So I Tried…. Moldbreaker: Rise of the Loaf

Each edition of So I Tried… I will try a game that I have never played before. Will I find something new to love? Will I find something new to despise? I'll take a full half hour, no matter how bad it gets or how badly I do, to see if this is the game for me. This time, we played Silly Business’ charming mascot platformer, Moldbreaker: Rise of the Loaf, in our biweekly streamcast!

What I thought it was

I went into Moldbreaker pretty much blind, as it is the golden rule of our GrinCast. However, I had an idea of what we were getting into based on the few images and blurb I saw: the game would be something like the mascot platformers of the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation era. We’d play as a cute little guy and take on baked goods-themed levels and enemies while also fighting the root of all evil in the bread world, mould. Beyond that, I had little idea.

What it actually is

The comparison to the platformers of the ‘90s was pretty apt, as Moldbreaker has a very Banjo-Kazooie-esque vibe to it, with the central hub area being lively and colourful and the movements of the, frankly, adorable main character being pretty lively. Controlling a bread loaf platypus with a waffle tail, we are tasked with fighting off the evil mould and not dying in the process. It’s pretty sweet (pun intended)!

Being a free indie project, the game is not without its rough edges, but all in all, it was pretty fun! With three levels to play and some added movement abilities to unlock, it certainly was worth the look… though it could be a bit frustrating as our streamcast shows on multiple occasions.

Will I keep playing

That mostly depends on a single question: can I heal yet? My main gripe with the game was the inability to heal your freshly baked protagonist at all during a level, which quickly got old as the combat would have you losing quite a bit of bread integrity per hit! Though the levels were not long per se, they were long enough to be annoying to start up from the beginning. Yeah, no checkpoints for us.

As a proof of concept, Moldbreaker: Rise of the Loaf is a job well done! I would be interested in seeing the idea fleshed out into a fully completed title and I do recommend giving it a go. If nothing else, the design of the world is creative and the main character is just adorable enough to eat.