Bread & Fred is a co-op platformer developed by Sand Castles Studio and printed by Apogee Leisure. It marks the debut title for this indie developer, presenting a fun-yet-challenging expertise that offers me excessive hopes for the staff’s future.
In Bread & Fred, you and a buddy play the roles of two cute penguins often called, you guessed it, Bread and Fred. These buddies start at base camp amongst their penguin brethren earlier than embarking on a trek up the close by mountain. Alongside the way in which are a number of characters to fulfill, collectibles to seek out, and races to win. Nevertheless, the principle premise is the climb itself.
Gameplay is seemingly easy; leap from platform to platform. The trick is to leap whereas being tethered to 1 one other. And therein lies the problem; most jumps are too far to leap with out both leaping collectively or swinging each other utilizing the tether, the momentum hurling the penguins additional. You’ll want quite a lot of persistence and an excellent associate to get to the highest.
The height is 500 meters excessive – that’s over 1600 ft for you imperial folks. The sport sports activities a useful gauge that screens your altitude (in meters) as you climb. It’s satisfying to see the numbers slowly improve. There’s quite a lot of sideways motion required earlier than you may climb larger. There’s additionally loads of downward movement as a result of – guess what? – you fall typically. Like, always. You then must re-climb any sections you’ve fallen previous in your manner again down. Is it irritating? That’s a difficult query to reply.
I really like platformers. And I really like a problem. However it is a robust little title to grasp. Endurance is essential, with quite a lot of trial and error at every soar. It takes some time to grasp, which may show an excessive amount of for some gamers. The builders are conscious of this excessive problem; to assist preserve issues considerably balanced, there’s no coronary heart counter or timer to fret about, simply these pesky cliffs to scale. There are additionally a number of accessibility options that make issues a lot simpler. These could be toggled on or off at any level.
A checkpoint is one such choice. This lets you plant a flag, exhibiting off your accomplishment like every first rate mountain climber by indicating that you simply’ve conquered a part of the mountain. It additionally signifies that, if – extra precisely, when – you fall, you may simply whisk your self again to that checkpoint. No have to climb the identical sections repeatedly, then.
A extra overpowered choice is flight. Sure, these penguins can really fly, pulled off by urgent the related button. It feels an terrible lot like dishonest (and it’s) since you may merely flap your manner up the complete mountain in mere minutes and end the sport. It provides you an thought of what to anticipate whenever you give it an actual go – that was my excuse, anyway. What it’s really useful for is flapping again as much as the place you simply fell – it’s sooner than the checkpoint – or skipping notably difficult sections. So, solely half dishonest.
Regardless of this title being made for co-op, I respect the choices for solo gamers. On-line connectivity means you may partner-up just about with somebody from one other location. Plus, when you can’t discover a worthy real-life companion to climb with, there’s a devoted single-player mode. This can be a terrific inclusion that helps share the sport with a wider viewers. Not that it makes issues a lot simpler, thoughts you.
Within the single-player mode, your climbing buddy is a rock named Jeff. I really like Jeff. He sports activities a smiley face that gives just a little persona. Aside from that, he doesn’t do a lot – I imply, he’s a rock. This associate adjustments the way in which you climb. It even barely alters the course, with some variations within the format of the mountainside.
You’ll be able to decide up Jeff and carry him. Actually, you have to choose him up with the intention to stroll since he’s too heavy to pull. You’ll be able to toss him, and holding the throw button launches him even additional. When you time this accurately, you’ll soar mid-throw to achieve additional momentum and distance. This can be a tough transfer to grasp (at the very least for me). It took an absurdly very long time to study, although it felt satisfying as soon as pulled off. One other useful Jeff transfer is his potential to “stick” to partitions quickly, permitting you to swing your self onto different partitions or ledges.
It’s this mix of strikes that helps you clamber slowly up the mountain. Bread & Fred comes throughout as a calming sport, and in some methods it’s. The piano-based music, for instance, gives a soothing backdrop to your high-rise journey. One other clue is the shortage of enemies and any sort of timer; regardless of appearances, this isn’t a Mario-like journey. As a substitute, the main focus stays purely on ascending. Simply don’t let the lovable aesthetics idiot you; it is a robust title to grasp. On the plus aspect, it means a real climb – with out flying – is more likely to take a while, giving the sport loads of longevity.
Total, Bread & Fred is a novel platformer with moments of brilliance and frustration in equal measure. It appears beautiful and I respect the distinctive co-op strategy to issues, together with the inclusion of Jeff in single-player mode. It’s arduous, although; maybe too arduous to be actually gratifying. When you have a affected person associate, then this may very well be a enjoyable solution to take a look at your relationship.
