Great game, loving it so far

This game is spectacular in both it's story telling and gameplay department, never missing a beat and always managing to keep the pace flowing in this 30+ hour long experience.

It builds off of Paper Mario's mechanics of simple combat with a item, badge and FP system and perfects it.
Gone are the typical partners and instead we get three party members with unique applications against every enemy in the game, often making you think about how you want this and following turns to play out.

Badges are generally well utilized and can focus from unique character specific buffs and special attacks to general team wide / ally buffs. Often I would switch out badges for fighting bosses or generally roaming the world.

Items have played a way more prevalent role compared to my playthroughs of PM64 and TTYD; they are cheap and plentiful and encourage using them in battles often to help scrape by or gain an advantage.
Cooking and combining items was really well done, you can cook and pretty much transmute every item in the game either by cooking a singular or combining two items together.
It was fun to experiment to see what recipe I would unlock by doing this.

Hard Mode is another system that is really well executed, sharing similar ideas with Terraria's Expert Mode.
Most enemies are given buffs in the form of health, attack and defense, with some enemy behaviour also being made more aggressive. This comes with the benefit of being given more experience, currency drops, better item drop chances and badges being given for free as soon as they would've become available in normal mode from an NPC.
This is something I've always wanted in Nintendo's RPG games but was always disappointed when the game becomes boring due to a lack of difficulty.

The story was really fun to follow, often surprising me and keeping me guessing what would happen next.
I also found myself often going out of my way to see what every NPC had to say and see what the main party had to say about each room and enemy, everyone oozes with personality, especially the main trio.
The music and visual presentation was always a treat.

If you are reading this and you haven't played this game before, play this game on hard mode and you will have the best classic paper mario esque experience you will probably ever have.

I have never played a Paper Mario game in this style before, the only one I ever have played was Paper Mario Color Splash. I loved that game for the characters and world it had, even if I have to admit that it does fall short in some places, especially with combat. A friend of mine recommended Bug Fables to me and after taking a look at it, I decided to pick it up, thinking "This will be a fun little distraction for the next few days." Fast forward 1 week and I have just now beaten the game and it has already become my 2nd favorite RPG ever.

The combat is really, REALLY fun in this game. There's a lot you can do with the medals to create tons of different and unique builds as well as the depth of the combat system without any of that, although the interesting medals do bring it up a notch. The music is also incredible, within your first 3 hours of the game you'll probably have turned the music volume all the way up or higher than all the rest because bad music is just not a thing in Bug Fables. There's an insanely large variety of characters in this game and each one is unique and interesting in their own ways. The main cast is incredibly likeable and there's never a dull moment in any of the interactions. Even the side/background characters are really memorable, as each one gets their own unique model. Even if you don't talk to them at all you will likely be able to recognize most of them. This game has a lot of lore, and it's all really good, I had a really limitied understanding of it yet I was still completely invested in it and the main story during the entirety of my 22 hour playthrough.

I do have a few gripes with this game, mainly being that some fights can be a little tough without specific builds and there are some confusing points where it's a little unclear where exactly the game expects you to go/what it expects you to do. There's also the problem with some bosses just being able to kill your entire team with sometimes unstoppable combos which can be quite annoying at times. It's also not that nice to take away healing saves after the first chapter when there are places like Chapter 3 where you can just get stuck without the option to heal, only being able to fight to save up 8 berries (main currency) for a full heal. If you only tend to bring items for bosses and not for wandering around you will likely have some trouble. The game is just generally kinda stingy with some resources, unless you're willing to do extra grinding which can in some cases throw off the already questionable balancing of some sections.

Even though those problems exist, they get outshined incredibly hard by just how fun the game is in general. It's a really well crafted adventure that just feels good to play, and it already has me wishing I could go do it all for the first time again. Buying this game full price is an absolute steal. If you've been considering buying Bug Fables, I highly, highly recommend you go ahead and play it.

Even if you've never played its inspirations, this game is still incredible. Highly recommended for anyone who's really into character interactions.

I have poured over 80 hours in to console, 15 on switch, and can confirm that this game is worth way more than 9$

It's an awesome game, I recommend! An enjoyable play with awesome main cast of characters, listening to their dialogues was always a treat! The game comes with "rumors" button where you can click it in any place or next to any NPCs and the party will talk about them; such a simple yet great way for world-building.

I'm surprised it took me 45 hours to complete the main story! I was expecting to be done with the game in 10-20, but it provides a positively surprising amount of content! And I'm still not done with everything.

The combat is also pretty nice. The numbers are generally low, which makes it much easier to see the difference certain effects cause; it's definitely a strong impression when your attack deals 3 instead of 2 damage.

hrrrrnghhh. Oh those is buges

Too many bugs

bugs

If you enjoy Paper Mario games or the Mario & Luigi series then you'll love this game

Is bug and is Fable

it good

if you enjoyed the first two paper mario games you will love this

-Fun gameplay loop with lots of customisation to change how you battle

-Amazing character writing/World building

-Cute art

if you enjoy these kinds of RPGs i highly suggest

them queer beetle and moth makes me MAD

Buggy

god all of the bugs are so hot

you telling me a bug made these fables?

