T here’s something profoundly strange about setting foot on Snaktooth Island for the first time – and it’s not just the hybrid strawberry creature watching us with its googly eyes. Since the first trailer planted that Kero Kero Benito earworm deep into hippocampi the world over, Young Horses’ latest has existed in our imagination more as a meme than a game. So we can’t help but be surprised when we chip away at that sugary outer shell and discover something substantial beneath it.
We were prepared for notes of Pokémon, Viva Piñata and Ape Escape, and those influences do come through strongly. What we weren’t anticipating was something that could be described, non-pejoratively, as Outer Wilds: Junior Edition. It’s considerably smaller and simpler than that game’s model universe, but each area of Snaktooth Island runs on similar clockwork. The local Bugsnax go about their business, carving out patterns that you’re free to observe or interfere with. Rootles (carrot worms) burrow underground at the first sign of a threat. Cheesepuff Cheepoofs fly on wings of tortilla chip, trailing dust like a Dorito bag caught in the wind. But to understand the ways these creatures interact, look no further than the Bunger: a paper-wrapped quarter-pounder brought to boisterous life, ready to disrupt the day of anything that strolls into its path with a pair of curly-fry tusks.