Reverse Collapse Codename Bakery

I finished… what do people call the game actually? Reverse Collapse: Codename Bakery is the full title, but I’ll probably just call it Codename Bakery.

This game is an SRPG but with mechanics that I think made it really fresh. One of the biggest changes being that the player units are expected to attack multiple times per turn while enemy units (outside bosses) only attack once. Coming from other SRPGs where it feels like for the most part units usually get a move action and an attack action. Player units have traits/skills that make them feel unique (along with obviously being different characters) though some may have similar classes. Another good SRPG that does this well with all units feeling very distinct is Triangle Strategy.

But one thing that I think really sets this apart from other SRPGs is the really, REALLY, limited cast of playable characters. Often times in maps you only have access to 2-4 units at a time, but enemies have an overwhelming numerical advantage. This balances nicely with you having multiple attacks and items whereas enemies only had one. I think this clever game design and it plays in well with playing a squad of elite agents. It really feels like you’re playing extremely well trained agents fighting against common grunts/soldiers that progressively get stronger and stronger.

The other cool thing is the unique skills each character has. They have their roles and the skills help define and guide them into that role. Also, some of the skills feel really satisfying to use (even if some of the other ones don’t). Another thing that I think the game does well is REALLY encourage using items. I’m usually one of the stingiest people but I found myself on challenge difficulty being forced to use my items haha.

Another great thing is the story and scenario. Given the nature of the story, they do a good job with preventing aspects from feeling too repetitive and the character dynamics are fun so I enjoyed reading the new story bits. I think the confidential files could be weaved a little better into the main story, I’m not a fan of the giant text blob in the middle of a battle/map.

I also have no real knowledge of Girls frontline, so I’m not sure how much of the story/lore is connected to it (other than the characters that show up), so maybe that affected my understanding of the world. All I really know is, I want to see more of these characters! I love slice of life, give me more of it with them! They should be happy!

Now despite all my praise, I still think this game has a few faults, one major one in particular. Stealth in this game is… not great. In fact, if you had told me a SRPG had stealth, I would be surprised. Though upon thinking about it, I did play XCOM which has “stealth” missions at times. But in this game, I think a lot of maps are very frustrating when stealthing.

One of the causes of this is the fog of war. You are given tools to deal with this, like scanners that reveal aspects in the fog of war, but they only reach so far. Plus, there are some maps where after you pass a certain point, units can spawn! This can literally lead you to fail if you click too far and/or had something setup that an enemy unit walks by and detects.

This leads to stealth being more like a frustrating trial and error puzzle to solve. This combined with some maps having bonus objectives that are timed make it increasingly frustrating to deal with. I know, I know, you don’t HAVE to do the bonus objectives, unfortunately for me if I see them I feel compelled to. Even ignoring the time limit issue, there are some maps that require you to be very, very, VERY, careful with how you approach them because of the way patrols work and how enemies can patrol from in fog of war to out of them.

A more minor complaint is that I think there are instances of TL/localization that were either missed or not proofread, but that’s not that big of an issue in the grand scheme of things. Overall I think the writing was good in English.

I am happy that I played the game. It was a really fun and enjoyable ride and I hope that the developers continue to make more games like this (and not gachas)!