Two hands reach out and pull open the black screen right into a setting straight out of a horror game. The sky is red as you roam around a dark empty street, looking for something. Eerie music is playing and a giant black figure is swimming in the sky. As you walk down the street, the giant figure in the sky floats out of sight. You keep walking and the never ending street starts to look the same no matter how far you go. There doesn’t seem to be any end in sight. You look up again and it’s the same black figure, swimming through the red sky again. Turns out it’s a loop and you walk around and realize that you can walk over to the neighboring streets and finally come across something new; a bright cyan…bed?
That bed is a “door” and by going through it, you start ENA: Dream BBQ, a new indie adventure game. Developed by the ENA Team, the first chapter released on March 27, 2025. The game is based on Peruvian Youtuber Joel Guerra’s surreal, comedy, and animated series “ENA” (also formatted as “ƎNA”). In Dream BBQ, the player follows the character ENA, a dual colored feminine humanoid, built of geometric shapes, to search for “the Boss”.
Although the main objective of the game seems basic, the playthrough is like going through a fever dream and in the best way possible. Eerie sounds blending in with surreal visuals and music, it makes the experience much more interesting as you progress through. There are also multiple side quests to take on which can lead you to different endings depending on if you take it or not.
The entire game contains brain mushing visuals and the cutscenes itch that little scratch in your brain as the characters move dynamically and fit right into the already chaotic atmosphere. The game is filled with wacky voices and personalities as well as intriguing character designs and animation styles, some characters being 2D and some being 3D. Even the most irrelevant characters have a whole animation sequence when you first interact with them which really makes this game even more immersive and eye-catching.
The cut scenes have a creative way of portraying and introducing characters. Even if it’s an average npc, players can find a liking and interest in the characters. The characters not only have a variety of different voices but they also speak in different languages too and it works perfectly with the cutscene styles since in every cutscene, no matter the language spoken, will always have subtitles at the bottom, which makes it almost seem like an episode in a series rather than a game.
In the first chapter, “Lonely Door”, the player goes through one of the first “doors” and enters another world where they meet more non-player-characters who give them jobs (side quests) that can potentially lead them to new endings in the game.
The plot and story may be strange or confusing for some players as they progress through, but that randomness and surrealness of the game is just what attracted many of the ENA animation series fans back in 2020.
Although ENA: Dream BBQ might not be the perfect game for everyone, for those who have been in the ENA fandom, they have waited years for the game to finally release and the majority were not disappointed, especially when it came to the visuals. It also attracted new fans that are interested in weirdcore and early web aesthetics.
As of April 10th, 2025, the game has an overwhelmingly positive (98% positive reviews) rating on Steam and it is well deserved with how chaotically captivating the game is. Not only is the rating great, but it is also free to download!
