With the rise of challenging games with uniquely weird mechanics and a focus on climbing a mountain, it’s no surprise we finally have a two-player version of one. Developers Sand Castle Studio and publisher Apogee Entertainment have released Bread & Fred, a game featuring a penguin duo that is trying to climb to the top of a mountain for whatever reason. Of course, if you are playing solo, that option is available as well, which is honestly a nice touch to the gameplay options. While the genre makes for easy entertainment, does the game add up to an enjoyable experience?

Gameplay

The controls are a simple-to-learn, hard-to-master type of deal. With you and your partner tied together by a rope, you will have to move together throughout the game. You can move left or right, jump, pick up an item, interact with characters you come across, anchor yourself, and swing your partner. The way it works is you will get the initial instructions from the first penguin you pass and this penguin can be found in a few other places as you get to more new areas.

It isn’t long before you get the initial controls of movement, picking up your partner, and throwing them to help you get to heights you can’t jump to. Moving forward you reach the first platform that requires you to swing your partner in circles around you to build up enough momentum to fling you both over to the next ledge. After this, you will reach the last thing you’ll need to learn which is grabbing a wall and letting your partner swing to the other wall or platform so you can get across to the next step or ledge.

With these controls in mind, you’ll be making your way up the mountain as high as you can go. There is just under 500m to trek, so don’t expect an easy journey. Along the way, you will come across new areas, little extra obstacles like ice, mud, and moving platforms, and some of the most impractical jump placements around. Some platforms are literally only big enough for you to stand on it exactly.

While the game is designed to be played by two players, they do have a single-player option where your friend is replaced by a rock. This means that you will have to control both yourself and the rock, which sounds frustrating but is actually pretty handy. Instead of working on timing or hoping your friend can land a difficult trick, if they even understand what to do to get past an obstacle, you can execute your own plans and have it all rely on your skill instead. The game is still fun this way, but I do suggest playing with a friend if you get the chance.

What saves this game from being a purely frustrating experience to a fun challenge is the checkpoint system. You’ll unlock this after you have a dramatic fall the first time and basically, you can just start planting a flag anywhere you want. Every new flag will replace the old one, but what this does is make it so if you fall you can call a bird to bring you back to the checkpoint you were at. I can see people going for “no checkpoint runs” in the future, but I strongly suggest using this on your first playthrough (if not all of them). While you are turning the checkpoint system on in the options menu, be sure to check out the other handy modes in there that you can turn on or off at any time.

Audio and Visual

This is a game with pixelation designs yet they made a very clear environment with a fitting and even somewhat scenic atmosphere, The background of the game seems to be drawn rather than a pixelated backdrop, which likely is what helps it not seem completely old school in art design. The music is designed in a fitting style where it fills in the background and can be drowned out by sound effects but it never leaves you sitting in silence. The last thing you want in a game like this is distracting music, so this was a good choice by the developers.

Replayability

I would say there is some replayability. You can always improve your skills and there are some hidden areas that can be found throughout the climb. With how much climbing you have to do in this game and so few hidden areas, it is very easy to miss these. Besides, the experience playing this in single-player mode and in multiplayer mode are vastly different yet fun in their own rights.

What It Could Have Done Better

What a missed opportunity for a game like this to only offer local cooperative play! I was really looking forward to playing this with a friend online, but when we saw that we had to resort to Remote Play on Steam in order to play together. This is not a great solution as Remote Play brings its own frustrations and isn’t made to be the go-to option for multiplayer gaming, but rather a way to show a game to a friend and even let them try it out. I’m glad I was able to play with him and try out the cooperative aspect of the game, but they should strongly consider adding online capabilities to the game.

The checkpoint system shouldn’t be something a player has to unlock. It’s a good way to bring it to their attention, but it would have been just as fine if they had the starting character add checkpoints in the control explanation. I like that it can be turned off, although anybody that doesn’t want to use it could just simply not hit that button seeing how the checkpoint and recall buttons aren’t used for anything else.

Verdict

Bread & Fred is a challenging yet entertaining game that is definitely worth playing! Sure, you’ll need quite a bit of patience in order to get through the entire journey, but the sense of accomplishment when you get over those difficult sections is pretty amazing. Having a checkpoint system took away a lot of the annoying part of these kinds of games and made it actually fun to challenge myself in a little game like this. This is definitely a title I recommend for both its single-player and multiplayer experience.

Bread & Fred is available now on PC for Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG.