ENA: Dream BBQ is an upcoming official video game adaptation based on the eponymous web series. Developed by Joel G and the ENA Team, Dream BBQ’s first episode, “Lonely Door,” released to the public to overwhelming success. Being a surrealistic comedy adventure with horror elements, it scratches a niche for many different kinds of people. As a passing fan of the web series, I decided to check Dream BBQ out.

One girl, two personalities

In Dream BBQ, the player controls a girl with a literal split personality named ENA. However, she should not be confused with the web animation character of the same name. While the web series ENA had traditional “happy” and “sad” sides and focused on unhealthy coping mechanisms, the game’s ENA has a different story and, perhaps more importantly, new personalities.

The red-colored side of her is that of a “salesperson,” an easy-going and charming personality that sells false positivity for her self-interest. The pale white side of her is the “meanie” personality, often yelling hysterically at everyone, hates small talk, and is blunt yet honest. The side of her mouth flips to which personality is active, and are voiced by Aleks Lee (Demon Slayer, Street Fighter VI) and Nola Kolp (Murder Drones, Poppy Playtime), respectively. Both actors do a fantastic job bringing ENA to life. While the voice acting for Dream BBQ is nothing short of amazing all around, major kudos have to be given to Lee and Kolp and their impressive range of not making either of ENA’s personalities one-note.

A surrealist world with a colorful ensemble

Dream BBQ begins with ENA asking her coworker, a Japanese-speaking man in a frog suit, about where their enigmatic boss is. Froggy tries to help make sense of it before he starts having a coughing fit from smoke inhalation. He requests ENA to see the genie of this world, essentially the guardian or physical god of the doors that bridge the environments, to turn the smoke off. Meanwhile, the words “bathroom” and “genie” become swapped. Trust me when I say this all makes more sense in context. Probably.

To fulfill this goal, ENA has to interact with and perform fetch quests for various characters. And what a variety it is! A vampire wearing a trench coat that is totally not hiding a penguin that popular Twitch streamer Vinny Vinesauce voices? A Russian coin-cat who wants to party hard? An Italian pack rat who gets so angry that he dies mid-conversation. Then, the player is prompted to revive them? Dream BBQ has it all, along with some beautiful animation. I had to play the game more than once because there are two routes to meet most of them. And even though some tasks drag on a bit and the gameplay mostly boils down to walking from one cutscene to the next and a few platforming and puzzle-solving segments in between, I am glad to have explored more of this crazy world. 

Unique symbolism and darker undertones

As said upfront, ENA: Dream BBQ is a comedy game with some horror elements. Many of these are relatively mild. One or two moments might cause more jumpy people startled, but that’s about it. However, there is a darker story afoot that makes the world building even more interesting beyond its cutesy facade.

There are a few moments where the game dips its toes into horror. For example, Taski Maiden is an NPC who isn’t integral to the plot. She makes a cryptic statement toward ENA after she thinks that our character is making fun of their unemployment status. Specifically, “rude entities like you get punished for the sins of others.” There is also the entire “Purge Event” that the player can go to – a hedonistic party that takes a cannibalistic turn. Not that the other path, where you plant a severed head into the ground to grow a person to use as a platform, is any better. Perhaps the most disturbing aspect lies in how the characters treat ENA.

The Unfortunate ENA

For some reason, ENA in Dream BBQ is a pariah. Sure, she has some unlikable traits in-universe. As mentioned before, half of her is an insincere con artist, and the other is rude. However, many characters look down on her for who she is, not how she acts. The receptionist who tells her about how the doors function insults ENA for supposedly being impoverished, mocking her to her face. The few decent people who treat her with respect is limited mostly to her coworker Froggy, with whom they are mutually professional, and a wizard (named Shaman) who looks like he walked out of a The Legend of Zelda CDi game. It’s unclear what she did to earn this reputation, or if it is supposed to be an allegory, but it’s interesting nonetheless.

In one of the game’s most memorable moments, a sentient vending machine refuses to sell its items to her, specifically for being an ENA. This causes the “meanie” side to have a meltdown; one of the few moments where she shows vulnerability. “I’m not doing what you say I’m doing,” she desperately pleads. The background becomes a dark orange with weird structures. Her floating arms hold ENA in place as bullets fall around her. The scene is over as quickly as it began, and the game goes back to joking right after. However, this oddly poignant scene, among others, really captures the intrigue of the game’s larger plot.

Final Thoughts

ENA: Dream BBQ is a wonderful experience. The mixture of 2D animation and low-poly 3D models just works. The voice acting is superb on every possible front across different languages. The surrealist humor lands with many moments that got a legitimate chuckle out of me. The gameplay takes a noticeable backseat, even for an adventure game/walking simulator. However, the experience one gets from Dream BBQ offsets that. I’m already looking forward to more chapters!

ENA: Dream BBQ launched on Steam on March 27th, 2025. The first chapter was released for free, with more paid chapters to come.