Been playing more Bug Fables. its lore is a really interesting post-apocalypse setting when you get into it with a surprising amount of bug cultures having technological advancements nearing the tech of modern day.
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its implied that humans are dead, as the closest bugs ever mention of them is "giants" but not in any detail as anything other than a giants lair they don't go to. a lot of the bugs building structures are re-purposed junk from humanity such as cardboard buildings or a teacup or whatever, the desert area is basically a sandbox, the setting actually has deep lore behind it that you find books to read more into and it describes how bugs had a day of awakening where some bugs became sapient and sentient and started walking upright and living longer and thus starting building societies as a result. the water area is implied to be a puddle or pond next to the sandbox, and the sky high view of the setting from the bee hive seems to reveal that the entire setting takes place in someone's former backyard.

the roaches, a dead civilization in this setting, discovered this Everlasting Sapling which obtaining is the macguffin and goal of this game, so its implied that humans made some sort of incredibly powerful plant as an experiment, but somehow something went wrong and all thats left are sapient bugs, and the roaches definitely died from trying to use the Everlasting Sapling themselves.

I'm in the final stretches of the game so....going into the Giant's Lair, there seems to giants of a sort, but they're not human at all, even if they look human-like, as whatever they are, they are big eyeballs that act like searchlights, is completely shadowy aside from the eyes and send out these weird crab-spiders to fight when they spot you, along with other mutant bug-like things that inhabit the lair that are tougher than anything else in the game and its the creepiest part of the game because its emulating so many cthulhu vibes and "your walking into a world where your the smallest life form amid giants and predators who can all kill you easily" kind of feel because these normal enemies of this area have the health of minibosses and when you get spotted, a specific type can just be dropped you multiple times if your not fast enough.
its easily the creepiest most ominous part of the game in a game already full of creepy parts like the bee's storage warehouse, or the roach's secret lab, or the Forsaken Lands, leaving the feeling that even though this is a happy paper-mario world, something seriously wrong happened at some point that I don't exactly know and probably never will, because if humans still existed, wouldn't they have checked the backyard to fix things by now?

the characters are good in this, particularly Leif whose story is real sad when you find out the truth of him, and only adds to the settings sense of creepiness underneath the cheeriness.

like given all that has happened, I wouldn't be surprised if the Everlasting Sapling turned out to be some vile parasite plant that sucks the life out of things around it to keep itself going or something given that a civilization died trying to use it. and that all the legends about it giving you immortality come at the horrible price of draining life from stuff or something like that, so its not worth it. it is THAT kind of setting.

like I'm honestly surprised by all this creepy stuff and implied adult feelings in this happy game, because you get things like an innkeeper who is depressed his wife died and the only clues you get is a sign and his attitude without ever being said outright, or Leif's entire character arc dealing with being a person cast adrift out of time, or Kabbu having survivor's guilt and an ahab-like vengeance towards the lesser bug that killed his previous friends, or the Queen Elizant II being an actual real politician who has to deal with not being as great at it as her predecessor and how it affects her and her relations with other kingdoms. its a lot of nuances and interesting stuff that make it memorable.

Bug Fables just really good, much deeper and with more artistic variety than I expected it to have. it doesn't just ape paper mario, it surpassed it. its an indie game I'd definitely recommend for how much charm, warmth and love was put into it, because you can tell everything was well thought out from its setting to its mechanics to make it all work.