Bear and Breakfast

Bear and Breakfast is a laid-back management adventure game with an unusual protagonist. You play Hank, a well-meaning bear who, alongside his friends, discovers an abandoned shack in the woods and decides — with the kind of teenage ingenuity that animals shouldn't really have — to turn it into a money-making bed and breakfast scheme for unsuspecting human tourists. The premise is the entire opening joke, and the game spends the rest of its runtime making it land emotionally as well as comedically.

The management layer covers what you'd expect from the genre with some bear-specific quirks. You build and personalize your inn with dozens of guest rooms, bathrooms, parlors and entertainment spaces, each customizable down to furniture and fixtures. Guests need to be kept happy to maintain your reputation, attract new customers and grow the business. Quests and story lines from the surrounding forest community unlock new items and perks. The economy works exactly as a real B&B would — slowly, with attention to detail — except that the proprietor is large, furry, and frequently confused by human expectations.

Underneath the business sim runs a more mysterious story. As the inn expands, the forest itself starts to reveal layers Hank wasn't expecting. The cast includes a mix of helpful folks and stranger figures, many of whom have things to say about your endeavors if you take time to listen. Following the broader plot leads further into the woods and deeper into questions about what's actually happening here — and whether you're bear enough to find the answers.