Bad Mojo Redux

Neat little game from another time. Bought it because I remember it from back in the day, but worth seeing as a curiosity, if you're interested in curiosities. As technology shifted in the '90s, particularly with the widespread adoption of the CD-ROM format with its whopping 700MB of storage, a subset of game developers saw the inclusion of Full Motion Video (FMV) in their games as a potential future for the industry. What could be more thrilling than interactive experiences with live actors?? The most fondly remembered uses of FMV at the time are probably games that used it as supplementary material, like Civ II's FMV council of advisors, or the characters from the Command & Conquer series (including Tim Curry's unforgettable performance in Red Alert 3 which, despite releasing in 2008, was in a style the games have been using since 1995). However, there were a number of experiences which leaned more heavily into FMV, particularly a series of adventure games which sought to use real actors to liven and revitalize the genre. This brings us to Bad Mojo. Bad Mojo has one goal: To gross you out. The main character, Roger Samms (an homage to Gregor Samsa), lives in a dingy apartment above a grubby bar with nasty landlord, and everything is gross and filthy. He's about to make his exit from a society he's embittered with and estranged from, having stolen research money he was supposed to use studying bugs. However, before he can make his great escape, a magic locket he got from his mother transforms him into a cockroach, and you have to explore his filthy hovel from a bugs-eye view in all its disgusting glory--cigarettes, bugs and bug traps, dead mice and rats, spiders, rotting food. It's all very edgy, very Gen-X, and I love it so much. Contemporary reviews mock the actor playing Roger Samms performance, and I could not disagree with them more. The actor, who I believe is Michael Sommers, knocks it out of the top. His performance is suitably campy and animated, and he was clearly directed to "play to the cheap seats" in order for his expressions to come through in the low display resolutions of the time. Watching him is a joy. The story itself is suitably unbelievable and silly. You will uncover twists about Samms' life which will not shock you, but will feel extremely goofy. None of this is a knock against the game, the outlandish plot and edgy aesthetic are its greatest strengths, and are what makes it worth playing today. The gameplay itself is mostly tolerable. You navigate the world as a roach with tank controls. Each new area begins with an overview with cryptic instructions from the locket on how to progress, and talking to other friendly animals (ants, mice, and other vermin) will give you hints. (These talking animal hints were some of my favorite parts). The puzzles aren't too bad, especially by the standards of the times. I found the fuse puzzle outrageous and stupid, but most of the others [i]could[/i] be completed without a guide, not that you should feel obligated to do so. The only REALLY obnoxious puzzles, by my estimation, are a spider puzzle which relies on you wiggling an extremely finnicky cigarette before a spider catches you, and an annoying timed sequence at the climax of the game. The game uses an archaic lives system for no discernible reason. I highly recommend savescumming, as dying in silly and unique ways around the building is a big part of what makes the experience entertaining. The pressure of having to walk a huge distance if you die too many times adds nothing to the game. It's niche. It's retro. If you found your way to this page at all, you probably already have some interest in FMV games, unless you're just a big Nightdive fan. The game works out of the box. It is exactly what it is, nothing more, nothing less. It's probably not worth $6, but then again, it's only $6. Give it a go if you're curious, this is me giving you permission to do what you already wanted to do.

Despite being a typical "criminal gets turned into roach by mystical amulet and discovers his missing family while trying to find a way back to humanity" story, the game is okay.

