Review: Born of Bread Is a Familar Home-Cooked Meal

In recent years, RPG games in the style of Paper Mario have become a genre of its own. While I love the original Paper Mario RPGs, I find myself struggling to love most “Paperlike” games, with some notable exceptions. Born of Bread is one such exception, and while it doesn’t completely distinguish itself from its source of inspiration, it understands what made games like Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door so enjoyable in the first place while trying to build on top of the original recipe.

Like the Paper Mario series, Born of Bread is light on story. The events of the game start when the Queen asks the royal baker to create an extravagant new bread dish to accompany her supper. The baker then accidentally creates a living flour golem that he names Loaf and adopts him as his own. At the same time, a group of archaeologists digging around mysterious ruins accidentally awake five mischievous demons that quickly head to the castle to restore their power. Loaf and the demons fight, starting off a journey across the land to stop them.

The writing in Born of Bread is very lighthearted, focusing heavily on comedy. All characters, from NPCs to those important to the plot, are zany and charming. However, the companions and the five demons are the standout. I found myself loving Lint, Dub, and Chloe immediately after being introduced to the characters. The style of comedy is not as close to the particular Mario comedy, and instead reminded me of cartoon shows like The Amazing World of Gumball or Adventure Time, to a certain degree. Mechanically speaking, the game is very similar to its source of inspiration.

Gameplay consists of exploring a 3D space while controlling 2D-rendered characters. Combat follows conventional rules for the genre. Loaf and one partner fight enemies in turn-based battles, defending from and performing attacks using timed button presses. Enemy attacks target the point character, and you can expend a turn to swap who is in front to defend. Guarding recovers Will Points used for skills. Combat is rather easy, and there are not a lot of challenging fights outside of a few bosses. There are also not a lot of enemies per map, which helps keep the gameplay loop fresh and allows for platforming and exploration to shine.

Instead of learning new skills as he levels up, Loaf can use a variety of weapons and tools as skills. To use them, items need to be loaded in Loaf’s backpack. The items act like Tetris pieces and need to be rotated to make them fit in the deck, similar to inventory management in Resident Evil 4. I enjoyed this modular progression system, as it helps round out Loaf’s moveset or spec into different roles or damage types. Meanwhile, companions learn skills by finding various lizards scattered around the world that are hidden as collectibles.

I enjoyed how finding these lizards rewards exploration and engaging with the world, but I can see someone preferring to acquire skills in a more conventional matter. Furthermore, cashing these lizards requires finding a specific NPC to grant these abilities. Fortunately, levels are never too big or contrived for this to be annoying. Loaf also has access to Special Attacks that can be used by spending Resolve Points. Characters are generally powerful enough that I never found Special Attacks to be a game-changer, but are still a nice option.

Born of Bread also includes the theater audience mechanic from Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door and adds its own modern twist. After the game’s tutorial, each fight Loaf and his friends participate in is streamed online. Viewer count and chat appear on the screen, and the chat can be hidden if it’s too distracting. However, some of the comments are absolutely hilarious and I found myself often stopping in the middle of combat to keep up with chat. Sometimes, when stream morale is high, viewers will make requests, and if you fulfill them in enough turns, you can obtain rewards or restore WP.

Field abilities also appear in this game. Lint can dig holes to clear new paths or unearth items, Yagi can meditate to make platforms appear, and Chloe can use her lantern to illuminate or light things on fire. As for Loaf, certain environmental elements can reshape his doughy body to help him platform, similar to some Wario Land games. Boons are passive skills that help in combat, and the game includes collectible cards that act as commands for fights.

I found the card system to be a bit contrived and not particularly engaging compared to Loaf’s backpack. Born of Bread is a nice-looking game. Character sprites are very expressive and charming, with Loaf and friends having a lot of expressions for a variety of emotions (special mention goes to Loaf when he’s on low HP.) The environments are pretty detailed as well, and they use lighting nicely to add flair to every scene. The game has many different environments, including forests, swamps, beaches, and snowy landscapes, and the variety helps keep the visuals interesting.

Again, the 3D environment and 2D character contrast reminded me of some beloved modern cartoon shows. Even more interesting is the music of the game. The soundtrack is full of playful tunes and synthesizer compositions reminiscent of the SNES era of RPGs, albeit with an obviously different and more modern soundscape. Each battle theme is an earworm and will be stuck in your head from only hearing it once, and you will be hearing them often.

Born of Bread is a lighthearted and easy-to-pick-up game that doesn’t overstay its welcome. It clearly wears its influences on its sleeves and borrows a lot from the original “family recipe.” While the similarities might not be to everyone’s taste, the developers at WildArts Studio Inc. know what makes the genre fun and keep the ingredients that work while tossing in their own brand of humor and lots of personality. You shouldn’t go into this game expecting to play the next big Paper Mario, but rather a charming and light RPG with heaps of humor.

Born of Bread is now available for the Nintendo Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC via Steam.