Paper mario if it were good

Bug Fables is amazing in terms of feeling like the classic Paper Mario games while having its own characters and story to tell. Lots of passion and love put into every aspect of the game. Highly recommend to try it out if you have the time.

Very good game, thats all i have to say

Peak Fiction

I've got to say, if this isn't my favorite RPG (i don't know which that is!), it's definitely got my favorite characters, dialogue and story. Never played that paper mario, so i can't comment on the similarities like a lot of people like to on this one, and can also confirm you do not have to be a fan of that to love this.

Love the combat. The game deals with small numbers, rarely two digits of damage ever, and very consistent (even when it doesn't feel like it) rules you'll gradually learn if you pay attention. Once you've mastered it, you'll always know exactly how much damage you or a given enemy's different attacks can deal under specific conditions. This doesn't mean the repeated regular battles in new areas get old fast with this little randomness, as you'll still be managing your resources to try and get through however many there'll be. Put on the hard mode you get right at the beginning if you want it even a little bit, it's fun.

The best part about this game for me though, hands down, was the yap button. They undersell it so bad, introducing it as the 'i'm stuck and need a hint' button. Press it at any unique screen, and your party plus sometimes the extra follower you have at some points in the story will talk to each other about it- press it within interacting range of any unique character and they'll gossip about them to their face. Truckloads of entirely optional dialogue, there's even one per party member per unique enemy. I *adored* getting to new areas for this reason primarily, and the conversations were always gold. So glad the party never gets any bigger, it gives them so much room to know each other.

I love this game i wish bugs were real

Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling is a perfect example of taking an existing concept, adapting it with a unique spin, and adding upon said initial concept with new ideas to elevate beyond and make itself unique. In this case, this game delivered a JRPG experience akin to the Paper Mario series while creating a distinctive art style and theming with insects and environments that immerse players into a world that will charm and captivate them from starting their playthrough. In addition, Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling adds to these points by introducing new gameplay features, such as Turn Relay, along with mixing and matching positioning within battles to allow players a unique style that makes it stand out from the series that inspired it.

Overall, I highly recommend that anyone who loves the "Paper Mario" series, is a fan of JRPGs, or an indie enthusiast try this game and see what charm there is within Bug Fables: The Everlasting Sapling.

I guess for background, I've known of this game since about a week before launch, played about 10 hours, and then got spoiled on some big plot points and stopped playing. Also, while I've played up to chapter 3 in TTYD my paper mario knowledge bank is super small.

Finally over 3 and a half years after when I last tried playing the game, I sat down and did a whole replay, up to and past where my old file had stopped. And turns out that the several of my friends who had this either as one of their favorite games or just straight up their favorite game, they were right. This game really is something special, and I see it.

First off, the heart and soul of this game resides entirely within Team Snakemouth and their interactions with not only themselves, but the entire world. They were all lovely to have, their different personalities giving a fun range of emotions throughout.

The world design I wanna also get to because it does something I never see non open games do anymore, which is reward exploration. During chapter 4 I decided to go somewhere, and I gained multiple levels, found an item for a quest I didn't even have accepted, and beat a pretty tricky optional boss. And then after that I went on my merry way enjoying the various rewards (such as the medal I got for beating the optional boss).

And with that, while I didn't explore the combat much it seems like there's a ton of fun stuff you can do. I cleanly took out a lategame boss in 3 turns just utilizing the various buffs I could put onto one character and making them dish out a powerful multi-hit attack which felt really fun.

I also thought the general plot was interesting, and some twists and turns really did perk me up when they happened, and I even got a little bit of a surprise in there once or twice (would've been more had it not been for the 5 year old spoiler).

What most people see in Bug Fables is a return to form that a series has not tried to go back to. What I see, without any bias to have, is a really fun RPG that feels expansive in it's little world with a big yet extremely charming cast.

Very cute. Funny bug game.

This game is amazing. An incredibly solid RPG that fans of the Mario RPG games will sure love. I was not expecting to spend so much time on this little RPG about bugs.
I've played a bunch of other RPGs with similar mechanics, and my issues with them are simply the games are far too easy. I'm 99% sure that they never even made a game over screen for the Mario and Luigi series because the developers must have known that no living soul would ever see it. But this game has the right amount of challenge, since it gives you the hard mode from the very start. The battles feel well designed and tactical since every single enemy in the game is designed with a clear weakness to one of your party members abilities.
The story is fun, the characters are so lovable, the music is catchy. 10/10 wish I could play it for the first time all over again.

peak game

A fun, charming game with a neat story. I really enjoy how this game has a variety of strats you can use as well as actual difficulty compared to classic Paper Mario. There were a bit too many Beemerang hold puzzles in the first half of the game for my liking.

Aside from a few softlocks and general jank when it comes to movement and puzzles, the game's great.