Forced to go on a quest to retrieve a legendary bow to save his home woodland, Bernard grabs his trusty bow and helpful sidekick owl Blue and embarks on an epic platforming, card grabbing, arrow shooting adventure. There’s a refinement of the gameplay formula that the game crafts that allows for a real honing of strategies and possibilities as you proceed through Bearnard’s many levels. I found myself thinking two steps ahead and contemplating the possibilities of combat and exploration more and more with every obstacle I faced and overcame. Whilst doing that, the player is treated to some unique witty writing for the characters’ dialogue and notes found around the world, which added to the charm of it all. Bearnard was enjoyable to pick up and easy to come back to over and over as I progressed.
Fighting for the Forest!
The whole goal of each level of Bearnard is to proceed to the end of the level by picking up cards that can give your arrows bonuses, or lay traps, or heal yourself (along with a few other surprises) to give you a leg-up in combat. Along the way, you’re able to explore and find notes, more cards, additional challenges, or extra XP to level up faster. At the end of the level, you’re given a rundown of what all you did and found, and what you missed. You can then go back and try to complete all the extra stuff you missed. It allows you to be completionist if you want, and the rewards for doing so are usually worth it. You are allowed one artifact to use, and can switch it a few times during the level to help with exploration or give you a leg up in combat or survivability. When you enter a level, it feels a bit barren, but there’s a lot to plan around for facing the various enemies and the abilities they possess, too. If you enter a fight unprepared, you’ll quickly be punished for that error. The fine line the difficulty walks between too hard and just right is handled well for the most part. Luckily, when I felt like it was a bit frustrating, the game has a handy and instantaneous save state system that allows for quick and painless loading after death.
Playing around with the many card effects, along with your limited hand size, is what I spent most of my gameplay time debating. Deciding which cards to keep, which to sell, and which to just scrap definitely got the old brain synapses firing. I will say that some of the discoverables within the level rely on having certain cards available, which was a bit frustrating at times. Sometimes I just had no ability to reach or grab something I could see and knew how to get to, and I would only be able to get it by restarting the level or waiting to replay it. The aiming of Bearnard’s bow felt intuitive and precise, and the leveling system allowed me to make it easier if I so desired. Combat was overall more a case of playing chess with the enemies on the screen, and using cards in the most advantageous situations, which was definitely much more strategic than I originally thought it would be, which is a good thing! Every situation was new and intricately designed. I also liked that I felt like I had an opportunity to create my own advantages in combat, whether that be with how I entered them, how I prepared for them, or how I made my first shot and card choices.
Going His Own Way
Visually, Bearnard was just fine, and that’s okay! The sprites reminded me of the best kind of old ROM games, with nice, sharp, pixelated levels and enemies that sat precisely where they needed to. The tiered backgrounds for each location were cool and I enjoyed the different biomes. There weren’t that many of them though, and I kept expecting to be whisked away to a different one after finishing more of the same type. Alas, the ones that were there were pretty! They just got a little repetitive. Bearnard is a tough little handsome cutie, though they would never accept such a compliment, and the enemies and allies all fit well into the design.
What's that I Hear? An owl?
In a platforming adventure puzzle game like this, the opportunity for uplifting, soaring, bombastic soundtracks and effects aren’t always plentiful, as is the case here. The music is pleasant, allowing for a nice stroll through the different biomes. Unfortunately, they did get a bit repetitive, and with a game that doesn’t require music and effect sounds to drive the gameplay, I was okay with them not being game-changers. Every action had an appropriate arcade-y charming sound accompanying it, and it didn’t need to change the sound world to be good.
In Conclusion
Overall, Bearnard was a wonderful adventure to experience. If you’re into these kind of card-based adventures, it was a good time that I look forward to finishing. It runs amazingly well on the Steam Deck and I found it the perfect type of game to pick up now and then and make progress before saving and coming back to it later. The writing was clever and I found myself actually looking forward to finding hidden notes for a change! If Bearnard looks like your speed, it probably is.
