Reverse Collapse: Codename Bakery has a lot of ups and downs but ultimately an unforgettable experience. If you see in the Q&A the devs say it has about 100 hours of content and think “ah probably multiple playthroughs or something” no, the campaign is THAT long, and it’s one hell of a ride.


Diving into the history of how this game came into being made me appreciate it even more. It all started with a doujin kinetic visual novel made by 3 people in 2008 called Girl of the Bakehouse, which eventually became a niche TRPG title called Codename: Bakery Girl in 2013. Then finally, 11 years later we get this full-fledged "extended" remake (I put extended in quotes because the game is like 10 times longer). This game just radiates the "passion project made in university now turned into a full game" energy and I ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ love that kind of stuff.


Right off the bat I'd say the gameplay is not for everyone. Not just because it is a TRPG, which is already a genre that is notorious for gatekeeping lots of people, but rather because it is a very hardcore one that has a very peculiar design philosophy. If games like XCOM and Tactics Ogre feel like you are playing chess with an AI, this game feels more like solving chess board puzzles deliberately laid out for you. That means if you expect customizing your army and have a lot of freedom you would be disappointed, but this by no means undermine the game's quality as a tactical RPG. There's still quite a lot of flexibility to be had with character skills and item management, especially the latter. This game has an unique emphasis on using item, and there are a whole lot of items at your disposal, which is where the fun comes from.


There are over 60 stages in total spanning over 5 chapters and the game more than makes up for the lack of versatility with its incredible variety in level design. Each map feels nothing like another, and I don’t just mean as in them setting up unique situations via enemy placement, I mean mechanically you always have something new every time you step into a new stage, up until the very end. The levels are quite simple at first but they get insanely complex very fast with how many things you have to manage at the same time, with the S-rank requirements requiring even further calculations and it just feels great as a challenge. On its highest difficulty, the levels always feel nigh impossible at first until I finally crack it and it is so fair, I always have so many items unused at the end of a battle where I thought I would have to squeeze the last bit out of my inventory to survive.


If you have decided to gaze upon the reviews of this game, it is almost guaranteed you would see complaints about the campaign’s various stealth missions and… yeah the complaints are right. These stages are basically linear puzzles where you have to figure out the right path to take in order to reach your goal and theoretically it serves as deviations to break away from the normal combat loop to rack your brains a bit but the they messed up the execution. What kills it is the obsession with fog-of-war that obscures vital information required for you to plan your next moves correctly, along with the tendency to make an early mistake reveal its cost way later in the stage, forcing frustrating resets. There were even 2 stealth missions near the end of the game that I straight up just watched a guide to beat because they make you do so many things while providing so little visual information that planning ahead is impossible (yes I’m talking about you Midnight Stratagem!).

As of now the developers have rolled out a patch that add loud method to various stealth missions in the game but I would honestly rather have a button to skip them entirely. It makes me sad that in such a great overall package there is still a bit part of it that I just want gone.


I did not expect much going into this game plot-wise because I am nothing but an outlier regarding this whole Girls’ Frontline expansive universe, but it got me absolutely hooked.

The plot revolves around Operation Bakery, a campaign to retrieve a valuable test subject who’s also the protagonist of the game, a silver-haired girl named Jefuty. At least that was what it was at the beginning. It soon turned into a tragic time loop story where she has to find a way to save the world and it gets extremely engaging. The constant tension is suffocating at times, you genuinely feel her struggle as you play the game and overcome these daunting challenges. Not just her but also all the other characters who will all grow on you as you fight through multiple timelines with them.

And all this is translated super well into the gameplay. Timeline shifts would make changes to previously done levels that simultaneous create new potentials and new dilemmas. Everytime you feel like things are going well, something messes up your plan and you have to improvise to overcome it, just like Jefuty and her constant struggle to outwit fate’s cruel twists and turns.


This is where the game has to compromise for the sake of its richness in gameplay and story content. The entire game takes place in snowy mountains so expect to see the same textures over and over. A lot of the game is unvoiced, particularly most things said during battles. Many parts you would be reading descriptions of what is happening rather than actual seeing it. But for me it is all sufficient because what is there is still very beautiful. Animations on the chibi are done with care (you can even see bread pieces actually leaving the bread as the characters eat them… revolutionary!!) and the CGs as well as character arts are all fantastic.


There is absolutely nothing like Reverse Collapse: Codename Bakery. Whatever expectation you have about this game in your head when you see its promotional material would likely be shattered when you actually play it. Both in gameplay and story, despite its obvious flaws, it is admirably ambitious and breaks all types of boundary for a game of its scale.