Bad Mojo Redux, developed by Pulse Entertainment and re-released by Nightdive Studios, is one of the most unusual and unforgettable adventure games ever created. It takes a concept that could easily have been dismissed as absurd—playing as a cockroach trapped in a squalid apartment—and turns it into a haunting, unsettling exploration of guilt, decay, and transformation. Originally released in the mid-1990s and later remastered for modern systems, the Redux version preserves everything that made the original a cult classic while improving its technical fidelity and compatibility. The result is not a reinvention but a restoration, a preservation of a bizarre and daring piece of gaming history that still feels singular decades later. Few games before or since have captured such a visceral sense of place, mood, and unease through so simple a premise. The story of Bad Mojo Redux begins with Roger Samms, a down-on-his-luck scientist living above a grimy bar in a rundown apartment complex. Roger dreams of escaping his miserable life by stealing money from his employer and disappearing to Mexico, but fate—and a mysterious amulet tied to his late mother—has other plans. After a strange supernatural event, Roger finds himself transformed into a cockroach, trapped within the very walls of the building he hoped to leave behind. What follows is an unusual blend of horror, tragedy, and redemption told almost entirely through environmental storytelling and full-motion video sequences that punctuate the journey. As Roger scuttles through filth, pipes, and decay, the player pieces together fragments of his life and the lives of those around him, including Eddie, the cruel and broken landlord who serves as both antagonist and reflection of Roger’s own moral failures. The narrative unfolds through symbolism rather than exposition, weaving a surreal allegory about transformation, corruption, and the small possibility of absolution in the unlikeliest of forms. Playing Bad Mojo Redux is unlike any other adventure game. Instead of pointing and clicking on dialogue trees or item inventories, the player takes direct control of the roach itself, crawling across detailed pre-rendered backgrounds that depict every inch of a filthy, decaying building. Each screen is like a painting of squalor, filled with cigarette butts, dust, rotting food, and grime. Movement is deliberately awkward and restrictive—you slide, crawl, and occasionally get stuck in sticky substances or dangerous traps. The gameplay loop revolves around exploration and environmental interaction: pushing small objects, finding alternate routes, avoiding predators, and triggering subtle cause-and-effect reactions that open new paths. There are no traditional puzzles in the conventional sense, but rather a series of physical challenges that rely on understanding how the world operates on this miniature scale. A puddle might be a lethal river, a cat a terrifying godlike presence, and a leaking pipe both an obstacle and a potential escape route. Every hazard feels enormous and menacing, and because the game limits your visibility and control, every movement carries tension. One of the most striking aspects of Bad Mojo Redux is its atmosphere. The game’s world is disgusting but mesmerizing, its blend of realism and surrealism creating an uncomfortably believable environment. The developers used photographic textures and real-world materials to create the illusion of crawling through a living, breathing ecosystem of dirt and decay. The soundtrack and sound design amplify the discomfort—there are constant echoes of dripping water, buzzing insects, creaking wood, and muffled human voices that make you feel trapped in a place where life and death are intertwined. The tone is oppressive but also strangely poetic. In moments of quiet, the world feels mournful, as if the building itself is aware of its deterioration. The full-motion video sequences, featuring live actors filmed in gritty low resolution, further enhance the game’s surreal tone. Their performances are exaggerated and melodramatic, bordering on grotesque, but they fit the fever-dream aesthetic perfectly. Nightdive’s Redux edition sharpens these scenes and restores their color and contrast, making them more readable while preserving their eerie 1990s texture. The narrative rewards perseverance. As Roger navigates this miniature hell, clues scattered throughout the building—photographs, objects, and snippets of overheard conversations—gradually reveal the connections between him, Eddie, and the deceased mother whose spirit seems to guide him. The story explores themes of guilt, greed, and redemption with a surprising degree of emotional depth, especially given the game’s bizarre premise. Depending on the player’s actions, multiple endings are possible, some tragic and others more hopeful. Beneath the grotesque imagery lies a deeply human story about failure, forgiveness, and the cyclical nature of suffering. By forcing the player to literally crawl through filth and face the consequences of human neglect, the game transforms its horror elements into a metaphor for personal transformation. It’s Kafka’s Metamorphosis reimagined through interactive art—a descent into degradation that might, against all odds, lead to spiritual renewal. However, Bad Mojo Redux is not without its frustrations. The very mechanics that make it unique also make it difficult. Movement can be clunky and imprecise, often leading to unintentional deaths or wasted time as you repeatedly attempt to navigate tight corners or avoid environmental hazards. Because the backgrounds are static images, it can be hard to judge what objects can be interacted with and which are just part of the scenery. This design choice often forces players to experiment blindly, bumping into walls or objects to find the correct path. The controls feel more tactile than precise, and the lack of clear visual cues can make progress slow. These issues were inherent in the original release and remain in the Redux version, which deliberately preserves the game’s mechanics rather than modernizing them. For some players, this faithfulness will feel admirable; for others, it will test their patience. Yet even at its most awkward, the sense of immersion never fully breaks—because the discomfort seems intentional, part of the experience of inhabiting an insect’s fragile body in a hostile, decaying world. Bad Mojo Redux endures because it dares to be wholly different. It is uncomfortable, grotesque, and often slow, but it is also one of the most imaginative explorations of perspective and empathy ever attempted in a video game. By stripping the player of power and beauty, forcing them to see the world from the lowest possible vantage point, it achieves something few games attempt—it turns revulsion into reflection. Beneath the crawling and the rot lies a strangely tender narrative about regret and transformation, a story that manages to find grace amid decay. The Redux version does not reimagine Bad Mojo; it simply preserves it for a new generation to experience in all its strange glory. It remains a relic of an era when games could still surprise through sheer audacity—a surreal, uncomfortable, and unforgettable descent into the filth and fragility of human existence. Rating: 8/10

