Have you ever looked at a massive grizzly and thought, “I bet they’d be great at aerial acrobatics?” Neither had we, until Grapple Bear swung into our lives. You play as a determined mama bear on a desperate mission to find her lost cub, and her only tool to navigate the treacherous wilds is—you guessed it—a trusty grappling hook. If you’ve ever used Fortnite’s Grapple Gun, you’ll immediately understand how Grapple Bear feels. Fire the hook, swing through the air, build momentum, and before long you’ll feel less like a grizzly and more like Spider-Bear.
This bear can’t walk, but she sure can swing in all directions, gain momentum, and avoid—or dive right into—obstacles. The goal is to traverse over 40 meticulously handcrafted levels, using your grapple hook to reach and capture a flagpole. But it’s not just peaceful streams and trees; our rescue mission dragged us through crumbling ancient ruins, scorching lava caverns, wind-swept cliffs, and even reality-bending wormholes.
For an added challenge, during the brief time that the flag is being pulled down at the end of a stage, you can try and collect as many parchments around the map as you can. Only one parchment is visible at a time, and only when you collect the first will the second one appear. We can’t stress enough how good your reflexes need to be here. The time window is insanely limited, and you need to know how to use the environment around you to properly pull yourself towards the parchments. On a lucky day, we managed to snag one—maybe two at the max. We never did find out if there are more than three.
It’s one of those games that has simple mechanics that are brutal to master. It starts easy because it wants you to learn the ropes. It makes you feel comfortable, and you start thinking, Yeah, I could do this. Precision-focused, highly challenging games are my forte after all. We tested the game before it got released, and seeing ourselves in fourth or fifth place on the global leaderboards did wonders for our ego. But the competition doesn’t stop at the main campaign; the developers throw a brand-new, procedurally generated challenge level at you every single week. No two weeks are the same, meaning, if you decide to make Grapple Bear your thing this summer, you’re constantly optimizing your swings and fighting the community for ultimate bragging rights.
But then, more and more hazards started appearing, and increasingly complex maneuvering was required. Every failed attempt to reach the flag felt like a slap, and frustration quickly seeped in. This was the good kind of frustration, though—the kind that pushed us to try again and not give up. It played like a dream on Steam Deck, making it dangerously easy to lose another hour chasing cleaner runs, all while listening to the in-game sounds of crickets, dogs, and rustling wind.
The game knows you will fail often, so it gets you right back into the action the second you get poked by a thorn or caress the surface of a river. The transition from a failed state to another go is instant. Games like these are definitely not our thing, and yet, we got stuck playing it for many an afternoon. Mostly because, as simple as the game is, we truly enjoyed the slick movements and the gorgeous aesthetics. Every single visual in the game began as a hand-drawn illustration on paper before being digitally colored. It is clearly made with a massive amount of love and attention to detail.
We came for the novelty of watching a grappling-hook-wielding bear fly through the forest. We stayed because every missed swing convinced us the next attempt would finally be the perfect one.
9/10 – Cheap, crazy good fun!
Developer: HaviEgyJatek, ProkischDaniel
Publisher: HaviEgyJatek
Platforms: PC
Release Date: 17 Jul, 2026
Genre: Precision Platformer, Cartoon
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