The player character in Born of Bread is a sentient bread golem named, appropriately, Loaf. Yes, you read that right. A walking-talking hunk of Hovis, Warburtons, or Morrisons Tiger Bread is who you’ll be playing as. The thing is, despite the unique protagonist and inventive setting, Born of Bread is otherwise a pretty standard 2D RPG. In a cram-packed genre, are Loaf and pals a slice above the rest? Or have they failed to rise to the challenge? Let’s get this batch on the road and find out, shall we? After all, we knead an answer.
The first thing you’ll have likely noted about Born of Bread from the accompanying screenshots is that the game looks uncannily reminiscent of a Saturday morning cartoon. Those pics don’t lie either; the mixed 2D and 3D visuals charm with their childlike wonder. Loaf himself is a charismatic protagonist, winking to the player like he’s in a panto. He wouldn’t look amiss on the box of some sugar-filled children’s cereal. The rest of the world he inhabits is equally delightful, full of eccentric characters, zany baddies, and bizarre environments. From a world-building perspective, Born of Bread is certainly on firm form.
The narrative is simple; you must explore the world, seeking to clear Loaf’s father’s name, before ultimately chasing down the big baddies and uncovering their mysterious motives for kingdom domination. Solid enough, but, aside from the bread golem, you’ll have played through the same stale story in countless RPGs. Also, for a game starring sentient bread, this tale rather underserves on the jokes and puns. Sure, Born of Bread might eke the occasional smirk of amusement at a pun or two, but otherwise proceedings are played surprisingly straight.
Combat is turn-based and overloaded with QTEs – in fact, it might as well be graining QTEs – as Loaf and a companion take on hordes of enemies. Whilst there is apparent depth to the combat system, with enemies resistant or vulnerable to different elemental attacks, in practice, it’s far easier to just mash your character’s basic skills ad infinitum. With little effort, another baddie will soon bite the crust. There’s the neat gameplay mechanic of your fights being live-streamed, leading to viewers at home ordering you to perform moves to their particular preference. Follow their instructions, such as using a specific item, and you’ll be rewarded. The audience’s demands aren’t always conducive to a swift victory, which adds a neat risk-and-reward bread twist to the usual turn-based battle formula.
QTEs are less successful. As in Mario’s now numerous RPGs, every attack requires one, and inputting those button prompts soon becomes incredibly repetitious. Admittedly, some of the QTE inputs are quite inventive, but many more fall back on the trope of having to tap at the correct time as a meter fills. As such, the QTEs are kind of fun the first few times, but after your hundredth battle, and with little variation, the appeal wanes.
The nature of the visuals is not particularly successful either. Due to the restrictive view offered to the player, it’s all easy to fall out of the environment and plummet into some deadly substance or other that seemingly surrounds every level. This embarrassing plunge only slightly damages the player but it serves to undermine the pace and rhythm of the game. There are points when you feel you are on a roll, only to drop into the sea because you can’t see where you are going. It’s enough to make you break down and rye.
The mixed 2D and 3D elements certainly don’t help, turning the occasional platforming moments into a frustration-thon. Due to the insubstantial shadows of your avatar and some naff collision detection, trying to leap from platform to platform is harder than chewing on stale crust.