Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery takes a 2013 indie tactical RPG and blows it up into a massive, lore-rich reimagining packed with deep grid-based combat and branching timelines.
While significant difficulty spikes and rigid stealth puzzles create real friction for some, the high production values, excellent soundtrack, and emotionally charged branching narrative make it a very strong tactical RPG for patient players, especially on Linux.
At a Glance
Release Date
March 22, 2024
Developer
Sunborn
Platforms
Genre
Tactical RPG, Puzzle
Rating
Teen
Price
$39.99
Proton
Proton Experimental
Completed on: Linux, Normal
Time: HLTB 78½ Hours (Main + Sides) | My Clear Time: 55hrs 14min
Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery Background
Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery serves as a complete reimagining of MICA Team’s very first projects. The story originally began as a visual novel called Girl of the Bakehouse in 2009. A few years later, in 2013, the team released Codename: Bakery Girl, which introduced the tactical RPG mechanics and laid the groundwork for what would eventually become the Girls’ Frontline universe.
While the 2013 original was a relatively small project with only 12 linear levels, this reimagining is a massive expansion. Sunborn announced the project in 2019 and spent five years overhauling everything. They expanded the script from roughly 30,000 words to over 300,000 and added the “Backtrack” system to allow for branching timelines. This growth was necessary to align the game’s lore with the much deeper world established in GFL1, GFL2, and Neural Cloud.
The development team for Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery includes:
- Yuzhong (Writer/Producer) Girls’ Frontline, Neural Cloud
- Shaonian (Director / Producer) Girls’ Frontline
- Yu-Chia Chang (Character Designer / Artist)
- G.K, Paul Ruskay (Composers)
- G.K: Monkey King: Hero is Back
- Paul Ruskay: Dispatch
Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery Experience
My experience with Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery started with the first two chapters before I took a break to cover other reviews. I have a long history with this world. I played a bit of the first Girls’ Frontline years ago, spent a year and a half in Neural Cloud, and have played Girls’ Frontline 2 since it came out. My background with tactical RPGs includes titles like X-COM, Unicorn Overlord, Fire Emblem, and Devil Survivor.
Watch for the clear stamps on your save file to track your progress toward the true ending.
Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery Impressions
Introduction
Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery follows Mendo, a scout for the Antarctic Union who finds himself the sole survivor of a botched extraction in the snowy Caucasus. Rescued by a girl named Jefuty, they must navigate hostile URNC forces while unraveling why she is being hunted. The game centers on high-stakes tactical combat where the environment is just as dangerous as the enemies.
Move between cover points early in the mission to avoid being caught in the open.
Gameplay & Mechanics
Position units carefully to find cover while staying within weapon range.
Grid-Based Combat
Positioning on a square grid is the foundation of every mission. Moving into cover or staying in the open determines your survival during the enemy turn.
Use the attack preview to check damage and accuracy before committing to a turn.
Action Point System
Every unit has a limited pool of action points to spend on movement and attacks. Balancing these points is the primary challenge of every turn. The attack preview helps you check damage and accuracy before committing.
Avoid ending your turn on thin ice tiles to prevent falling into impassable holes.
Terrain Elevation & Hazards
Controlling high ground improves accuracy and damage, but certain terrain types like thin ice and unstable wood can break after you pass over them. Every step on the Caucasus mountains carries real weight.
Organize your gear during the preparation phase to maximize your limited backpack capacity.
Tactical Inventory & Preparation
You have a limited backpack capacity and must craft consumables such as grenades, traps, and medkits before each mission. Organizing your gear in the preparation phase is just as important as the combat itself. Blueprints, parts, and accessories found on maps are used to upgrade weapons and craft additional supplies.
Spend keys on the gene enhancement tree to unlock important passive traits.
Gene Enhancement & Skills
Potential Keys earned from leveling are spent on a gene enhancement tree to unlock passive traits and active skills. You manually equip a limited number of active skills before each mission.
Build up your skill points to activate abilities like Declaration of Miracle.
