Review | Kabuto Park - Short and Sweet

They say these are the dog days of summer, but what you hear is a chorus of insects. It’s the first day of August, and you’re armed with a straw hat and a bug net, ready to embark on an insect-catching adventure. 

The third release from Doot’s Tiny Games, Kabuto Park is a compact experience that captures the childlike fun of summer vacation. The game’s vibrant illustration style evokes the feel of crayon portraits, and its music is simple and cheerful. You play as Hana, who arrives at the titular Kabuto Park for a monthlong stay. Your pal Midori greets you and shows you the ropes, explaining how to hunt for bugs, participate in a sumo-style tournament with other kids at the park, and more as the game goes on.

hot bug summer

Kabuto Park’s loop is easily legible, particularly to fans of Pokémon. At its most basic, you catch insects, make a team, and battle for badges. Hana begins her vacation with access to a single location, Sunny Farm, where she can search two spots for bugs before leaving the area. Each search results in the appearance of an insect accompanied by a minigame to catch it. The park is inhabited by species from across the globe, such as the Japanese rhino beetle, giraffe weevil, and luna moth. If anything, I was disappointed that there were no cicadas, but with a total of 42 bugs in the game, the line had to be drawn somewhere.

You can go hunt for insects repeatedly without worrying about the in-game calendar, catching bugs and selling any you don’t want for candies, which are used to level up the ones you keep. What makes time pass by is the game’s tournament. Each day, Hana is paired with a fellow bug enthusiast in a three-on-three sumo wrestling–inspired match held on a tambourine, in which the first team of insects pushed out of the arena loses. If your bugs’ stats outmatch your opponent’s, you’ll likely win without any intervention, but you can also play cards to perform actions that boost your stats or knock back the other team. Each battle moves the day forward by one, for 31 in total, with a few boss fights scattered across the month. Wins award you candy and money, the latter of which is used to purchase level-ups for items that grant access to new areas, make catching insects easier, increase the appearance of uncommon and rare insects, and let you search more times during each excursion.

Kabuto Park is played almost entirely with the mouse’s left-click. The bug-catching minigame requires you to identify red, blue, and green zones, but there’s an accessibility setting for colourblind players that places stripes on the blue and green areas. Additionally, while the game launched without controller support, I was able to play it on Steam Deck without issue, although moving the cursor with the joystick was less comfortable than using a mouse.

sometimes a “lil guy” can be a “big fella”, y’know?

Repetition is the name of the game, but Kabuto Park promotes synergy between its tournament and bug-hunting modes, so gameplay doesn’t get stale. Three of the four hunting areas are locked behind rain boot level-ups, which each require a badge earned from a boss battle. Difficulty increases throughout the tournament, but it’s easily surmounted by catching and levelling up a variety of bugs. By design, you can speed through the full game in an afternoon. In a completionist playthrough in which I caught all available insects, I rolled credits after three and a half hours.

While the game is intended not to outstay its welcome, the fun doesn’t necessarily end with the final match on August 31. After the credits roll, you can continue hunting for bugs as well as replay any of the tournament battles, with all the opponents’ insects now set to the max level of 20. The settings also include the option to reset the game save, so you can enjoy Hana’s vacation again from the start.

Like Doot’s Tiny Games’ other releases, Kabuto Park is a short and sweet experience paired with an accessible price point. It’s cohesive and well-realised, yet uncomplicated and relaxing. If you’re looking for something cute and casual to play on a hot summer afternoon, this is the game for you.