Born of Bread is an RPG with charming 2.5D paper graphics and unique turn-based combat. Read our review to see what it did well, what it didn't do well, and if it's worth getting.
Born of Bread Review Overview
Born of Bread Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
 Fantastic Art Direction Very Lively and Quirky Writing |
Learning New Skills is Contrived Platforming, Collision, and Controls Could Be Better
|
Born of Bread Overall - 82/100
Born of Bread looks absolutely amazing, where its world, characters, and writing are all very cozy and jovial, all of which blends well with the wonderfully stunning art direction and energetic music. The gameplay itself lacks more cohesion and engagement however, with systems upon systems that try to add depth but ends up being unnecessary surface-level complexity. Nevertheless, with a zany colorful cast of characters and a whimsical world full of magic, Born of Bread is an extremely well-made storybook, great not only for children, but for everyone.
Born of Bread Story - 9/10
By no means is Born of Bread an epic high-stakes action-packed drama narrative or any of the sort. Instead, it excels with its fun worldbuilding and endearing writing that sells itself as being a wonderful fairytale adventure. The narrative is good-humored, lighthearted, and “pun-fully” witty that will leave you smiling or grinning frequently. It serves as an ideal relaxing pastime to unwind and be involved in the hijinks scattered throughout Born of Bread.
Born of Bread Gameplay - 6/10
Born of Bread is a 3D platformer with turn-based battle encounters. The platforming is straightforward, utilizing basic movement such as running and jumping, and occasionally using certain skills to open up paths or access unreachable places. The combat is well-established enough with a healthy amount of weapon options, skills depth, and weakness strategizing, but it never really melds together seamlessly. Consumables are needed in almost every fight, leveling up takes quite some time, learning new skills is a collection quest, and the quick-time events for combat loses its novelty and charm the longer you go. With the amount of mechanics implemented in Born of Bread, it tries to make each system flow unto one another, but ultimately ends up with a shallow mess.
Born of Bread Visuals - 10/10
With clear shades of Paper Mario, Born of Bread tremendously exceeds visual expectations and then some. The exceptional 2D sprites and animations perfectly fit into the stylized 3D world as if there isn’t a dimension between them. The character designs, the subtle but impactful facial and body expressions, and the rich and decorated areas and environments are all breathtakingly well done. Born of Bread is the revolutionary next step in the genre of “Paper” games, and should be lauded as a crowning achievement for its brilliant and faultless art direction.
Born of Bread Audio - 9/10
Born of Bread’s original soundtrack(OST) is vibrant and energetic. Unique music tracks accompany each location or story beat and further enhance the atmosphere. The sound effects(SFX) are crisp, where the action and reaction of bashing plates, dishes, barrels, and acorns is addicting. The OST and SFX are by no means revolutionary, but are rather perfectly implemented to fully immerse players into the world of Born of Bread.
Born of Bread Value for Money - 7/10
As it is, Born of Bread is a cozy fairytale adventure and its turn-based combat, though featuring several mechanics, seem to fall short of being more thorough and as enjoyable as other turn-based combat systems. Born of Bread could easily justify its $29.99 price tag to fans of the art or humor, but those who seek more engaging gameplay might see the game as all style and no substance.
Born of Bread Review: Baked to Perfection, Forgot the Fillings
It’s hard not to be immediately captivated by how lovely Born of Bread looks, as right from the get-go I was enamored with Loaf, the flour golem. Going about entering places, climbing up tables, and smashing their plates and decorations fulfills the tendencies I wish I could do in real life. The game enables you to enact your childlike wonder, curiosity, and a little harmless mischievousness across various areas, meeting new characters and unraveling the plot as you go.
To be completely transparent, I’m not very experienced with platformers on the Switch, or using controllers for them in general. I didn’t have overly-major gripes with the platforming per se, as it paves the way to sightsee the beautiful surroundings I go through. But, one annoyance I experienced, however, was trouble in gauging jumps that go further into the screen, where the character moves away from the screen/player. As the character you control is a 2D sprite, making 3D jumps “forward” is naturally obscured, giving poor visibility and muddy depth perception. This problem isn’t frequent, but is still noticeable at certain points.
Another minor irritation with platforming is attributed to the button mapping, as I played the game on the Switch. The Run button was mapped on B, while the Jump button was mapped on A. Though this is traditionally the control scheme for old platformers such as Mario, in Born of Bread, letting go of run seems to halt all momentum gained from prior running. This loss of momentum made running-jumps virtually impossible for me, unless you’re able to press Jump without letting go of Run. My main problem isn’t the lack of momentum mind you, but rather the default inability to seamlessly hold Run and press Jump at the same time.