Character & Ultimate Skills
Units build Skill Points (SP) by defeating enemies during a mission. Once enough SP is gathered, you can trigger powerful Ultimate Skills that provide massive stat boosts or unique tactical advantages but come with long cooldown periods.
Scour the map for weapon parts to keep your gear effective against harder enemies.
Weapon & Resource Upgrades
You collect blueprints, parts, and accessories throughout each map to upgrade weapons and craft essential field supplies like grenades and traps.
Study enemy profiles to learn attack priorities and keep your units safe.
Select enemy units to visualize their patrol paths and avoid detection during stealth maps.
Enemy Variety & Patrol Visualization
The game throws a wide range of threats at you, from standard soldiers to armored mechs, each requiring a specific approach. Selecting an enemy reveals their exact patrol paths, making it possible to plan around detection on stealth-focused maps.
Complete bonus objectives and finish quickly to maximize your mission rewards.
Collect every document to unlock the hidden context and the true ending.
Mission Ranking & Collectibles
Every stage grades your performance on turn count, unit survival, and objective completion. S-Ranks require a perfect understanding of the map’s tactical puzzle and grant the highest rewards. Hidden confidential files and lore fragments are scattered across maps. Collecting all of them is required for the true ending in Chapter 5.
Story & Writing
Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery is a tale of perseverance and pain. Yuzhong crafts a narrative that feels born from the same school as Gen Urobuchi or Ryukishi07. It offers just enough hope to mimic the steady climb of a rollercoaster, only to snatch it away with the intensity of a vertical drop.
The lore is rich and detailed, reflecting a writer who understands the ethics of ambition and the heavy cost of power. Love and loss drive the narrative. Jefuty is the true star, creating a compelling dynamic where the other characters remain wary of her, just as she remains wary of them. Watching the effects of war on Mendo, Jefuty, and Atena is gripping. Their perseverance in the face of overwhelming odds makes the story both gut-wrenching and memorable.
Art & Audio
The 2D art in Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery is evocative and fits the dark tone. I found the cinematic CGs helpful for visualizing the high stakes and the scientific ethics at the center of the narrative. These illustrations add a layer of polish that makes the more painful story beats land with greater impact.
Pay attention to these cinematic reveals to understand the scientific ethics behind the story.
Character designs are distinct and reflect the harsh wintry environment. Seeing the detailed art for the cast during dialogue helps humanize their struggle. This makes the friction of the gameplay feel like it has actual narrative weight. This level of visual quality stays consistent across the entire experience from the tactical grid to the major story milestones.
The audio design is where the game truly stands out. The interactive music system crossfades between different layers of a track based on whose turn it is. This keeps the pacing from feeling stagnant during the enemy’s move. Gunshots and explosions have a heavy impact that makes the tactical combat feel more visceral.
Standout tracks:
tacenda
A haunting vocal track that sets a melancholic tone for the rest of the experience.
Endorphin
A tense composition that plays during high-stakes encounters, building a sense of urgency.
Lyrisme
A beautiful and somber piece that highlights the quiet moments between the chaos of war.
Unique Features & Mechanics
Check the mini-map frequently to track patrolling units and find safe infiltration routes.
Use the environment to hide from searchlights and avoid entering enemy vision cones during infiltration.
Tactical Stealth Puzzles
Certain missions function as strict logic puzzles. One wrong step or miscalculated patrol manipulation can cause immediate mission failure. You must carefully navigate vision cones, searchlights, and enemy paths while using the environment to stay hidden. These sections are one of the game’s biggest sources of difficulty and often require frequent quick saves.
Use the backtrack system to revisit previous missions and secure the S-Ranks you missed.
Backtrack System
The Backtrack mechanic lets you jump between different points in the story. You can fix mistakes, collect missed items, or explore alternate choices that lead to different endings.
Clear chapter four and enter the secret code to experience the original mission designs.
2029R Mode
This mode recreates the 25 stages of the 2013 original game. You unlock it by clearing Chapter 4 and entering a secret code on the main menu for a classic experience with modern visuals.
