I must admit that in the past generation it has been wild to see the rise of “cozy games” and their fans, but it has also been nice to see smart developers branching out in new directions to try to expand the vision of what they can be. Much like their polar opposite game modifier, the roguelike, it’s been fascinating seeing those expectations for more calm and gentle playability applied to unexpected genres. Bonnie Bear Saves Frogtime absolutely fits that bill, as it’s the first cozy tactical strategy game I can say I’ve seen, and honestly I don’t think I would have ever assumed we’d get to see one in the first place.

So, to start with, this is just an all-around odd game featuring a host of strange characters. Some of that is owed to the game’s more simplistic art style, but the dialogue and most definitely some of the voice work really make it clear that the developers were just having fun with this, damn the consequences. Considering that at least some of the people behind this made Once Upon a Jester, that isn’t a surprise, but I’d swear the weird character factor is turned up a little higher this time.

What otherwise sets the game apart though, and this is the big twist, is some good old casual tactical strategy. Trust me, putting those words together wasn’t on my bingo card for this year, yet here we are. What’s good about this is that the stakes are generally pretty low, as you’re just competing with your friends or people around town and can just keep trying until you work out the means to win. That said, there’s no getting around the fact that you’ll need to have a strategic mind for this regardless, and to get the best results you’ll need to be willing to experiment a little bit to come up with solid tactics, both for getting your frogs advancing as quickly as possible, as well as for how best to play a little defense. 

Of course, that all makes scoring the game a challenge, since this sort of play feels like a stretch for your average cozy gamer, but the game’s weirdness also seems to be at odds with strategy fans. Regardless, it’s refreshingly different, and at least approachable, so it may well be able to convert a few people in one direction or the other by its example.