The RPG elements were also a bit disappointing. Learning new skills for battle is a fetch quest, where you must find pairs of lizards scattered around, inciting further exploration. Leveling up is a bit perplexing, where instead of the amount of EXP required to get to the next level increasing, it always stays at a constant 100 requirement. Alternatively, as you level up, the amount of EXP you acquire is scaled down. That’s just, very weird. The presentation of leveling up itself is cute though, where you have to go and stamp which stat you wish to raise.
The combat has very…unique mechanics. The quick-time-events(QTE) were no bother, as they provide the brunt of the engagement, having to focus and make sure you execute the minigames to hit your moves. But bafflingly, after a certain point, and I really don’t know how to explain this… your battles are “livestreamed” to an audience? There is no lore exploration as to why this is a thing; it just became a mechanic thrust upon you to learn and take advantage of in combat. There are viewer ratings and a live chat available while in a fight, and appeasing the fans by performing moves grants bonuses in combat. Narratively, this doesn’t make sense, as it was just sprung onto the players. Game design wise, I guess the developers wanted another way to grant buffs? It’s all just…odd.
Even then, amidst all of its very peculiar choses, Born of Bread is still a great experience. It feels like a fantastical storybook great for casual play, to enjoy while relaxing on the sofa with some company, be it friends or family. In fact, that’s how I played the majority of it. Playing on the Switch made it possible to play the game on the go, whimsically meandering through the world discovering secrets and making friends. You could play it with either home consoles or desktop PCs that have all the big screens and graphical power, sure, but overall, the spirit of the game is to go about and explore. Actually going on an “adventure” to play, be it outside or just your living room, would be the best way to play and immerse yourself with Born of Bread. Break a few plates for me while you’re on the way.
Pros of Born of Bread
| Things Born of Bread Got Right |
|---|
|
Fantastic Art Direction Very Lively and Quirky Writing |
Fantastic Art Direction
Born of Bread’s art is gorgeously well-made, and that’s an objective fact. The sprites are well illustrated and animated, having so many variations of poses and facial expressions that make them feel alive. NPCs that might just be one-offs are still so polished and given love and detail that it’s astonishing.
Loaf, the protagonist, cannot talk, and therefore solely expresses himself through body language and expressions. Though without words, he’s still so full of personality and energy portrayed through his sprites that he easily conveys whatever it is he means. Of course, he has help with additional speech bubbles with symbols to aid in understanding his tone, but even without, just how he subtly or loudly reacts to everything happening in the world is extremely well done.
Not only are the 2D sprites amazing, but the 3D environments also carry their weight. From the scenic forest landscapes full of flora and fauna, to the bustling kingdom filled with peculiar architecture, and even to mysterious mines full of ore and danger, Born of Bread never once misses with the environmental design.
The fusion of 2D and 3D could so easily be done poorly, but Born of Bread exceeds expectation and flourishes in the challenge, providing an excellent game full of visual eye candy and wonder.
Very Lively and Quirky Writing
Born of Bread’s writing is flat-out consistently fun. From the worldbuilding through the NPCs, all the item flavor texts, and most importantly all the dialogue. Each named character all have their own “-isms” in terms of their speech and vocabulary, uniquely separating and giving them their own personalities. Interactions between anyone are never boring, with some “bad” puns that aren’t forced, but feel natural. Usually, games would approach “funny writing” by trying to shoehorn every minute with slapstick comedy or random jokes, but Born of Bread’s style of writing feels baked to perfection, fit for casual playthroughs and for light-hearted fun.
Cons of Born of Bread
| Things Born of Bread Can Improve |
|---|
|
Learning New Skills is Contrived Platforming, Collision, and Controls Could Be Better
|
Learning New Skills is Contrived
Born of Bread has a level progression system, where experience points (referred to as Might) level characters up. It also has different skill trees for its individual characters, where you can accumulate skill points to unlock skills from the tree. Now, RPG fans would immediately think, “Oh, so leveling up will grant you the points needed to learn them.” Wrong. You would need to find pairs of lizards scattered across all locations and bring them to a robed figure, who will, in turn, grant you the points. That is an unreasonably odd way to go about unlocking from the skill tree. The game even fails to narratively explain why, and we’re to accept it without question.
