The older I get, the more appreciation I have for “cosy” games, which in layman’s terms, is any game that doesn’t feel like work. It’s a game you can picture yourself playing on a cold night while wrapped in blankets and drinking a warm cup of coffee… with little marshmallows on top because you aren’t dead inside. So when I first saw Bear and Breakfast, I was sold. A cutesie, “cosy” game about a bear who runs his own air BnB? SOLD.
However, mere minutes into the game, I realised that mistakes were undoubtedly made. Not only was Bear and Breakfast stingy on the cosy, but it was also too giving on the help. And by too giving, I mean it grabs you, pins you down, and repeatedly slaps you across the face with it, a trauma that little marshmallows did very little to mask.
In Bear And Breakfast, you play as a bear named Hank. When Hank hears that humans have started to return to his side of the world after a notable absence, he decides to open up an air BnB to cater to them. Your time as Hank will be spent taking care of the BnBs you set up, crafting and decorating them, and booking in/taking care of guests. On paper, Bear and Breakfast is an ideal management sim that offers just the right amount of everything. However, in practice? It feels more like a giant waste of potential.
First, if you decide to go ahead and try the game for yourself, be pre-warned; the opening and tutorial part of the game takes FOREVER. It took so long, in fact, that I, the person always going on about how important the story is in-game, found myself just endless pressing the skip button – desperate to start playing. And then, when the game started, I still found myself desperate to play.
A big part of Bear and Breakfast’s downfall is that it coddles to the point of smothering you. Every single thing in the game is rigidly structured in the form of quests. There is minimal opportunity to do your own thing, and after completing each quest, you have to run back to the supplier of the quest and go through dialogue after dialogue to explain that the quest has been completed and move on.
It wasn’t long before I found myself loathing the dialogue parts of the game and doing everything in my power to avoid them, which also meant stinting myself in the game – it’s truly a no-win situation. It’s hard to express just how tiresome the dialogue in-game truly is. The jokes are unfunny the first time you read them and unbearable (get it?) the hundredth time. Almost every conversation can be summed up as follows: You: I BEAR. Them: I NOT A BEAR. You: WE NO UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER. Them: WE NO COMMUNICATE GOOD. Both of you: HEHEHE.
But to say that Bear and Breakfast’s only downfall is the dialogue wouldn’t be honest. The building part of the game isn’t all that either. Instead of letting me go crazy and craft until I ran out of resources or money, it’s so structured that there is very little in the form of wiggle room. And for a game that so heavily relies on stringent THIS then THAT rules, very little seemed to matter.
I first noticed this when it came to dialogue options. Often I would be asked to choose my dialogue, but the outcome would be the same regardless of my choice. Then when it came to my BnBs, a big hoo-hah is made about keeping guests happy. You do this by filling your place to the brim with STUFF like you’re playing through an episode of hoarders. However, I’m not convinced that doing this matters because I soon realised my guests were dropping 5-star reviews like it was their only option, and in truth, I’m still not confident that these reviews do anything to alter the game in any meaningful way, regardless.
The last part of the game that was left for me to explore was too well, explore, and let me tell you if I was disappointed by the rest of the game, man, oh man was I in for a rough time. The game is divided into a bunch of smallish regions, most of which are inaccessible until certain quests have been completed. But even when you can access more areas, each area is tiny and can’t be interacted with. Instead of chopping down trees, you will find random piles of wood lying around, and instead of looting through garbage, there will again be random piles for you to collect. There is also no inventory limit, so you can just run around, pick things up and move along.
However, one area where the game never falters is its cuteness. If you like what you see, that’s what you’ll get – consistently. There is a whimsical charm to the music, art and theme. They complement each other well and help create a setup that the gameplay, unfortunately, can’t live up to.
