Long week. I don’t think it has ever been this long before. It weighs so much, and I wanted to play a game that transported me away from the stress of everyday life, so I found this week’s game. A game packed with heart, humor, a surprisingly good soundtrack, and an interesting twist on the traditional Checkers that involves frogs.

This week is Bonnie Bear Saves Frogtime!

Bonnie Bear Saves Frogtime is a comedic, turn-based, strategy, RPG? (sounds right) from Bonte Avond and Offbrand Games. The game was released on Steam on March 16th and retails for $17.

I want to give a huge shout-out to the developer and the publisher for the key. It means the absolute most!

Bonnie has had a rough year and has taken refuge in her treehouse for a concerning amount of time, and her friends have finally been able to get her out and celebrate her “bearday.” Lo and behold, Bonnie’s friend gifts her a toadbag so they can all play “Frogtime” together, and a mysterious shell that emits magical energy. Curiosity gets the best of Ann (Ahn), Bonnie’s best friend, and he tampers with the relic and gets sucked into the shell.

Then it is time for Bonnie and her remaining friends to go on a globetrotting adventure to find some magical shells, make friends, battle with frogs, and stop the big bad guy from doing his thing. The writing knows exactly what it wants to be. It is cheeky, funny, and cringeworthy at times, but Bonnie Bear Saves Frogtime does not depart from its original, serious message of self-love and mental health. All of these important story beats are wrapped in incredibly goofy moments and fantastic musical numbers.

Characters in Bonnie Bear Saves Frogtime are mild at times, and other times border on completely crazy. Hoot, the little tree man, reminds me a lot of Woodman from Hilda, as he is sometimes crass, but loves Bonnie. The big-headed jester, Jan-Klassen, is loving but clutzy and fascinated by tiny bugs. Later on, you will meet a group of vampires that meet for a bi-annual sleigh race and an armless woman who really, really likes pumpkin pie. Each character that you meet has some sort of struggle going on, and it is nice to see a delicate handling of those issues that usually resolve in a positive manner.

The story and the characters are endearing and funny, and I have yet to meet a character that I did not like. There are so many characters to talk to, all different and all super fun to be around. Never a dull moment.

Saving your best friend and ultimately the world requires talking to a bunch of people, doing fetch quests, and such that require a game of “frogtime.” Frogtime can be boiled down to a game of checkers with special abilities. A 3×7 grid is laid out, and three frogs can be chosen out of the toadbag to play. Frogs usually can just hop over other frogs when close, and as Bonnie Bears Saves Frogtime progresses, the frog’s abilities become more complex and interesting.

Frogs start with the basic ability to hop over another frog, then there are frogs that gain more damage the more they jump in one go, a frog with a rocket on its back that deals damage whenever it double jumps, a wizard frog that deals damage when it eats flies, a lord frog that pumps the team +1 damage, a frog that uses its tongue to push opposing frogs back and a frog that runs extra spaces when you score. I personally thought the game was done giving me frogs at the end of chapter 3, but they kept coming, and I was glad to mix and match my team to suit my playstyle.

Playing Frogtime is an enjoyable experience thanks to its checkers-inspired simplicity mixed with the complexity of the frogs. The enemy A.I really just want to get to the end, and that works because it opens up some pretty spectacular plays. There was a moment when I was down a significant number of points, and I scored with a frog that spawns flies when scored (4 damage). That triggered the frog that runs 4 spaces (3 damage), which scored. I then moved my legendary wizard frog, ate 5 flies to deal an additional 3 damage, and the game ended after I dealt a total of 10 damage.

Win and receive a boost to self-confidence and some sweet currency to buy more frog booster packs, or lose and just start over without much punishment.

Frogtime is the definitive way to settle arrangements in public. Need a boat? Frogtime. Need a Ticket? Frogtime. Need to talk to the FrogGod? Frogtime.

I really like the way that Bonnie Bear Saves Frogtime! looks. The game is super colorful, and mixed with the absurd character designs, really makes the art direction pop. I thought a lot about the look of Rik Spek, and I still am not sure what he is, just that he is really pink with stylish shorts. I love the frogs’ goofiness. The wizard frog is hard to look at, more because it looks like a necromancer with dead eyes, while some frogs, like the ninja frog and lanky ones, are adorable to look at.

I’m like 90% positive that there is exactly one person doing most of the voice-over in Bonnie Bear Saves Frogtime!, which is fine because it’s goofy enough to fit the look of the character being voiced. The shopkeeper shark scared the absolute hell out of me, thinking that he was not going to scream at me the first time I interacted with him. Fully voiced characters aside, I think that the musical numbers are some of my favorite in any game. The music is expertly written, and the vocals are spot on. I was always getting into Bonnie playing along with the song because the songs were just so good.

Bonnie Bear Saves Frogtime is a well-crafted video game. Bonte Avond knows what kind of games they want to make, and they are really good at making them. After doing as much as I could, it took around 10 hours to roll credits. I enjoyed the story, the characters, the music, and most importantly, the Frogtime. I don’t think I have ever been as hyped as when I jumped ahead in a game of Frogtime. I was on my feet yelling and looking for my wife to give her a high-five. I laughed a lot, and I appreciate the developers for taking a deep dive into such a touchy subject as games should, and it turned out to be a really enjoyable ride.

9/10