To wrap up 2022, I had the chance to check out some of the indie game gems that caught my interest. When I heard about Bear’s Restaurant, my first impression was that it’s a cozy simulation game where you cook and prepare for your customers every time. Day. but, Bears Restaurant A dark story that revolves around a restaurant run by a bear. Bear’s Restaurant is a beautiful retro game developed and published by Odencat. Odencat has built a reputation for creating short, powerful indie story games. I had the chance to review this amazing indie game for Nintendo Switch. Before that, check out the trailer for this indie game.
Bears Restaurant Gameplay
In Bear’s Restaurant, the game begins with you waking up as a cat, dressed as a chef. It’s time to go to work. If you go downstairs there are only a few seats and the chef is Kuma. This is not an ordinary restaurant, it is a special restaurant with no menu. This is a restaurant where the dead can enjoy the last happy meal that was their favorite food during life. A cat takes the order and a bear chef cooks it.
As a chef’s assistant, it’s the cat’s job to figure out what kind of food people want. At first, customers usually know what kind of food they want, just say it, and Chef Bear will cook it for you. I will cook. However, there may be dishes that the bear chef does not know, so it is the cat’s job to jump into the customer’s memory and search for that dish. The cat then quickly returns to witness her favorite dish and why. Kat then retrieves the memory shard and gives orders to Bear. Hamburg steak, oden, spaghetti, anything is fine.
The customer then enjoys their meal and then slowly fades away.
I love the retro visuals of the game and the music that accompanies it. In another scene, the chef bear takes the cat to the station and people are waiting at the station. Is this a station to take people to heaven?? It is a chance to learn about each person and their favorite food at the station where everyone who has served food so far waits for the last train. You could say this is the last moment someone speaks before leaving. The story that hit me was where is the baby? And from her story, we learn that she was a victim of a car accident before she met her baby.
Conclusion
If you get the chance to play this game, don’t expect cozy story games. As far as I’ve experienced, the game is very short, 2-3 hours long, but the powerful emotional interactions between bear and cat, as well as other characters when ordering the last meal. There’s a story. The game is story-driven from start to finish, filled with an emotional rollercoaster of loss, regret, and death. This is a beautifully crafted game with stunning retro pixel visuals and a soundtrack that suits each character’s story and scene. This is his one of my favorite indie short story games I’ve played on the Nintendo Switch. The most important element in a role-playing game is the character story, and this one excels in every way. The Nintendo Switch and PC versions of this game are the full version, including the sequel’s story, which I’m looking forward to checking out after this review.
Overall: 8.0
Visuals: 8.0
Audio: 8.0
Gameplay: 8.0
Bears Restaurant
Platforms: Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, PC
Developer: Oden Cat
Publisher: Oden Cat
release date: June 18, 2021
Review copy provided
