| Quick Verdict: Bugtopia is an absolute steal. There are literal weeks of gameplay value here for only $6. It’s not just idling either, there is a lot of active playing here, as well as customization of your tanks. Seriously, I can’t recommend Bugtopia enough. |
| Game: | Bugtopia |
| Developer(s): | Nocturnal Games |
| Publisher: | GCORES PUBLISHING |
| Review Score: | 10 |
| Cozy Score: | 10 |
| Price: | $5.99 |
| Pros: | There’s a ton of gameplay value, the game is affordable, the variety of bugs is over 300, and I’ve had a great time. |
| Cons: | Sounds can’t be adjusted independently. I wish I had a slider for music, bug sounds, and weather sounds. (Editor’s Note 5-23-2025: This con has been fixed!) |
| Platforms: | Steam |
| Genres: | Creature Collector, Idler |
Bugtopia is both a creature collector and an idler rolled up into one. You’ll start with one terrarium to house your bugs within and eventually earn enough money to buy several more. Within your terrarium, you’ll have the ability to decorate and host whatever bugs strike your fancy.
Each bug will have a static value and an idling value. The static value is simply how much the bug is worth if you sell it. Some bugs have multiple stages of growth and their value will reflect that, with full maturity netting the most return. Idle value is how much the bug generates simply by existing in your ecosystem over time.
The bugs that you can buy in the shop only come in two variations. You’ll have to breed certain combinations of the two in order to unlock more color types. Each bug has six variations to collect, so you’ll need to keep mixing up the varieties in order to unlock them all. By finishing the line, you’ll get a random reward of cosmetic soils and backgrounds to decorate your tanks.
Bugtopia: The insectlopedia of bug collecting
When you first get into Bugtopia, the combinations can seem random until you’ve bred a few lines to completion and can see the pattern. The hierarchy is broken down into four types that are represented by colors.
- 2 Common – Grey
- 2 Uncommon – Green
- 1 Rare – Purple
- 1 Epic – Gold
The greys are bought from the store and once you’ve hatched the two variations you can get from that, you want to throw both types into the breeder. If you have multiple boxes open, fill them up with this pairing until you get both of the variations of green.
Then, once you have your two greens, you want to breed those together to get your purple. You’re not guaranteed to get the purple right away since there is some chance involved. And, at this stage, you will need two purple. So, even after you’ve gotten your first, you need to keep breeding for the second.
Once you have that, you breed the two purple together until you get your gold. Sometimes, the gold will happen instantly, other times, it’ll need a few cycles to a dozen, depending on the luck.
Patience is something you’ll need, especially since this is an idler. As you move up the line of bugs, your payout will increase, but so will the time required for maturation. You’ll fly — hehe — through the first few bug lines, but I’m at the point where starting a line and finishing it can take hours.
Thankfully, there are upgrades that you can buy to decrease the time it takes for breeding. This won’t help in your terrarium, but breeding takes much longer since it starts as an egg before turning into the stage you can buy in the store.
Shut up and take my money, I’ve got bugs to spoil!
In the shop, you have three tabs. The first is where you buy your bugs. You’ll only have a limited availability to play with because more will open up as you make new breeds. The second tab is for decorations, and the third is where you buy your upgrades.
In terms of decorations, you can only buy objects. If you want different water, soil, or background colors, you’ll need to complete bug lines. By finding all 6 variations, you’ll be rewarded with random background options.
For upgrades, you’ll be able to buy or upgrade new terrarium tanks, increase the amount of food you give to bugs, etc. The food will only help in the growing stages to help the bug grow faster, so it’s a good thing to keep in mind.
This is where you can upgrade your Guide bug as well. When you start, you’ll already have a wood louse known as The Guide in your tank. It’s a cute way to take you through the tutorial phase. There’s an upgrade in the shop related to the guide, but I sold my Guide… So, I don’t know the benefit of this upgrade.
To be fair to me, I had some glitching in my gameplay regarding The Guide, where I bought the breeding box too early and ended up having to get assistance from the team in order to work around it since I was already a few hours into gameplay and couldn’t reset my game progress. Thankfully, you shouldn’t have the problem I did, but just in case, don’t buy the breeding box before The Guide tells you to. It may put you in a limbo.
I’m not taking points off the score for my little mishap because I was playing a pre-release build and the team worked diligently to not only help me work around my issue but to patch in fixes so that my issue shouldn’t become your issue.
Honestly, I’m very surprised and impressed with how timely the team was in responding to my unintended bug.
If you’re looking for an idler that has a ton of things to do, then Bugtopia is the game you want. I’ve dropped over 200 hours into this game and have only collected 34% of the bugs. Oh, and have I mentioned yet that this game is only $6? SIX DOLLARS for this much content.
Listen, if you don’t enjoy upgrade idlers, this likely won’t impress you. But, trust me, as an avid lover of the idler genre, this is nearly unheard of. Bugtopia is the holy grail of idle games. You have idle aspects as well as a constant flow of things to do and you can customize your tanks!
Bugtopia will offer weeks of gameplay value for less than it costs to buy dinner. I was already in it because I adore bug collecting, but even if I wasn’t, this would have sold me.
There’s a ton of content, the devs are responsive, the price is cost-effective; what isn’t to love? I mean, unless you don’t like bugs. I can’t really help you with that one.
If you want to dive into an idler that boasts 300+ bug varieties to collect, 300+ landscaping objects to decorate with, and 70+ backgrounds to customize your tank, then you need to grab Bugtopia. You can get it from Steam for $5.99.
If bugs or idlers aren’t your thing, you can head over to our latest review: Duck Detective: The Ghost of Glamping. It’s an adorable little whodunnit where you play as Eugene McQuacklin, duck detective and bread addict extraordinaire!
Editor’s note 5-23-25: When we published this article, the only con we had was not being able to scale the various sounds independently. That has now been fixed!
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