Backbone review
I can’t remember where or when I first heard about Backbone. But at some point in the past 12 months, I saw a trailer for a pixel art detective game starring anthropomorphic characters. I mean, the trailer actually calls Backbone a “dystopian noir adventure.” And that all sounded right up my alley.
(Actually, I recommend listening to this song from the soundtrack while you read. Trust me.)
Fast forward to the game’s release. The developer launched the prologue as a free demo, and the game got a brief spotlight at E3 2021. More importantly, Backbone launched right into Xbox Game Pass for PC, giving people (myself included) the chance to jump right in, free of charge. So between the pre-release buzz, easy access, and a recent demo, Backbone climbed straight to the top of my personal backlog.
Tonic for the soul
Based out of Vancouver, the development team at EggNut Games knew exactly what they wanted to make. Backbone takes place in a world where anthropomorphic beasts seem to be Earth’s only residents, and they inhabit a walled and guarded Vancouver Island. While I’ve never been to Vancouver, there’s a clear love for the city; it shows in Backbone, with regular nods to popular landmarks and local hotspots.
More importantly, the city feels alive. If you’ve ever been to a major city, you may have experienced that for yourself — a hum of activity that never goes away, day or night. Each city has its own personality; I’m not sure if Backbone captured the “soul” of Vancouver or not, but it certainly felt that way to me.
I recently replayed INSIDE after talking about game animation with my sister. I remember liking the game a lot...but also feeling disappointed by the ending. However, going back to it now reminded me of one thing: INSIDE set the benchmark for environmental storytelling in video games.
Backbone also finds the perfect balance in its storytelling. The central story is all about an investigation, with private detective Howard Lotor taking on just another run-of-the-mill job. But looking into a cheating husband quickly spirals into some dark places, dragging Howard down with it. And that’s where Backbone really starts to shine.
Not your usual night
Backbone’s narrative kept me on edge basically from the first 5 minutes to the end. And even when I wasn’t playing the game, I was constantly thinking about the moving parts of the wider conspiracy. Backbone brought that familiar The Wolf Among Us magic, where every chapter delivers multiple twists. Even if I didn’t like certain plot points, I was still propelled forward by the events as they unfolded.
But I think the environmental storytelling is even stronger than the playable content. There’s no opening scroll, no info-dumpy exposition, and no random characters who act like tour guides. In fact, Backbone never explains why the world is inhabited by bipedal mammals, or if humans ever even existed. It doesn’t say why these “people” have pet birds and lizards. And I couldn’t tell you why some species fell into lower castes, or why Apes are seen as near-godlike beings.
Now, the game talks about all of those things. A lot, actually. But it was always a natural progression, either something I noticed in a city street or uncovered in a conversation. Backbone overflows with worldbuilding and lore, but it presents those pieces with all the care of a jeweler handling priceless gems.
And in that sense, I’d argue Backbone used anthropomorphism to explore things like racism and classism in a way that Disney wished Zootopia would achieve. (How’s that for a spicy take?)
Rainy streets
I would be doing a disservice to Backbone if I don’t talk about its style. The game absolutely nails its noir vibe with stark lighting/shadows, gloomy jazz music, and dangerous characters. That overall presentation is what brought me to the game in the first place, and it’s how I sold Backbone to a handful of friends and colleagues.
Sure, you could chalk it up as “another pixel game.” And while you would technically be right, you’d also sound a little snobbish. EggNut Games designed Backbone to look old, but they built it in Unreal Engine 4. That means they can take advantage of lighting, reflections, and smoke effects in a way that certainly looks modern. (Raindrops and car tire splashes can even smudge the screen!)
So yes, it’s another pixel game. But the attention to detail makes Backbone look as artistic and handcrafted as any modern “hyper-realistic” game out there...it just has more style than them.
Who poisoned the soup
For the most part, Backbone lives somewhere between a point-and-click adventure game and a 2D puzzle-platformer. (Except both puzzles and platforming sequences are few and far between.) I spent the majority of my time in conversations with people, hearing their stories while also furthering my own investigation. It’s not action-packed gameplay, but it sure was riveting.
However, I did leave Backbone with three specific complaints:
A puzzle in Act I was either poorly explained or overly designed. It stumped me for a while. And because there are no other puzzles like it, I’m thinking that wasn’t intentional.
[redacted story beat that would otherwise be a HUGE spoiler]
The game delivers a complete story, but the world has so much more to offer. I’m kind of desperate for a sequel, even if it’s a spinoff or parallel storyline.
The indie games market is a pretty unpredictable place. It’s hard to know if Backbone — by launching into Xbox Game Pass and getting some E3 2021 showtime — will find the right market. But it did well on Kickstarter, making 50% more than its initial goal. Hopefully that frees the team at EggNut to continue exploring this world and exploring additional gameplay features.
Author’s note: Bit of an odd one here. While checking out the game’s Kickstarter campaign, I discovered that the final product was...not exactly the game that EggNut pitched? Obviously projects evolve over the course of development; it’s pretty common for concepts or locations to show up in a trailer but not make it into the final version. However, it seems like almost everything shown in the pitch trailer was removed. While I went into Backbone blind and loved the game from start to finish, I also get why the community has mixed feelings about it.
In a nutshell
Backbone is an easy sell, because I think it does almost everything right. It’s got the rough, seedy world of The Wolf Among Us. There’s environmental storytelling like INSIDE. You’ll get meaningful conversation and choices, with lingering questions like I still have about Life is Strange. And you’ll find an Owlboy-level of (anthropomorphic) worldbuilding and lore.
And yes, I hear the complaints on Steam about how it’s a visual novel that cares more about dialogue than gameplay. I get it. But I didn’t back the game on Kickstarter, so I’m only able to judge my experience based on my perception of what the game might be. And it blew me away.
So whether you’re into film noir, adventure games, pixel art, or some combination of the three, I really can’t recommend Backbone enough.
Pros
+ DEEP worldbuilding
+ Compelling characters
+ Noir inspiration
Cons
- That one puzzle...
- That one plot twist…
- Kickstarter confusion?