Bugaboo Pocket is a creature collecting idle game with a relaxing, retro vibe. If you want a taste of Bugaboo Pocket like I did, a demo is available on Steam. It takes you through the lifecycle of your first bug, introducing you to the casual yet strategic gameplay and beautiful artwork. This is Elytra Games’s debut game, a promising start for the studio.

The Forest

The game begins with a fire that burns the local forest to ashes. You play as an etymologist, Silvia, that blames herself for the fire. She travels to a solitary research cabin, encouraged by her friend Ez to continue caring for insects.

Restoring the forest is the overarching goal of Bugaboo Pocket. After Silvia moves into the secluded cabin in the burned woods, she can observe the state of the forest. In the beginning, it’s an ashen wasteland. But as you release more insects into the wild, the forest gradually becomes a lush landscape.

Meet Doodles

By the way, each bug gets their very own journal. This includes a summary of their current status and personality. You can view each “mood” in a range from Red to Green, although most of the moods are substituted with “??????” until they are discovered. The log also lists all of the bug’s updates in order, mainly stating your discoveries and major statuses.

Parenting your Bug

The gameplay loop is essentially your bug going through its entire lifecycle, then releasing its offspring into the forest. There are multiple bug bins, so in the full game, the player can raise multiple bugs at once. As time passes, your bug ages up in an exciting, almost supernatural instant, then promptly eats its own exoskeleton (yum).

In order to raise a healthy bug, you must keep it fed and happy. Food, accessories, and enclosure decorations can be bought with frass. AKA, poop currency. Frass can be obtained by, obviously, collecting11 poop, but also through playing mini games with your bug.

The way that you raise your bug affects their personality. My goal was to raise a cheerful bug, so my Doodles’s happiness was top priority. To maximize your strategy with raising your bug, be sure to check your bug’s tarot for that day, found in the journal. My Doodles’s tarot was the Fool, which meant I got to play with him more often.

The Minigames

Each insect has different minigames available. The games have three levels of difficulty and a variety of rewards, mainly frass and other special prizes. My first ever prize was a beautiful bluebell hat for my Doodles, but he couldn’t wear it until his noggin grew.

Beware: your bug babies can get sick. I’m not sure if it has a direct correlation with losing minigames. However, the two times I lost a minigame, my Doodles was infested with gross red tick things. Thankfully, they’re easy to click away.

‘Til Death Do Us Part

I was heartbroken when my Doodles journeyed to the great bug farm in the sky. But he lived a good and full life, and I got the opportunity to either bury him in my bug garden/graveyard or pin his body to a display board. I chose to pin my Doodles so I could gaze upon him forever (which is, admittedly, kind of morbid).

But there’s a bright side to Doodle’s death. Apparently, he had babies, so Silvia releases them into the forest. The fruits of my labor immediately blossomed: the plants at the base of the forest grew once again.

Final Thoughts

Just from the demo alone, I can tell that Bugaboo Pocket is a delight. The story provides an emotional undertone to this idle game that really enhances the experience. The story begins with a melancholy vibe, but it’s sweet to see how Silvia is comforted by her bugs. This isn’t a mindless grind; there is both emotional and environmental meaning to Silvia’s work.

The gameplay was engaging enough to keep my attention, but not so difficult that I felt stressed. There were several moments where I twiddled my thumbs waiting for a cooldown to end, but that’s the nature of idle games. Even if you’re not a big bug person, the artwork, gameplay, and story of Bugaboo Pocket might just change your mind.

The demo for Bugaboo Pocket is on Steam. The full game is available on Steam for $19.99. Bugaboo Pocket was reviewed for Wholesome Games Celebration, 2025.