Who Stole My Beard?

This is a fun game. The game reminds me of some of the games I had on my old Amstrad 464 in the 80's, but with slightly better graphics and much better game play without the 64K memory restriction. Being a game of this bracket does mean the controls are a bit clunky but it sort of adds to the charm of the game. There are a couple of bugs that still need to be ironed out. It has frozen on me twice during my game play. Basically just a fun game that distracts you from the modern fast paced, multi function, high concentration games. I think the game may be a bit overpriced and would like to see it at maybe £5.99 instead of £7.19. I got it in a bundle so it worked out cheaper. Even with the freezing bug, I still recommend the game.

Who Stole My Beard? is a delightfully strange detective adventure that takes a ridiculous premise and develops it into a surprisingly substantial journey. Created and published by Cleardot Games, the game takes place in Beardsville, a community where possessing a beard is more than a fashion choice because local law requires every citizen to have one. The protagonist wakes one morning to discover that their beard has mysteriously vanished, forcing them and their loyal dog Leo to investigate the crime before the town's annual Beard Festival. What initially sounds like a single comedy gag quickly expands into a mystery involving suspicious residents, hidden information, community problems, conspiracies, and increasingly bizarre discoveries. Exploration is an important part of the experience. Beardsville contains numerous locations, including residential neighborhoods, a university, museum, park, city hall, and industrial districts. Traveling around town gives the adventure a pleasant sense of discovery, especially because seemingly ordinary locations can contain useful clues or characters connected to another objective. The retro pixel-art presentation complements this structure well. Rather than attempting visual spectacle, the game relies on distinctive artwork, colorful environments, humorous character designs, and original music to establish its personality. Its intentionally old-fashioned presentation also works naturally with the classic point-and-click adventures that inspired its design. The central investigation revolves around gathering information, solving problems, and obtaining new beards. Different beards can provide access to restricted locations and additional clues, making them meaningful progression tools rather than simple collectibles. This is one of the cleverest ways the game integrates its absurd theme into its mechanics. Exploring an area can reveal a puzzle or request, completing that task can open another opportunity, and the resulting reward may provide access to another part of the investigation. Progress therefore feels interconnected even when the player temporarily wanders away from the primary mystery. Puzzle variety helps prevent the investigation from becoming repetitive. Challenges include logic problems, riddles, code breaking, escape-room-style situations, and other forms of problem solving. The adventure also embraces deliberately mundane or bizarre activities, including making tomato sauce, catching butterflies, counting jelly beans, delivering coffee, and eventually dealing with much stranger subjects such as mysteries involving space and time. These diversions reinforce the game's playful personality. They can occasionally interrupt the urgency of solving the beard theft, but that relaxed pacing is also part of its charm. Interacting with Beardsville's population is equally important. The game features more than 200 unique bearded characters, and helping residents earns their trust and can unlock new investigative opportunities. This gives side quests a stronger purpose than simply providing additional content. An apparently insignificant favor can ultimately lead to valuable information, access to another location, or progress toward solving the case. The large cast also makes Beardsville feel suitably eccentric, with the beard obsession serving as a consistent comedic foundation without completely dominating every interaction. Leo is one of the adventure's most memorable elements. Instead of functioning merely as a mascot following the protagonist around, he acts as an investigative partner. Players can discuss evidence, suspects, and possible courses of action with him. His sardonic attitude and enthusiasm for dad jokes provide additional humor while giving the protagonist someone with whom to process developments in the case. This companionship makes the investigation more personable and contributes significantly to the game's wholesome atmosphere. The adventure also introduces an unusual puzzle-oriented battle system when dealing with the Beardsville Police. Rather than suddenly transforming into a traditional action game, confrontations combine cards, puzzles, and stealth concepts. It is an unconventional addition, but it fits the overall emphasis on thinking through situations instead of relying on reflexes. Together with exploration, conversations, quests, collectible beards, and environmental puzzles, these encounters give the experience more mechanical variety than its simple presentation might initially suggest. The writing confidently embraces absurdity. Coffee deliveries, facial-hair regulations, conspiracies, police encounters, jelly beans, household appliances, dad jokes, and even time travel somehow coexist within the same mystery. The humor will naturally depend on personal taste, particularly because the game enthusiastically favors wholesome silliness and deliberately corny jokes. Players expecting a serious detective story may find the tone too whimsical, but anyone comfortable with playful indie adventures is more likely to appreciate how consistently the game commits to its identity. There are some weaknesses associated with its ambitious structure. With numerous residents, favors, puzzles, clues, and locations interconnected with one another, determining exactly what should be done next can occasionally become less intuitive than intended. Some errands also feel more substantial than others, and the deliberately retro presentation means the overall experience lacks the polish and production values of larger adventure games. Yet these shortcomings are easier to accept when considering that the project was created by a single developer. The sheer amount of personality, puzzle variety, characters, locations, and interconnected content is impressive within that context. Ultimately, Who Stole My Beard? succeeds by transforming an intentionally absurd concept into a charming mystery with genuine substance behind the joke. Its strongest qualities are its imaginative setting, varied puzzles, quirky characters, exploration, unusual progression system, and the enjoyable partnership between the protagonist and Leo. Cleardot Games delivers an adventure that feels personal and handcrafted, particularly suited to players who enjoy classic point-and-click influences, relaxed investigation, pixel graphics, unconventional humor, and games that are comfortable being unapologetically weird. It may occasionally become confusing or overly distracted by side activities, but discovering the peculiar secrets of Beardsville remains entertaining enough to make the journey worthwhile. Rating: 8/10