Paper Mario meets Cartoon Network in this quirky, bread-based RPG

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SHOULD I PLAY BORN OF BREAD?

Born of Bread feels like an unofficial successor to the Paper Mario series, so if you’re a fan of those games, you’ll definitely want to check it out. There were times when I thought Born of Bread could’ve used a little more time in the oven, but I was still won over by its playful dialogue and loveable cast of characters. If you dig games with a wacky, silly sense of humor, this is going to charm you too.

TIME PLAYED

I spent around six hours with Born of Bread, and while I began the game as a freshly-baked loaf, I’ve collected all kinds of weapons and abilities over the course of my playthrough. I’ve also had the chance to meet an amazing assortment of characters, like Lint, an adorable raccoon with an absurdly tragic backstory, and Yagi, a powerful martial artist with a weakness for noodle soup. Every character has their own unique playstyle, so it was always a joy to add someone new to my crew.

WHAT’S AWESOME ABOUT BORN OF BREAD?

• Fun, playful writing. Born of Bread absolutely nails the quirky, comedic style of writing that the Paper Mario games are known for. Every character is bursting with personality, and that made me want to talk with every NPC I came across. What I really love about Born of Bread is that it’s not just an endless cascade of bread puns (though there are plenty of those too). The dialogue is genuinely hilarious, and even the silliest characters feel fleshed out and well-developed.

Even when I wasn’t reading through dialogue, Born of Bread found ways to make me laugh out loud. My battles were live streamed to an audience, and those viewers were happy to offer feedback as I played. Sometimes they’d comment directly on what I was doing, sometimes they’d ignore me and chat amongst themselves, and sometimes they’d cheerfully tell me that they weren’t having any fun. I didn’t want to miss a single comment.

• Colorful, cartoony visuals. Born of Bread looks like it could be a lost Cartoon Network show. Not only is it filled with vibrant colors, but every single character has detailed animations. I loved the way Loaf’s face would scrunch up before he launched an attack, or seeing NPCs react when I made a weird dialogue choice. The character designs are definitely the star of the show here, but the detailed 3D backgrounds also look fantastic.

• Awesome inventory management. If you like organizing your briefcase in Resident Evil 4, you’re going to love Born of Bread. Loaf can learn new skills and abilities by storing items in his trusty backpack. Carefully organizing that backpack gave me access to a larger assortment of moves. Space was pretty limited at first, but I was able to expand my backpack as I leveled up, which gave me more room to play around with. I had a blast sorting through my backpack, and the cute crayon-drawn menus made the inventory management system even more fun.

WHAT SUCKS ABOUT BORN OF BREAD?

• Getting around can be a pain. Born of Bread places 2D characters in  3D environments. This looks fantastic, but exploring those areas can be frustrating. The environments are so open that it can be tricky to get a sense of where you’re supposed to go. To make things worse, many locations are littered with pitfall traps and awkward platforming segments. I had to do a lot of backtracking over the course of my adventure, and that really sucked the fun out of exploration.

• Combat is a little clunky. I don’t dislike Born of Bread’s turn-based combat system, but it never felt quite right. Most attacks required me to press a button at the right time or hold down a button until a bar was full. I liked that battles were so interactive, but my inputs didn’t feel as responsive as they should be, and that made it hard to get the timing just right. Battles aren’t bad by any means, but if you’re comparing this to games like Super Mario RPG, it’s going to fall short.

PLATFORM TESTED

PC via Steam Deck