Steam's Upcoming Deep Narrative Game Bub Proves Indies Are Still Art

Anyone who tries to argue that indie games, or video games in general, isn’t an art form haven’t been playing the right ones. They need to play Bub.

Going in with no prior knowledge of the game at Summer Game Fest wasn’t the plan but it actually ended up enhancing the experience. I fell down a rabbit hole of oozing with ink and plastered with paper scraps.

Bub is a game about an artist who’s not long for this world, but is using the time he has left to create beautiful works of art based on his own life.

Everything you see in the game is hand-crafted to give it depth, texture and heart. It’s beautiful and melancholic much like the art Bub creates himself.

The snippet of gameplay I played took Bub back in time to when he sadly lost his brother while the pair were swimming near the sea.

Gameplay takes the form of simple exploration and interaction. The brothers could wander the beach, speak to their nearby mum and then practise their cannonballs into the water. Things take a darker turn when the story takes you out in the sea, where you’re swept away by the current as Bub explains the tragedy of his brother’s passing.

Paperfrog

It was so bleak, and perhaps the bustling game center of Summer Game Fest wasn’t the prime location to experience it in but that didn’t take away from the overall experience. Bub invokes the emotions it wants you to feel all while dazzling you with its visuals.

My demo closed with a short walk through Bub’s school accompanied by more narration, and finally a long cycle down an equally long road as the credits started to roll. It wasn’t the end of the game, just the end of the hands-on.

I was thoroughly impressed with the work that’s gone into Bub so far. I’ve also got a huge admiration for games that know what they want to be.

Bub isn’t an innovative AAA that pushes the latest hardware to its limits. There’ll be no secret bosses or piles of collectibles to find but a deep, emotional story told through an expressive medium.

Like the unfortunate story of Bub’s brother it’s easy to get dragged away by the powerful current of AAAs. We’re all in such a rush to play these new releases, and when most of them are 100+ hour RPGs games like Bub feel like a breath of fresh air after finally surfacing from beneath the water.

At the time of writing Bub is targeting a late 2027 release and for now PC is its platform of choice. It deserves a spot on your wishlist.

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