This morning I woke up in amazement when the first email I opened showed me the image above: the sleek face and blue eyes of Bigfoot staring thoughtfully, or rather melancholy, at the press release below announcing an upcoming Bigfoot simulation. The Life of Bigfoot.
Something about the rubber mask blew me away — I also like the marching gait seen in the trailer below — but after seeing criticism of Bigfoot’s appearance online, the game’s creator is considering reworking the cryptid’s face.
Bigfoot Life is a solo project from developer Wesley Abrams, who has previously created mushroom hunting games as well as an action-adventure game titled Spider Fox which he built for his son. Today he announced Bigfoot Life and posted about it on the Bigfoot subredditwhere he received some fascinating answers.
For example, one person urged Abrams to consult with Bigfoot scientists because “it would be very important that you have some accuracy in this, otherwise it probably won’t work.” Abrams politely declined. He tells PC Gamer that he’s researched Bigfoot encounters and watched a lot of documentaries — he had the flu the day his son was born and “watched a season of Survivorman Bigfoot” — but says that Bigfoot Life “is not an educational game about Bigfoot.”
Judging by the trailer, the story involves foraging for food, building shelter, robbing campsites, avoiding having your photo taken by people, and finding a mate — all of the things that Bigfoot scientists say Bigfoot does.
Abrams’ Opinions Is considering acting on comments about Bigfoot’s appearance. “This might be the worst looking Bigfoot I’ve ever seen!” said one commenter on Reddit.
“I’ve gotten some feedback from Bigfoot fans that Bigfoot’s face doesn’t look the best and maybe looks too human,” Abrams told me. “I always take feedback seriously, good or bad, so right now I’m working on updating Bigfoot’s face to make it look better.”
In response, I mentioned that I liked Bigfoot’s eerie face, which prompted Abrams to reconsider the scope of his criticism — it was really just a few comments here and there.
“Nothing is set in stone,” he said. “I can always leave it as is… Now you’re making me think maybe I should leave poor Bigfoot alone and not mess with his face.”
Oh my. I’m supposed to report on Bigfoot, not change it. What if Abrams should give Bigfoot a novel face and I just convinced him otherwise? The least I can do right now is assist him get more opinions, so if you have an opinion on the look of Bigfoot, please post it in the comments.
One last thing I wanted to know: does Abrams himself believe in Bigfoot?
“I’ve never had a real encounter with Bigfoot, but I wish Bigfoot were real,” he said. “The people I know who have had encounters are trustworthy and very convincing. I believe there are too many sightings and encounters for them all to be hoaxes, bears or other animals. I just want to believe that Bigfoot is just living his best life, as the game “Bigfoot Life” says. I think “live your best Bigfoot life” is a good hook for the game, which is why I added it to the game’s brief description.”
Abrams plans to release Bigfoot Life on Steam Next year.
