Bread and Fred, the mountain-climbing co-op game from developer SandCastles Studio, is swinging its way onto the Nintendo Switch very, very soon. As confirmed during the Nintendo Indie World Japan showcase, Bread and Fred will arrive on the handheld console on May 23rd, 2024 after selling over half a million copies on other platforms.
Scott Miller, CCO and founder of publisher Apogee Entertainment, says that “Bread and Fred was created as a collaborative experience, and the Nintendo Switch is the perfect complement for friends and family to play together at home and on the go.” Cooperation is absolutely the aim in this intrepid title, where you play as two penguin besties trying their damnedest to climb a snowy mountain, and so the debut on Switch makes perfect sense.
There are plenty of other exciting additions to Nintendo’s handheld masterpiece in the Nintendo Indie World showcase, so if you’re after even more multiplayer games to add to your Switch library, check out our guides on how to play Fae Farm multiplayer, or Minecraft Legends multiplayer.
In Bread and Fred you’ll be able to grab a pair of joy-cons and leap across nerve-wrackingly high platforms, slip-and-slide your way across treacherous ice patches and slopes, and face-plant at your last checkpoint flag more times than you’d care to admit.
If you get too frustrated with the base game mode, Bread and Fred offers reprieve in its speedrun mode, where you’ll need to gun it to clear record-setting runs in tandem with your penguin pal. Speedrun also introduces Pol the Polar Bear, a brand new addition to the mountaintop crew. Or if you want to tackle the climb on a solo mission, you can enlist Jeff the Rock to sling and jump your way to the top.
As you test your patience with the duo, you’ll be able to listen to some awesome jams across a number of genres thanks to the “Super Duper Ultra Redux” mixtape, featuring over an hour of tracks from talented gaming composers like Grant Kirkhope (GoldenEye, Donkey Kong 64) and Tim Stoney (Assassin’s Creed: Origins). Yes, it might be the 50th time you’ve fallen flat on your face, but at least the music’s good.
We’re super excited to strap on the ropes and get a good grip on our ice picks, but until Bread and Fred arrives on Switch on May 23rd, check out the best co-op games to play in the meantime, and if you want something a little calmer, check out our picks for the best relaxing games.