Bear & Breakfast
Bear and Breakfast
by: Gummy Cat
Published by: Armor Games Studios
**Minor Spoiler Warning**
Overall: 7/10
Creepyness: 1/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Characters: 10/10
Plot/ Story: 6/10
Concept: 9/10
Here’s the thing: I already hear what you’re thinking. “Lys, this is NOT a horror game.” And you’d be correct. However, I’d like to make at least a small case for it. So, if you will, pretty please hear me out!
For all the excitement, jump scares, and goosebumps, I get playing scary games and reading scary books - there is also something lovely about slowing down and mixing cozy with creepy. And for all the little clips I was seeing of this game, there seemed to be something sinister hiding under the floorboards of this comfy woodland lodge. Whether that actually came to be true or not remained to be seen, and I decided I needed to find out!
Summary:
You play as Hank, a lovable, spunky young bear living in the woods with his mother and two best friends. Years ago, an awful fire ravaged the land, sending creatures and humans alike fleeing from the area. Humans, however, are some of the last to find their way back to this wooded oasis. Many seem fine with the peace this has brought, while others, like Hank, wish to find a way to encourage people back. It takes a strange, chance encounter with a mechanical Shark to set Hank on the path to do just that.
Concept/ GamePlay:
Maybe I don’t play enough cozy games, but I thought the concept of this game was unique. Help draw people back into the woods by renovating old cabins and working with other local wildlife, but the deeper you go into your new endeavor, the more you discover something darker might be lying underneath the roots.
I loved that there were many different aspects within the game, which kept it from ever feeling one-note. From foraging to cooking, decorating to crafting, and all the character interactions, with the biggest draw for me being the frequency of the quests! I’m a big quest girlie and liked that there were many things to do and explore outside the main goal of the hotel maintenance. The only issue I ran into was that there are a lot of numbers involved in this game. As you progress, many of the incoming guests get quite demanding, and to guarantee five-star ratings, you need to match incoming guests with rooms that fit their needs. This honestly is not a big issue, but as someone with dyscalculia, sometimes constantly trying to read and match numbers could get me a bit frazzled, and I had to walk away from the game a time or two to help give my mind a break. I know, of course, for most people this is a non-issue.
Characters:
For a cozy game, especially one so cute, the depth of character development and backstories really take this to a new level. Hank, for starters, is lovably innocent and young, but he is never annoying. Through dialogue, we find he has a great sense of humor with a dash of sarcasm, and though a bit naive, he is never gullible. I personally loved playing as Hank throughout the game, and getting the chance to watch him grow up to the world around him. I definitely grew attached to him as the game went on. Outside of our protagonist, I was also not expecting to run through a gamut of emotions while playing. I was openly shocked at some of the heart-wrenching stories many of the characters had, and even felt fully betrayed by one I thought was on Hank’s side. Bear and Breakfast does a great job of making you feel invested in each character's story, and for that, I have no qualms! You can tell the developers took their time crafting well-rounded, interesting, and even very flawed characters, and I deeply appreciate that investment! Anything less than giving this section a 10/10 would be a crime!
Plot:
As mentioned, there is a whole other plot outside of the hotel management objective, though the two do correlate. As you meet new characters outside of your inner circle, you start to realize that there was something very weird about the dark woods and something even weirder about the devastating forest fire. As you search to uncover the truth, you discover far more powerful forces are at play than anything you could have imagined.
While trying not to give too much away, the final reveal was actually quite… lackluster. Greed seems to be at the issue of this story, and that is really as dark as the tale gets. I also took a bit of an issue with the way the game ends. After getting our final reveal and the game questions have now all been answered, we are then just left in the game. I questioned if the game really was over, as there was ultimately no finale. No ‘wrap-up’ quest. Nothing. I actually eventually caved and had to look up the ending to the game to see if I had missed a quest mark. I did not. I’m guessing this was done so that you could continue pursuing the hotel management part of the game at your leisure, but I still would have appreciated an official wrap-up of the underlying story. The least that could have been done is sent us to go tell our Mother all the revelations! That woman deserved to know!
Final Thoughts:
Overall, I greatly enjoyed the game. Though my spooky and creepy appetite was not quenched, I was still happy with my purchase and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys character-driven cozy games or just looking for something to snuggle up on the couch with. Because for me - the highlight of this game really is the characters!