Tear Jerker / Bugsnax

For a game with such a comedic premise and wacky design, Bugsnax has a surprising amount of emotional depth.

Main Story

• The dialogue when schisms occur between Grumpuses. It can come as a shock when you're expecting more middle-of-the-road insults given the game's bright tone in most conversations, but instead they legitimately go at each other's throats; attacking the other where they're vulnerable. The voice acting also really sells it.
  Gramble: You don't know a thing about love! That's why your wife left you!
• Wambus misses Triffany so much that he literally dresses up a cactus to look like her so he can talk to it at night. When you spy on him and discover this, you can literally hear tears in his voice and even when he turns around and sees you, he's so upset about their temporary separation that he doesn't even commentate on the fact that you saw him, unlike Wiggle, Cromdo and Chandlo!
• Video diaries #2 and #4 are quite sad.
  • The second diary reveals that Eggabell suffers from depression. She calls herself worthless and doesn't believe that she's helpful to anyone, not even Lizbert. And despite Liz's best efforts to cheer her up, Eggabell refuses to calm down, saying that "the world can suck an egg".
  • The fourth diary then shows Lizbert and Eggabell getting into an argument and nearly breaking up due to a difference of opinions. Liz is worried about Eggabell participating in Floofty's experiments and eating too many bugsnax, only for Eggabell to accuse her of not wanting Eggabell to pave her own path without relying on Liz. You can tell that Liz's feelings are hurt as she calmly tells Eggabell to go be with Floofty if she doesn't "need (Liz) anymore".
• Eggabell finally recounting what happened to her and Lizbert on the mountain after your failed attempt at opening the giant door. It turns out that Eggabell was trying to show off to Liz only to slip and begin to fall down when an earthquake hit at that exact moment, causing an avalanche. Eggabell almost got swept away only for Liz to save her, which results in Liz being the one who got swept away. This results in Liz falling into a hole, which then closes before Eggabell can reach her, which is why she disappeared. It certainly doesn't help that as Eggabell is telling you this story, you can tell that she's struggling to not breakdown crying.
  • What's also quite heartbreaking is the fact that she blames herself for what happened, calling herself "stupid" and that she's a "burden to everyone around her". And when Filbo attempts to apologize to her for having to go through that, she just says, "Don't be. I'm used to it." Thankfully though, Filbo is able to calm her down.
  • What makes both this moment and video diary #2 even worse is the fact that it implies that Eggabell is suicidal!
• The final mission sees you defending Snaxburg from the Bugsnax, who have been revealed as parasites who turn Grumpuses into them after stuffing them full. If you haven't completed all their side-quests and you let enough Bugsnax force-feed them, it's entirely possible for them to give in to their issues and let themselves be turned into Bugsnax. All those new friends of yours you've been talking to, getting to know and feeding? They can actually die here, and some of their final words can really hammer home how you let them down.
  Shelda: One is devoted! One is wise! One is pure! The Bugsnax have no power over me!

  Floofty: That was... regrettable... (If Shelda dies but Floofty lives)
  Floofty: I can feel it! The precipice! In Bugsnax, potential to understand the very nature of being. I would be a fool not to indulge!

  Shelda: Floofty! Not even you deserved that! (If Floofty dies but Shelda lives)
  Chandlo: I can't take 'em all. Gotta protect Snorpy. I'll never be strong enough. I gotta be more than me. I gotta be... Bugsnax.

  Snorpy: Chandlo, no! (If Chandlo dies but Snorpy lives)
  Snorpy: I see what you're doing, you delectable automatons. I know too much. I have to be destroyed. It's the only way to keep Chandlo safe. You win, Grumpinati. Your secrets die with me!

  Chandlo: SNORPY! NOOOOOOO! (If Snorpy dies but Chandlo lives)
  Cromdo: I ain't gonna get rich and famous if I listen to these suckers. They're just holdin' me back! Now's my chance! The Snax are mine! Mine! Mie-hie-hie-hie-hie-hine!

  Beffica: Oh no! Cromdo... (If Cromdo dies but Beffica lives)
  Beffica: There's no point in going back with them. I don't have a life, or friends... Nobody I can really trust, anyway. But Bugsnax... I can always trust you to be delicious.

  Cromdo: Sorry Beff. (If Beffica dies but Cromdo lives)
  Wiggle: They call me a faded star, but for just this moment I will burn bright again! This is my swan song... I will devote my final ballad... to Bugsnax.

  Gramble: Wiggle! Why? Why'd you have to go? (If Wiggle dies but Gramble lives)
  Gramble: There there, little one. I would never abandon you. We're a family now. And we're gonna be together forever...

  Wiggle: Gramble my love. I'm so sorry... (If Gramble dies but Wiggle lives)
  Wambus: I'm such a failure... I couldn't even control my hunger. No wonder nobody believed in me.

  Triffany: Wambus! You... you big dumb fool! (If Wambus dies but Triffany lives)
  Triffany: This is the end, yeah? I was gonna end up here one way or another. Not that it matters anyhow... The only thing that matters out here is Bugsnax.

