I will be honest, up until around a week before launch I’d not come across new title Bambas! however when I was sent a trailer by a member of the Gamer Social Club staff it looked something really up my street. Bambas directly translates from Spanish to English as ‘sneakers’, which we spend the game in control of.
Bambas! is made by Spanish indie developer, DevilishGames who have made titles including Insectum _ Epic Battle of Bugs and Minabo _ A walk through life. Bambas! had a demo during the February _ March Steam Next Fest and is described by the developer as “an innovative urban walking simulator”.
I’m fond of shorter indie titles that offer a small map with objectives to complete, especially when they utilise unique gameplay innovations _ an example would be Untitled Goose Game.
So, did DevilishGames new title knock my socks off? Is it worse than socks with Crocs? Let’s talk Bambas!
Gameplay and controls
If I was to compare Bambas! to another modern game it would be an indie favourite of mine, Little Kitty, Big City. That is due to Bambas! giving players an urban world with a variety of interesting and often funny characters, who provide objectives for us to tackle. The characters are all varying pairs of shoes, be it stilettos, sneakers or skater shoes. There are around 40-50 pairs of shoes around the map, not all of them give us things to do but they’re worth talking to for developing the game’s world.
Map markers will guide players around the map to complete a range of objectives _ some embedded into the world, with others more formal missions. Missions can include a football (soccer) penalty shootout; a pizza delivery challenge where you’re in control of an electric scooter; or heading to the beach to tread on some poor child’s sandcastle.
The missions are well thought out and provide enough fun for a couple of hours. Though, some of the more generic objectives simply take too long to complete and start to get dull. For example, treading on around 150 leaves, 100 drains or delivering 8 pizzas just outstay their welcome and the joy begins to wear thin. In a game that does certainly have innovative gameplay, less could have been more. There are 50+ missions available and for the most part, the 30+ I completed were fun enough.
The gameplay of Bambas! entails the player individually controlling a left and right sneaker with both analogue sticks and triggers. Right and left trigger will raise the sneaker up enabling players to step, jump on a balloon or tread in nasty dog mess; whereas the analogue sticks control the movement of players’ feet.
The overall controls of the game work well enough, feet mostly act as I’d have liked. There were several instances where my feet got stuck and I couldn’t move them, but I think that may just be by choice, janky design.
That brings me to my biggest issue with Bambas! and unfortunately it is a big one. The game simply really, really hurt my hands to play. There are a few skateboards / scooters around the map, but for the most part you will be alternating right and left trigger presses to move around a pretty sizeable map.
I play a lot of Call of Duty and used to play a lot of Guitar Hero, but have never experienced hand pain like this. Where possible I obviously used my index fingers for the triggers, but sometimes had to resort to using my middle fingers and even thumbs. My playthrough was in the region 15-20k steps, by which point I just had to put it down. There is an achievement / trophy for taking 100k steps. I strongly encourage you to not go for that, for the long-term benefit of your hands.
There are many walls in the game too which exacerbates the issue. Therefore going anywhere takes longer, incurring even more trigger spamming. I don’t like to be harsh on an indie developer, but this feels like something that would have easily been flagged to them if they’d have had some wider QA playtesting.
Graphics, visuals and camera
Bambas! is a visually great game. The cel-shaded world and sneakers are pleasing to look at. If I was told this was from the Jet Set Radio universe, I’d have completely believed it – there’s graffiti throughout the world alongside a beach, skateparks and other urban environments.
There are a wealth of different shoes to unlock and customise. Players need to complete missions and find coins around the map to purchase them, by the time I’d finished I had over 25 different pairs of funky shoes.
Whilst the game looks colourful, I need to comment on how you actually see it. By design, you’re of course looking down at your feet to play the game, but that brings it’s limitations. Whilst not completely top-down, the camera would have benefited from being about 15-20 degrees lower to the ground. Often, I’d walk quite far then realise I can’t get around a wall or get where I needed to be. Unfortunately, leading me to let out more than a few audible sighs during my runtime.
Audio and sound design
Audio in Bambas! is one of it’s strong points. There are several radio stations to alternate between, giving players the opportunity to listen to a variety of tracks. There’s enough in here to keep your ears satisfied for an expected 4-5 hour playtime.
Sound effects are also well-designed. Be it the sound of a can you’ve kicked, a balloon you’ve popped or many of the other fun things to do in Bambas!. DevilishGames have captured the sounds which a pair of urban shoes must hear on a daily basis.
Conclusion
Bambas! is a game unlike anything I’ll probably ever play again. It’s a short indie with a lot of ideas and gameplay designed for the missions given to players. Unfortunately, there are two fundamental problems _ the repetitive trigger spamming and camera angle _ that prevented me from having a good experience. It’s unfortunate as some of these issues would have likely been flagged with some extra playtesting.
The genuinely crippling finger pain Bambas! gave me is something that cannot be overlooked. Should the developer add some form of automated running feature to the game in the future, there are enough cool ideas to make it something I’d recommend.
Bambas! releases on 27 June 2025 on Xbox One and Series X/S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and Steam. GSC would like to thank the publisher for the review code supplied. The review was played on Xbox Series X.
Bambas achievement and trophy guides
For more Bambas! coverage, see our full list of achievement guides here:
