It doesn’t matter if you enjoy playing single-player games or are competitive and want to play multiplayer all the time, there is one thing every gamer can agree on. There is no better feeling than playing a co-op game with your friend and taking on the whole game as a duo. Whether it’s just you two against other players, experiencing the story together, or trying to work together to overcome the obstacles of a challenging game, it is one of the best times. After all, fun is what gaming is all about.
But playing a challenging co-op platformer is bound to lead to an argument or two, as you and your mate are trying to coordinate through the obstacles, with each of you convinced his plan is better. Bread & Fred definitely falls among these games. A perfect game to try and climb to the top of the map with someone else, while trying to not lose your cool when you miss your jump and lose all your progress.
I’ve decided to play Bread & Fred with my friend and the moment we loaded into the game we knew what awaited us. If anything was gonna lead to us fighting, this was it.
Who Developed Bread & Fred?
Bread & Fred was developed by SandCastles Studio, a group of indie developers of three friends from Barcelona, who decided to make video games together. Bread & Fred is the first game they released together, and I feel they really hit the jackpot with it. I had the time of my life playing the game and I definitely feel the price tag of $14.99 is worth it. You definitely should go show some love to the developers and buy the game to play with someone you’re close with.
I already can’t wait for them to release any new titles. If their first release was so fun, I can’t wait to see what the newly found experience will bring in the future.
Gameplay
Bread & Fred is meant to be a challenging co-op platformer, where two players take control of their own penguin, and try to climb to the top of the map together. But there is a twist: Both penguins are tied together with a rope! To be honest, the first time I loaded the game up it reminded me a lot of Jump King, another platformer that made me want to pull my hair out. However, the fact that I had to rely on someone else and play with him made this experience way more enjoyable.
While playing, you have to climb through several different levels and reach the top of the map. The penguins can swing around, hold on to walls, and jump while traversing the levels. Utilizing the rope wasn’t as difficult as I imagined it would be at first, and it felt like the rope physics did feel similar to how a rope should work.
My favorite level to play through was the Fishy Mines. I might be a bit biased, as I’m a huge fan of Gimli and the Mines of Moria in Lord of the Rings, which made this level really hit the spot for me. This was also the level we spent the most time in while playing and it felt like the most unique out of all of them.
There were also several side missions to complete in the game, such as playing rock-paper-scissors, passing around a rock, and more. Sadly, we were a bit more occupied by flaming each other, so we realized there were missions a bit too late. Our bad!
Graphics & Art
For a pixel game, the graphics and the art style were amazing. It was really kind to the eyes, and I had no problem playing the game in one single sitting. The creative decision to make Bread & Fred penguins was ideal for me, as penguins are my favorite animals.
There is also kind of a side mission to be done while playing Bread & Fred. Throughout the map, there are several pictures scattered around for you to collect. Sadly we didn’t find every single one of them, but every time we saw one we did everything we could to get them. Even if that meant falling down the level again. The pictures were drawn beautifully and just for that reason we tried getting them whenever possible.
Bread & Fred was also optimized beautifully. True it’s a pixel game and it doesn’t require much power from your computer, but my old potato laptop managed to run it perfectly, which I absolutely loved.
Music & Sound Effects
I don’t really have much to say about the in-game music. I listened to it for the first five minutes of our playthrough, after which I muted it and played my own playlist. That does not mean I didn’t like the music; I actually think it gives away really calming vibes to try and keep you from getting pissed off. But that is just something I do in every game, and this one was no exception.
But I did leave the sound effects on and think they couldn’t be better. Every time we missed our jump and faceplanted on the floor, the sound effect made us smile even though we were fuming with anger. There were some penguins that we could talk to, and even though their words were shown in speech bubbles, the sound of their ‘speaking’ was funny. The effects really managed to lighten the mood and preserve our friendship.
Final Thoughts
If you are competitive, love a challenge, and have a friend who is the same, this game is definitely for you. It will challenge your ability to work together and test your friendship like nothing before. There is even a single-player mode if your friends are party poopers and don’t want to have fun. This is the most fun I’ve had while gaming in a while, and I really feel like this is the most fun Indie game I ever played.
The developers did a fantastic job, especially considering this is the first game they released together. The gameplay and artwork synergize perfectly together, and the sound design really does lighten the mood at least a little bit.
Did you try out Bread & Fred already? Have you managed to beat it alone or with a friend? Talk to us in the comments below!