That’s not all, because actually finding the lizards will require you to scour every nook and cranny of an area just to procure ONE– and you require TWO to gain a point. I can only assume that this was implemented to further incentivize exploration, in order for the players to fully experience the meticulously crafted levels the developer’s produced. Narratively, it doesn’t make sense; in a game design perspective, it doesn’t make sense. I’m at a loss as to what the reasoning behind it could be.
Platforming, Collision, and Controls Could Be Better
For full disclosure, I’m not well-versed with playing platformers on the Switch, let alone controllers. Still, for a casual player such as myself, Born of Bread’s platforming is as straightforward as they come. However, the actual act of platforming is somewhat odd at times when trying to go inwards to the screen (opposite direction from the physical player), where you will not be able to see whether the 2D character can actually reach the target platform. There’s a potential problem with the game not being able to present depth properly, leaving players unable to perceive and platform accordingly.
I also found myself frequently falling into and getting stuck among the collision of props and objects while trying to adventure, and it’s very easy to get stuck. These zones aren’t gamebreaking, as you can mash all buttons and eventually find your way out. Their frequency isn’t high in numbers, but their presence is still annoying. The game would be better off if they were removed or blocked out to prevent them happening in the first place.
Lastly, this could be more of a problem for the Switch, but the default controls have the Run button assigned to B and the Jump button on A. Though one could argue that this was how many Mario platformers function, it doesn’t quite work well for Born of Bread. Letting go of Run immediately reverts you back to walking speed, and your Jump will come out as a standard one.
To clarify however, I don’t suggest adding residual momentum to running, as those implementations traditionally lead to “slippery” controls that make platforming more difficult. My main suggestion is to have default controls that allow ideal synergy between holding the Run button and pressing Jump. This could easily be resolved by merely remapping the buttons in my Switch’s systems. However, I feel the responsibility should still fall onto the developers to allow remapping themselves. Eventually, I was able to overcome this by using the width of my thumb to hover over both B and A buttons, but doing so was still inconvenient.
Is Born of Bread Worth It?
Yes! Let’s Get That Bread!
Despite some of its odd choices and a couple shortcomings, Born of Bread is still a spectacular game filled with tons of alluring moments and magnificent visuals. Priced at a snug $29.99, it’s perfectly capable of wowing lovers of the “Paper” visual style and charming everyone with its amiable world and characters.
However, don’t expect a traditional turn-based RPG combat system, as though it’s unique in its implementation, it is far from succeeding to be engaging and in-depth. Exploration and platforming will take the most of your time, as to enjoy the magnificent art the game holds. If this warning bothers you even a little bit but you’re still interested, that’s a sign to wait for a sale.
Playing on any of the home consoles or even the PC version would still grant tons of enjoyment to be had, what with the graphical advantages they have. But, I would argue the experience is further enhanced by casually playing on the Switch, with the mobility and freedom to go on your bread-filled adventure anywhere.
| Digital Storefronts | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Steam |
 Epic |
 Playstation |
 Xbox |
 Switch |
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| $29.99 | |||||
Born of Bread Overview & Premise
Born of Bread follows Loaf, a young flour golem boy who possesses a wondrous set of odd abilities. Fueled by his never-ending childlike wonder, he’ll venture the world, meet and team-up with all sorts of color characters, and explore the various regions of the world. However, creatures from another age have started causing havoc across the land, and their misdoings are proving to be trouble for everyone! Will Loaf be caught in the crossfire and become an unlikely hero?
Born of Bread FAQ
When Will Born of Bread Release?
Born of Bread releases on December 5, 2023 on all platforms. Please refer to our Release Date and Time article linked in the previous section for more in-depth information.
Will Born of Bread Have a Physical Release?
Unfortunately, Born of Bread will not have a physical release, and currently has no plans in doing so. However, in a Steam forum post made by the publishers Dear Villagers, they state that “they’ll update that if anything changes.”
Game8 Reviews
Born of Bread Product Information
 | |
| Title | BORN OF BREAD |
|---|---|
| Release Date | December 5, 2023 |
| Developer | WildArts Studio Inc. |
| Publisher | Dear Villagers |
| Supported Platforms | PC, Playstation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch |
| Genre | Adventure, Role-Playing, Platformer |
| Number of Players | Single-Player (1) |
| ESRB Rating | E for Everyone |
| Official Website | Born of Bread Official Website |