  Wambus: Triffy! No... that... that can't be. (If Triffany dies but Wambus lives)
• As if your friends dying wasn't hard enough to stomach, there is unique dialogue for a circumstance where a character lives and another dies, should they be of special importance to each other.
  • Snorpy and Chandlo are one of the big stingers. Not only do they both express feelings of desiring revenge, but both of them sound legitimately angry in a way they never do, with their final statement being nearer to a growl, which really highlights just how hard the other's death hit them.
    Snorpy: I see... there's no need to kill me if I'm already dead inside. Chandlo... of all the secrets I've kept, at least I got to tell you the one that really mattered. And now, whatever machinations the Grumpinati may be planning... I'm going to crush them.
    Chandlo: We were amazing together, Snorpy. I feel so weak without you. There's never gonna be another Snorpington Fizzlebean... not in a million years! And, Dawg? If the Grumpinati are out there? I'm gonna crush them.
  • If Wiggle dies, then Gramble, who makes it increasingly clear throughout his questline that he has abandonment issues, will tearfully ask why she had to leave him... before conceding that being loved by someone was nice while it lasted, and that he'll be careful to direct his affection to the people who deserve it going forward, as opposed to his preoccupation with his Bugsnax. It's bittersweet, but with no lack of emphasis on bitter.
  • If Triffany dies while Wambus survives, the normally gruff and tough farmer is utterly devastated, to the point that he's on the verge of tears as he promises to never let Triffany be forgotten, remembering her every day, and telling others about her story. It's sweet, but it's very clear that the death of his wife has utterly broken him.
  • A not-uncommon criticism of the original game was that the Fizzlebean siblings had no reactions to the other's death. Well, the Bigsnax update fixed that... and boy does it hurt. Floofty, who normally doesn't show emotion in their voice, sounds almost on the verge of tears with their words.
    Snorpy: I spent so much time pushing Floofty away. Finally, we had a chance to make amends and... and now they're gone. They were so brilliant and so fearless a-and they were right, I'm wasting my life jumping at every shadow! At least I...I still have all of their notes. I was never the smarter one between us... but somehow, I will continue their work. Floofty's research will change the world!
    Floofty: Snorpington is dead... It is a simple yet unfathomable fact. It is tempting now to unhinge myself from the concept of self-preservation, and pursue a pyrrhic victory over the parasites that shatter our fragile world. But if I allow myself this one small sentiment, I should instead take on some fraction of my brother's caution... and conscience. After all, ha, somebody needs to look after Chandlo.
  • Another thing added in the DLC is that despite the fact that they basically hated each other for a while, Floofty and Shelda will reflect upon their behavior if one dies. They'll realize that they acted the wrong way and vow to change themselves for the better, knowing that despite their rivalry, they didn't deserve to die like they did.
    Shelda: So our doom came, but what did I really do to stop it? I spoke loudly, yes, but I made the speaker more important than the message. Despite our bickering, I know this world is a poorer place... without Floofty. They had so much potential to do good. So I'll have to do good in their place. No more cryptic riddles, no divine shroud... Just me. I think they'd appreciate that.
    Floofty: I cannot believe that Shelda was right... That thought reverberates throughout my skull on loop. I was too petty to see it, and now she's paid the price for my hubris. For all our enmity... she was never afraid to challenge my preconceived notions. And above all else, she believed in sharing her knowledge. After all, nothing known is useful if it is known alone. If I have to learn one lesson from Shelda... let that be it.
• And then there's the fact that as you and whoever survived make it to the airship and attempt to fly away, Liz and Egg step in to help you escape, knocking the Mothza Supreme out of the sky in order to protect you. And as you drift away, they both watch you leave with Eggabell cheering you on before they face their fate as it almost conspicuously shows the erupting volcano. It's almost as if they're trying to show you that Lizbert and Eggabell won't survive... The music doesn't help matters, either.
  • Thankfully, though, the credits show that they did in fact survive and eventually returned to their normal forms.

Side-Quests

• The confrontation between the Fizzlebean siblings in one of Floofty's side-quests will tug at your heartstrings. We know they don't get along particularly well, disagreeing with each other's mindset. But though Snorpy mostly keeps out of their way, it's as Floofty's about to commit something really reckless that will put them in danger that Snorpy intervenes, telling them they've gone too far. He tells them he still cares about them, despite it all.
  • Then Floofty's final line, the moment they acknowledge the truth in Snorpy's words, and also come to realize that maybe they're in the wrong about the way in which they've handled things. It's quite a sobering moment.
• Realizing the entire reason that Chandlo is so obsessed with being the beefiest guy around is because he wants to protect Snorpy... And then him coming to see that he will never be the strongest.
• Gramble's sidequest has you donating Bugsnax to him. It starts out nice until all of the Bugsnax run away. And then comes The Reveal about Gramble — he loved his Bugsnax pets so much because his real family abandoned him and to deal with it, he was trying to start himself a new family with the Bugsnax, only for them to abandon him as well. Poor guy...
• Triffany's reason for being on the island? Her beloved grandmother disappeared there, and she needs to find out exactly what happened to get closure. And after investigating what turns out to be a Red Herring or two, the two of you NEVER find out where she is, or what happened to her. While her character development is accepting that and moving on, the complete lack of closure for what sounds like a close family member is still really sad.
• At first, Snorpy's quest seems like it ends on a high note, having defeated the Daddy Cakelegs and seemingly thwarting the Grumpinati's greatest plan yet. But when you return home, you see Chandlo chewing out Snorpy for putting himself in extreme danger and keeping secrets from him, at the angriest he ever is in the game. The strain on their relationship causes Snorpy to think he's gonna lose Chandlo for good. They reconcile, thankfully, but it's miserable to see them almost break up like this.
  Snorpy: No... No, the truth is, I don't think he'll believe me... But now it seems like I might lose him whether I tell him or not. So congratulations, Grumpinati... You win.
• In the DLC, Chandlo has to face the tough realization that no matter how hard he tries to be strong for Snorpy, understand him, and help, he's not qualified to deal with his love's paranoia and is advised that he can't "fix" him and that Snorpy needs help from a professional therapist. Every decision he's made has been with Snorpy's best interest in mind, but it hasn't helped—and this hits doubly hard if one of them dies during the final escape, since Chandlo was the reason Snorpy came to Snaxburg to begin with.

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