Seiyuu Performances
Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery features an exceptional voice cast. Aya Suzaki delivers the emotional core as Jefuty with raw sincerity. Hiromu Mineta brings quiet vulnerability to Mendo, Shizuka Itō perfectly embodies the hardened Atena, Aoi Yuuki shines as the volatile Sugar, and Yui Ishikawa gives a haunting performance as the emotionally detached Lige.
- Aya Suzaki (Jefuty): Mako, (Kill la Kill), Rinka Kagurazaka (Senran Kagura), Kaede Kayano (Assassination Classroom)
- Hiromu Mineta (Mendo): Aramiys, (Shangri-La Frontier), Star / Alistar (Granblue)
- Shizuka Itō (Atena): Akeno Himejima, (High School DxD), Sailor Venus (Sailor Moon Crystal), Kafka (Honkai: Star Rail)
- Aoi Yuuki (Sugar): Madoka Kaname, (Madoka Magica), Yahna (Unicorn Overlord), Hibiki (Symphogear)
- Yui Ishikawa (Lige): 2B, (Nier), Halara Nightmare (Master Detective Archives), Violet Evergarden (Violet Evergarden)
Watch the character portraits during dialogue to catch the subtle changes in their expressions.
Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery Linux Performance
The technical state of the game is excellent. Running Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery on Linux (Nobara) through Proton Experimental was a stable experience. I did not encounter any bugs, glitches, or crashing from start to finish. Everything is well-optimized for PC, and the high-resolution character art remains crisp. Audio and video cutscenes trigger as intended without needing manual fixes or extra workarounds. I played this at 1080p with a 60FPS lock.
Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery Verdict
Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery grabbed my interest immediately. I was thrown into a hostile world with almost no context, learning alongside the inexperienced protagonist Mendo. The sync between story and gameplay mechanics made the experience deeply immersive.
The early stages had significant friction. My habits from Fire Emblem and X-COM actively worked against me. I quickly learned not to hoard items and to use every resource aggressively. The game plays best when you treat each map as a tactical puzzle. Quick saves, turn restarts, and the Backtrack system help, but some players may still find the rigid stealth sections and occasional blindsiding spawns frustrating.
If you enjoy solving tight puzzles and don’t mind restarting maps to perfect them, you’ll discover a gripping story about perseverance through pain. The art is beautiful, the soundtrack excellent, and MICA Team even included a polished version of the 2013 original as an unlock after Chapter 4.
I find Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery hard to recommend to everyone because friction tolerance varies so widely. Out of all my friends, I was the only one who finished both the Chapter 4 ending and the True Ending. For Girls’ Frontline fans, it’s especially worth playing. This is the furthest point in the series timeline and offers valuable context for the broader lore, particularly the antagonist William.
It is a commitment, but if you enjoy puzzle-like tactics, heavy story investment, and are willing to restart maps to perfect them, Reverse Collapse delivers one of the most rewarding experiences in recent tactical RPGs.
Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery TLDR
Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery (Linux)
Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery reimagines a tactical classic with a massive story expansion and deep grid-based combat. It provides a grueling experience for those who appreciate high-stakes strategy and rich lore.
While significant difficulty spikes and rigid stealth puzzles create friction, the high production quality and branching narrative make it a very strong tactical RPG for patient players.
Tested On
CPU: Ryzen 7 5900X | GPU: AMD RX 9070XT 16GB | RAM: 64GB DDR4
OS: Nobara Linux | Resolution: 1440p | Settings: High | Framerate: 60 (Locked)
References
Trailers
- GameSpot, Reverse Collapse: Code Name Bakery – Official Animated Opening Cinematic | 22 March 2024, GameSpot Trailers, Mar 22, 2024.
Live | Archive
Music
- tacenda – Rabbit J. Live | Archived
- Endorphin – G.K. Live | Archived
- Lyrisme – Vanguard Sound. Live | Archived
