The Legend of Bum-Bo

The Legend of Bum-Bo for PC and iOS is an original mixture of genres, combining RPG elements with mechanics borrowed from match-3 titles. The game was created by Edmund McMillen (popular mainly for The Binding of Isaac, Super Meat Boy and The End is Nigh) in cooperation with James Id – the creator of Fingered.

Plot

The player assumes the role of the titular character (appeared already in the first of the aforementioned games), who fights paper monsters and takes their money away to spend it at casinos. The action takes place in cardboard boxes – this is a reference to classic kids' games.

Interestingly, a tramp was initially to be the protagonist of the game, who would prowl around trashcans and face other homeless guys. Ultimately however, the creator dropped this concept and decided to give the players a hero they were already familiar with.

Mechanics

Similiar to McMillen's previous games, the contents of The Legend of Bum-Bo for PC and iOS are procedurally generated. Fighting enemies constitutes the core of the experience and combat is turn-based here; fighting requires the player to combine different items together, such as bones, teeth or... excrements. Doing so, the player obtains mana bearing different colors – depending on the color of this resource, the player can perform certain attacks or make the protagonist more damage-resistant. The more objects the player manages to combine together the better the effect gets. The developer prepared about a hundred such powers and those were divided into five categories: attack, defense, puzzle (changes the layout of the map), items (one has to recharge them beforehand) and special powers. What gives the best results is linking particular attacks into spectacular combinations.

Technical aspects

The visuals in The Legend of Bum-Bo for PC and iOS were conveyed using an original style unique for the creations of Edmund McMillen. As a result, the game uses a grotesque, drawing-like graphic style. The high brutality levels present are accompanied by a portion of unusual, black humor.

Last updated on 29 December 2023