Beard Blade
Review

Beard Blade (2021) is a running and jumping game where you use your beard to climb, swing, glide and defeat enemies. It sounds like a silly concept, but along with the day-night cycle that completely changes levels, introduces fresh mechanics into this saturated genre. Combined with its unique quest to reclaim your lost livestock and it's an unusual game that stands out from other platformers.

You play Branson, a farmer who, after discovering his flock has been stolen, stows away on the thieves ship, only to find himself on a desert island brimming with rare treasures and secrets. You embark on a quest to reclaim your herd, deal justice to the smugglers, and return home.

You start out relatively weak and need to jump over chasms and dodge obstacles. At this point, you can't defeat enemies, so you need to carefully avoid them. As you progress you earn upgrades like beard-punching enemies, a beard parachute, and even use it to climb ladders and ropes using huge beard-hands.

Along with this unusual locomotion, you revisit levels at different times of day and night to discover them completely changed by the time of day. This means each level contains many secrets and reasons to replay.

It's a fun challenge that blends retro platforming games with modern game mechanics in a way that provides a fresh experience for players of all ages, be they new to platformers or experienced gamers.

Our examiner, Ben Kendall, first checked Beard Blade 2 years ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated 23 months ago.