LumbearJack Preview: The Bear Necessities (An Axe)
LumbearJack was one of those random downloads during Steam Next Fest. When there’s a sea of titles that you’re familiar with, it’s natural to miss some belters unless they’re promoted or someone recommends it. In this title’s case, it was on looks alone.
In hindsight, I didn’t realise that so many of the games on offer would be family-friendly, so I was on the hunt for something suitable. Picking up a whiff of Donut County, this stood out and went into the download queue. I’m genuinely pleased to say that this was one of my favourites.
From FinalBoss Games and Armor Games Studio (ITTA and Jet Lancer), you play Jack, a grizzly living in the woods that would do anything for their community. Without any dialogue, it’s clear that he’s held with high regard as the animals come in fast and thick, seeking his help to get rid of the humans.
Like that Donut County comparison, the visuals here are charming, vibrant, but also very clear. Bright and natural = good, drab and manmade = bad. Diplomacy takes a backseat here as Jack arms himself with an axe and goes to town on them. Fortunately, this is all still very family-friendly as all you’re doing is ‘converting’ the machinery and its operators to a life of tranquillity.
There aren’t any moves to learn in LumbearJack as all he’ll do is attack these polluting machines, then once destroyed, the forest will return to normal. As for the people, he’ll give them a hearty slap around the chops, and they’ll change their tune – from cleaning the forests to admiring its beauty, everyone is happy.
After a while, the machine isn’t so easy to dispose of, so Jack will accumulate all the trash in the area and recycle it into… a bigger axe – even a chainsaw! These tools then allow him to hand back to the man by crushing structures and reclaiming Mother Nature for his forest friends.
Sure, you might be reaching for the bucket right now, but LumbearJack is a feel-good experience throughout, easy to pick up for young kids and their incredibly cool dads. Go check it out on Steam for yourself if the demo’s still up.