Bear With Me: The Complete Collection Review

Not Your Average Run-of-the-Mill Bear Game

Yes, Bear With Me is the name of the game while also being a double entendre on the phrase. It looks like your normal run-of-the-mill indie game with a black-and-white noir aesthetic, but… It has a bear! No, it isn’t a normal “stand-on-all-fours roar I’m a bear” type of bear but a stuffed bear who also happens to be alive and a former private investigator. You follow this bear, not-surprisingly named: Ted E. Bear, and his owner, Amber, as they investigate the whereabouts of her brother and a mysterious man who is after her.

Egg-ceptionally Punny! Hahaha!

For an indie game, the storytelling has some exceptional quality. It can get punny at times but it’s pretty cliche for a private investigator-type in noir media to ramble on during monologues. It’s basically the Spy Fox in “Dry Cereal” game for our current generation, except in black and white.

Story Rating: 9/10

Puzzles Galore!

Puzzles, puzzles, and more puzzles! You can’t expect a noir-type indie game to not be full of puzzles. Bear With Me’s story spans across four episodes but one is technically a prequel with its own little story. Unfortunately, the first episode seems more like a short introduction to the series more than anything. It’s supposed to be a strong start but we’re not sure if the creators of Bear With Me even know it’d be mildly successful enough to warrant additional episodes (let alone a console port).

However, the puzzles could be a little more challenging. Many of them just involve common sense with no semblance of needing more than one brain cell working part-time to figure any of them out. The lack of challenge in the game knocks it down a couple of ratings.

Gameplay Rating: 6/10

Colorlessly Colorful

The art style, while generically noir, kind of works well in a world filled with anthropomorphic animals and visual Easter eggs in various locations. Bear With Me has graphics worth remembering for both the younger and older crowds. The hand-drawn backdrops, while having no color at all, are just as colorful as Spy Fox games to us older folks.

Graphics Rating: 10/10

Oh, the Blues!

You’re not going to find a piece of noir media without an immersive jazz score. The music fits well, almost too well, into your adventure through a monochromatic backdrop with a little girl and a teddy bear private investigator. The music helps enhance the mystery of why we’re following a bear around and solving puzzles. It’s entertaining to say the least.

Music Rating: 10/10

Final Thoughts

Bear With Me: The Complete Collection is a cute little puzzle game that can get emotionally at times with great storytelling through compelling writing and cute characters. Too bad the game itself is just too short. However, the first game might put people off from the entire series. It’s worth playing through just to see what happens in the end!

And after you reach the end, it’s not the end of the series! Bear with us for one more review, this time, for The Lost Robots expansion!