This was supposed to be my week off, but I have games to play. I previously discussed Kabuto Park’s demo, and I was extremely excited about it. When I saw that it would be released during my off week, I sighed, screamed at my wife to come play a fun bug game with me, and sat down at my computer on Thursday to talk about it today. Regardless, she got mad at me for raising my voice.

This week is Kabuto Park

Kabuto Park is a bug collection, card battler from Doot, and Zakku . The game was released on May 20th for the PC and retails for $5.

I would like to extend a sincere thank you to Doot for providing me with a key, allowing me to play the game and discuss it on time. My appreciation is on another level.

I don’t pick up insects. Anything that remotely scuttles freaks me out, and so I stay as far away as possible from the things. In Kabuto Park, I can play as Hana, a young girl on summer vacation, who is also participating in the bug-battling competition. Guiding you throughout the onboarding is Midori, an expert at bug catching and bug-battling.

Kabuto Park is broken up into four separate areas: A farm, a swamp, a forest, and a lake. Each area houses a number of common, uncommon, and rare bugs to catch and battle with. Click on a magnifying glass to initiate the minigame of “pressing space at the correct moment.” Hitting the blue mark gets Hana closer to the target bug, making the mini-game easier, and the green line is a sure thing to catch it.

There are beetles, butterflies, bees, dragonflies, and loads of other bugs that have their own weight, level, and attributes. It’s all very fun to look at and engage with.

Once caught, a report card is given to the player that has the weight, size, and level of the bug, with a cute little snippet of information about the bug and the cards for the battle mini-game. You can either keep them or sell them for rare candies to level up existing bugs with. Keeping bugs puts them in your collection to view at your leisure, and favoriting them gives you a special surprise. Leveling up your bugs gives them a better chance while in the BATTLE ZONE.

When finished with catching bugs and evaluating them, you can pick three to do battle with. Every bug has its value in Strength, how fast you push opposing bugs, defense, how hard you push back when defending, and how quickly you generate energy to play cards. Battling from there on is simply playing a card battler.

Two teams of three enter the ring, and one leaves victorious.

In Kabuto Park, each team has a timer to push and a timer to defend, so prioritizing defense/power boosts during those times is key, and focusing on the pushback cards on the offense can snag a win. It might not seem like a deep gameplay loop, but it can be really, really fun at times. Having your team on the verge of losing and then getting a card that generates energy to then play two medium-big knockbacks to take the lead is exhilarating. Win and you get money to upgrade the net for more chances at catching bugs, boots to explore different areas, and increase the chance of rare bugs.

If you must make a game about bugs, you’d better make the game super cute, and Kabuto Park does just that. Every time I caught a bug, there was an audible “aww” from my wife and me because the bugs and everything are so cute. The hand-drawn/colored style makes the game incredibly inviting. The bugs are adorable with their big, non-threatening eyes, and the environments capture the summer vibes perfectly.

Zakku is making the music again, and it is perfect. The little jingle when exploring areas and catching bugs is a summer vibe, and the battle music drives me to want to destroy the other child’s bugs in battle.

Kabuto Park can be completed in one sitting, and that sitting is such a memorable experience. my wife and I wanted a small and large bug team, and both OVERPERFORMED. The adorable nature of the game makes playing it even more fun, the art design is great, the sound design is catchy, and the overall gameplay loop is certainly fun. Interacting with bugs has never been so fun.

For a 2-3 hour game, I had so much fun. Screaming at the top of my lungs when I narrowly defeat a child in a bug battle is the proudest moment this year.

8/10