Reviewing indies that decide to somewhat go off in their own direction in terms of tone, or mixing together styles, can be a challenge. On the one hand, I applaud doing something original and trying to find a new mix of elements that could inspire others and lead to a nifty new subgenre we’ve never seen before. On the other hand, sometimes either there are reasons you’ve not seen certain mixes before, or perhaps things are bolted together in a way that doesn’t quite feel cohesive. That leads us to a game like Bearnard, which somehow tries to marry together platforming, card collecting, turn-based strategy, and skill-based shooting into one package… and kind of works, but not very convincingly.

On the surface this absolutely has a retro style, which mixes together 16-bit details with an odd visual style that reminds me of some latter-day arcade titles. It’s absolutely distinctive, but I could see where it could be divisive too, though that may be more of a negative association of some games that had this style back in the day that I simply didn’t connect with. Very quickly you’re thrown into this hodge podge of styles, and initially I’ll admit that I found it jarring. So there’s some light platforming, cards for turn-based combat enhancement, but I’m also trying to use my skills to lob arrows at enemies accurately? OK…

The result is absolutely different, and I’d even argue daring, but I’m not entirely sure it works all that well. What I found odd is that the different cards can be very effective when combined in some cases, making for powerful attacks and sort of propping up the strategic side of the experience. At the same time though, unless you’re pretty close to your enemies, leaving yourself vulnerable to their attacks (especially if there’s more than one), every attack is a gamble. Can you judge the proper angle and power for your attack? Unfortunately for you, your enemies typically can. Worse, if you used a card or two you’d better hope so or they’ll be wasted. 

I suppose there’s a risk and reward element to this that I normally would dig, but it left me underwhelmed with the combat as a whole, because for me these elements were in conflict with one another more often than not. It does make for a unique adventure, and I suppose if you like your skills being tested in multiple directions it could even be refreshing. But in terms of it making sense, and clearly pointing to a style of gameplay that deserves more attention, I’m not terribly convinced by this showing.