Bear With Me: Episode 1 (PC) Review

Bear With Me is just at the start of its ride, with this being Episode 1 in what is a five-part thriller. Players take control of a young girl named Amber trying to find out what has happened to her brother, Flint. It all starts off in her bedroom, with her living in what seems to be an imaginary world where her toys - including her sidekick, the gumshoe-esque Ted E. Bear - come to life, and various areas of her house are like new cities, filled to the brim with action, and ready to be explored. It all sounds a bit too cutesy, at first, and a bit like Toy Story, but this is no light-hearted child's adventure, no siree. It is dark and twisted, with a black-and-white theme going on, and random horror-styled scenes cropping up here and there, mixed in with an old school Private Investigator vibe, and plenty of sarcastic, tongue-in-cheek humour abound...oh, and the chance to play as the bad guy later on! Sound great, right?

The premise is indeed sublime, and the atmosphere is perfect, with a great array of vocal talent bringing the numerous characters to life. Apart from one, as sadly something feels off about Ted E. Bear's voice, with the deep, heavy tone being suited for the role - no question about it - but the delivery coming across as 'clipped' at times, like the lines were done in small takes and then pieced together afterwards. Something sounds not quite right whenever he delivers short lines, like too much emphasis is being put on certain words, or after-effect used to lower the tone. Anyway, on the whole, the presentation really cannot be faulted, as the settings, soundtrack, and majority of the voices are top notch (including other characters done by the same voice actor as Ted E. Bear, so it has to be something to do with the audio editing), which all play a massive role in keeping intrigue levels high.

All the ingredients are there for a mind-blowing experience. Some of the ingredients are a touch undercooked, though. Bear With Me has real potential, but, as it stands, it does need more depth to its gameplay and some more thought given to its puzzles, which fall foul of that old point-and-click adventure flaw of only allowing one locked-in solution, despite other objects in the inventory being just as good at…hooking a key from a high place, for instance, or clearing away cobwebs. Saying that, on the flipside there will be times where things like using a nail to open something that really shouldn't be opened by a nail occur, with an attempt to laugh it off in the script's dialogue at that particular time. It is all slightly inconsistent, and sometimes even illogical, which is a killer for this genre. There is one moment of that old cheap trick of having to click on the same object twice to catch gamers out. For something so lovingly pieced together, it just needed the extra bit of care and attention on the brainteasers side.

There is so much to like about this first episode that it is indeed disappointing when it all ends after about an hour, and there is no feeling of satisfaction as the puzzles were either too simple, or too random to really have got the brain working hard, resulting in simply trying out all objects in different scenarios until the solution is found. Back on the positives, however - since this is not all doom and gloom - it seems there is the possibility that user actions may have a knock-on effect in future episodes, so how that pans out will be interesting to witness. This is certainly fun as a starter for ten. The second episode cannot come soon enough, and will hopefully build upon this solid foundation.