Welcome to the Bakery!

Childhood, for many, was a magical time filled with adventures and joy and lacking the heavy tedium and responsibilities of adulthood. One such experience for many in their youths is summer camp. While I never got to experience summer camp personally, I got to only about twenty years later via Kabuto Park.

Before we get started, I’d like to point out that there is a FREE (yes, free.99) demo available on steam, but the game itself is only $4.99. Which is less than a coffee or a scone or just about anything nowadays. Don’t believe me? Here’s a screengrab from the steam store:

Despite its low price, the game gives way more than the price tag. The art and music are charming. If you are an enjoyer of cozy games, this one should be a must play. You are a summer camper catching bugs on various parts of the camp map, collecting different sizes and shapes and even shinies – YES shinies. You can name them, sell them for candies (which allows you to level your favorite bugs), and once you get your team in shape you can participate in beetle battles!

Each opponent has a trio of bugs you must best with your own by ensuring the bugs you fight have the correct stats – strength, defense, and energy. The first two are self-explanatory. Energy allows you to play cards during the fight itself. You can push the other bugs, dig in, and steal stats to come out victorious. In fact, Hana is attempting to win the championship throughout August, the duration of camp. I quite enjoyed laying in bed on my steam deck, capturing bugs, raising them, and becoming the summer camp champ. Another fun feature is the terrarium where your favorite bugs can hang out and YES you can pet the bugs.

(And yes I favorited all my bugs because no bug left behind.)

If you “grind” like I did to catch all the bugs, level up your bug catching equipment in the shop, and indulged in the full championship tourney, you can expect about 4-6 hours of gameplay. Once you beat the tournament completely, you unlock a chance to play all your opponents again, but this time their bugs are max level 20.

Kabuto Park is a gem of a game that allows you to recall those hot days as a kid where you had no worries or cares…no bills, no responsibilities, no understanding of the term “fascism”….I digress. The gameplay loop is enjoyable and a nice break from the stress of daily life. The developers are also super responsive on social media as well as in-game pop-ups and overall they are one to watch for more cute and cozy games.