I Am Bread is a gloriously silly adventure that takes a loaf of bread to multiple suburban settings as it attempts to complete its lifelong goal, to become toast. Like Surgeon Simulator, which was also from Bossa Studios, I Am Bread is a purposefully wacky and buggy game that is as much a puzzle as it is an experiment with physics. While the zany journey of some bread kept me entertained for a surprisingly long amount of time, the game is far from perfect.
I Am Bread
Developer: Bossa Studios
Price: $12.99
Platform: PC (Reviewed)
A review copy of I Am Bread was supplied to us by Bossa Studios
First and foremost I recommend playing this game with a gamepad. I Am Bread is possible without one, but as the later levels become more intricate and reflex-dependent, the quick and natural layout of a controller is incredibly beneficial and recommended by the developers.
The tutorial is the first thing you’ll see after starting up the game, and unlike many other games this tutorial is crucial. I Am Bread’s movement concept feels pretty unnatural at first, and if I hadn’t followed a holographic piece of white bread up a wall, teaching me how to grip and alternate my grip I don’t think I would’ve made it. The default slice of bread is controlled through the use of its 4 corners that can stick to just about any surface. Each corner grips on command, and when attached to something the bread can be moved accordingly in all directions. Again, this was pretty hard to get used to at first, and even after an extensive amount of time with the game, climbing could be a pretty major pain. When climbing I often had to switch between moving the bread forward and pulling it back as it changed orientation by flipping up a wall.
After I (mostly) wrapped my head around the ways of controlling a moving piece of bread I began the main story mode. The “story” of moving bread is actually much more entertaining than I had anticipated, and is told through notes taken by therapist of the home owner. Each note detailed a man who, as I completed more and more levels, became paranoid about a moving loaf of bread, a.k.a me. Every level began with a sliced piece of bread in a setting where it would (usually) be found. After the room became deserted I took control of said piece of bread, with my only goal being to become toast. This simple-sounding end-goal often proved to be much more challenging than anticipated. On my way to become bread I had to avoid the floor, water and any messes throughout the house as I needed to remain edible to some degree. In this, the game becomes part puzzle and part skilled bread-maneuvering. In my first level I began on the dining room table next to some sandwich making tools, like an ordinary piece of bread would.
However, unlike a normal piece of bread, I shimmied on down to the skateboard, rode it to the kitchen, and inched along the stove dial until it began to heat up and I toasted myself. Every step of the way I had to worry about purposefully clunky controls, semi-realistic yet shoddy physics and physical barriers. As I progressed, the levels became more and more of a challenge, tasking me with toasting myself with a lawn mover, radiator and car engine. Unfortunately, some of the fun of these abnormal tasks was taken back by incredible difficulty spikes in some areas, often causing me to repeat the same level over and over until I could get a single portion right.
Unbelievably, there are more ways to play. Free Roam is just a sandbox version of the story, with no objective and no end-game conditions so thatplayers can move freely as any kind of in-game bread. There’s Zero-G, a mode in which you are placed back into the same maps, but without gravity, as a tiny piece of rocket-bread, with the same goal as the story. It’s even harder to move in zero-g, but also harder to fail. There’s Rampage, my personal favorite, in which as a baguette I had to destroy as much as I can. I failed rampage many, many times. And finally there was bagel race, a game mode in which I literally had to roll as a bagel as fast as I could, without falling too far behind, which I did often. Each of these game modes are unique, and each have their own strengths and fall backs, but all are fun.
The Final Word
I Am Bread is a goofy, buggy, physics adventure that shows the determination of a piece of bread to become toast. With multiple ways to play and solve the games many puzzles, I Am Bread can easily entertain for hours. Unfortunately, clunky controls, difficulty spikes and unintentional bugs can make the experience unbearable at times.
– MonsterVine Rating: 3.5 out of 5 – Fair
