Born of Bread is an RPG that was developed by WildArts Studio Inc. and released on 5th of December 2023.
This is the story of a hero made of bread (yes, you heard us) named Loaf, who will start an adventure to save the world from Jester and his crew, and he’ll need some help to do it.
Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Jester's father never really cared for him, and only ever saw him as a stain on the Ember Empire.
- Adopt the Food: Originally the dough that Papa Baker made was supposed to be a meal for the queen, but thanks to a spell from a spell book, the dough came out of the oven as a thinking, living, breathing person of which Papa Baker became a father to.
- And the Adventure Continues: The game ends with aliens coming out of nowhere to invade the planet, with Loaf and a newly-reformed Ember readying themselves to protect their how.
- Anthropomorphic Food: Loaf is basically a slab of dough that came to life, and became the son of Papa Baker. But this not only applies to Loaf, as there are others who are kinda like him, like Early Girl who is an anthropomorphic tomato.
- Bare-Fisted Monk: Yagi is this as he has trained in the ways of Kung fu.
- Broken Bridge: Played for Laughs when a bridge breaks behind a tour bus the party is chasing.Yagi: The bridge!Loaf: That felt intentional...
- Character Development: All Loaf's friends go through their own problems:
- Lint, during his quest to be reunited with his family, learns to find confidence in himself and his skills as a writer.
- Yagi, who had been fierce rivals with Kakoi, learns to be more mature and less impulsive and work with Kakoi to make their own dojo.
- Chloe, who never really taken seriously by her own parents, proves her potential to her family.
- Cyclops: Alfie, one of Jester's friends, has one red eye.
- Dismantled MacGuffin: Long ago, a goddess split the Sunstone into five pieces fearing that it would fall into the wrong hands. One she gave to the people, one she hid in the Forest of Roots, one she hid on top of Mount Lamasery, one she hid in the Frosty Flats, and the last one she hid in the belly of a whale.
- Elemental Powers: The elemental system includes Blaze, Snow, Leaf, Ash, Tasty, Mind, Mech, Ember, and Normal
- Enlightenment Superpowers: Not only is Yagi a master in kung fu, but he is also a great meditator, being able to materialize an Ethereal Lotus by meditating.
- Five Temperament Ensemble: Loaf is Sanguine, Lint is Phlegmatic, Yagi is Choleric, Chloe is Melancholic, and Dub is Eclectic.
- Foil:
- Loaf and Jester are this to each other. While both care about their friends and both are severly devoted to their fathers, Loaf has Papa Baker as a loving father; Jester's, on the other hand, was a jerk who never cared for anyone but himself, and he never intended for his son to survive the spell to revive the Ember Kingdom.
- Yagi and Klein. While both are the Blood Knight of their teams, Yagi is an honorable fighter, if a little touchy, while Klein prefers to just punch them.
- Great Detective: Chloe is great at solving mysteries, just ask anyone.
- Heel–Face Turn: After learning of what would happen if they brought back the Ember Kingdom, Alfie realizes that Jester’s plan could destroy the entire world, and this causes her to side with Loaf and the others to stop him. Some time later, Sid, Io, and Klein also join in to stop Jester, and eventually even Jester realizes the error of his ways.
- Heroic Mime: Loaf is the protagonist of the game and isn’t much of a speaker.
- Jerkass: Number One. She spends the game hunting down and trying to kill Jester and his friends, constantly berates Loaf's party, and forcibly holds Royal Town's heroes' guild to her own standards. She ends up falling out of grace with the public when Dub provides video evidence of her assaulting noncombatants and other heroes. During the ending sequence, the other heroes of the guild note how peaceful everything is now that she's gone.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While Jester may not look like it, he really cares about his friends, especially Alfie.
- Justified Save Point: Saving is done by chronicling your journey, and is performed by a Saver. The party's Saver Dub does it by laptop, unlike the rest of the guild.
- Lions and Tigers and Humans... Oh, My!: This world is not only a place for humans, but also anthropomorphic animals (like badgers, llamas, goats, etc.).
- The Lost Woods: The Forest of Roots is where you’ll meet Lint, it’s a big forest where the roots are more ancient than the trees.
- Monster Compendium: The journal consists of a section that has info on the enemies you encounter.
- No Sense of Direction: Lint is a good raccoon and all, but when it comes to directions...well, let’s just say you might need a map.
- One-Eyed Bats: Eyelashes are bat-like creatures with one eye, that make their home in the Forest of Roots.
- People Jars: Before the explosion wiped out the whole Ember Empire, Jester and his friends were put in a stasis pod. They wouldn’t be released till it was opened up by three curious professors.
- Plot Tunnel: Once they embark on a ship for the final Sunstone shard, the party is trapped inside the Primordial Whale until the endgame. Subverted for Coldstock Manor; despite its curse being intended to cause this, the player can still leave at their leisure.
- Point of No Return: Interacting with the airship engine locks the player in the final dungeon. There are no save points afterwards, but defeating the final boss marks a seal on your save file as proof of your victory.
- Pungeon Master: While Loaf doesn’t say much, he can sometimes say an empathetic or snarky pun.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The team to save the world consists of Loaf, a child made of bread determined to help his father; Lint, a nervous yet literary-skilled raccoon; Yagi, a headstrong goat who knows kung fu; Chloe, a Deadpan Snarker but Great Detective of a Snowfling; and Dub, a hard working yet clumsy dragon who, while not fighting directly, acts as a streamer who broadcasts and saves your progress. Eventually, Alfie, one of Jester's cronies and his closest friend who decides that she can't let him go through with his evil plans, joins Loaf and the others to stop him as well.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Yagi and Kakoi are this. Yagi is the hotheaded and impulsive red to Kakoi's calm and wise blue.
- Sacrificial Revival Spell: The spell to revive the lost civilization of Jester's people comes at a price—his own life. His father rewrote the book, as he never intended for his own son to survive.
- Skill Scores and Perks: The guardian of the shrine needs Loaf's help to get her children (who have turned into salamanders) back. She only accepts them in pairs, but once you have them, she’ll return the favor by giving him skill points. They are used to unlock an attack for his friends.
- Slippy-Slidey Ice World: The Frosty Flats is an icy tundra home to people called snowflings.
- Squashed Flat: Due to being made of dough, Loaf can't be injured by a hydraulic press. If anything, it can flatten him, so he can waddle through crevices, and glide over short distances.
- Swallowed Whole: When Jester tried to summon one of the Sunstone shards up, he also summoned a giant whale which ate the ship and everyone on it.
- Sweet Baker: Papa Baker is the sweetest, and kindest chef you’ll ever meet and was more than happy to to adopt his own creation, Loaf, as his son.
- Tail Slap: Lint's last name isn’t Longtail for nothing, as he can use his tail for attacking enemies.
- The Shangri-La: Mount Lamasery is home not only to the llamas, but it’s also home to the monks who hold a tournament every year.
- The Three Trials: Before anyone fights in the arena, first they have to pass three trials that represent a different virtue, Sunny's challenge tests your agility, Zuzu's challenge tests your wit, and Shale's challenge tests your observation.
- Two Girls to a Team: Alfie joins Loaf's team late into the game, making so the Chloe is no longer the only female in the group.
- Womb Level: The latter half of chapter 4 takes place inside the Primordial Whale, an oddly biomechanical example.