Game is impossible to get working like many old game on steam, dont even be tempted and use GoG

-Mas que aventura grafica, es un juego de plataformeo. Debido a que, solo disponemos de controles tan basicos, como las direccionales. El resto de interacciones, es empujando, activando switches con pasar encima, o cinematicas, apenas al acercarnos. +Los graficos pre render de la epoca, mesclado con cinematica con actores reales. Estan super bien fusionados. Se ve bastante bien para ser de 1995. Hasta me llega a dar ASCO Y TERROR A LA VEZ, los ambientes grotescos llenos de insectos, y roedores muertos. +La musica que lo acompaña. Tiene una tonada a lo dark ambience: Mescla sonidos electronicos, con tonadas tribales Voodo. Dandole toques de musica mistica, grotesca y terrorifica. -Pese a que dice ¨REDUX¨ en el titulo. Pues, no tiene nada: Me explico. Solo mejoraron la calidad de los videos. Pero, no afectaron los modelos, ni texturas, ni canciones. - Por no decir, que NO HAY LOGROS, Y NO FUNCIONA EL CLOUD SAVE. -NI HABLAR, QUE NO PODEMOS MODIFICAR LA RESOLUCION, OPTANDO POR LA CLASICA 800X600. PRACTICAMENTE ES UN PORT. DEL 96. INTACTO. 7/10

- Absolutely horrendous controls and movement. - Save/Load may softlock a player by putting him out of bounds. P.S. Yes, the game looks good, but who cares if it plays like ♥♥♥♥.

Totally jank, but that's why it's great. Such a simple and surreal experience that you can't really put into words, you need to play it and experience it to actually apreciate it. When I was a young teen I rented this from our local VHS store (they loaned PC games too) and me and my best friend spent hours stuck on it, in silence, jaws open and in awe of the all the crazy scenes and themes. While it's not aged super well and the remaster is more of a mechanical deal than a visual one to make it play on modern systems at all, it's stil got that "wtf" factor. Totally worth a play. Short, nothing too indepth, a little old, but the charm in this game just is hard to compare to anything else.

I remember playing this game as a child on MS-DOS and not making it terribly far into the story before I grew bored and frustrated with my lack of progress, but I always did find the premise fascinating, playing as a roach looking to restore its humanity. Fast forward to now, armed with a mega adult brain and enough patience to last a life time, I wanted to see what this game is truly about. It's good, but a bit clumsy at times in terms of controls. If you're determined, you can probably beat this in a day or so. However, I will forewarn, my save file was bugged and led me to search like crazy towards the end of the game for the final act, only to find out that I had it solved all along and that I simply had to close the game and open it back up to fix the glitch... That aside, there is simply no other game like this out there. The story itself is infinitely strange and the atmosphere is dark, gross, and depressing, but it makes for a unique experience that many years later, led me back to its call.

Old adventure game logic, often moon logic. Obtuse. Terrible acting. Heavy handed story. Uninteresting. Unclear what actions to take or what object/when an object is able to be interacted with/moved. Good atmosphere and unnerving, gross visuals. Well made map/world. Maybe it was good when people didn't know better.

This game is rad, that is all. A true, TRUE hidden gem. Rancid, filthy and disgusting. Soundtrack is so sick it makes you want to vomit, like most things in this game. Just so cool and weird and amazing. 10/10