![]() It’s so hard to express how the game ultimately left a sour taste in my mouth without getting into serious spoilers, but I’ll try my best. Unfortunately things take a massive turn past the halfway point and ultimately fizzle out with a dud as the back half of the game eats away at the goodwill the opening had built up in me until it unceremoniously just ends. Everyone tells you everything you need to know regardless of how you ask for it and you end up in the same place anyway.īackbone’s first few chapters are so genuinely engaging and had me hooked on the mystery and presentation of the whole spectacle, if the game could have kept it up throughout it would be one of my favorites of the year. As a private detective you would think that you would need to use cunning verbal skills to get information out of suspects, but not really. In the later phases of the game I started wondering why the dialogue options were even present if they didn‘t really change anything. ![]() Backbone is chock full of dialogue options that provide some slightly different tones and text from characters, but ultimately still follows along the same path. Despite the dark nature of the overarching story, the dialogue between characters provides some much appreciated levity throughout. The dialogue in the game is very witty and tightly written, there were more than a few times I found myself laughing along with our raccoon hero. As the game goes on the focus on telling the narrative becomes so linearly focused that it feels less like you’re exploring a gritty underworld to solve an intricate crime and more like you’re bombing down a tube slide, barreling towards the end of the game, and all you can do is go forward. In fact, there is only 1 puzzle in the entire game and it is in the prologue. The prologue chapter of Backbone promises an investigative puzzler with dialogue options that have impact, but unfortunately that dissolves away rather quickly. It’s obvious that a lot of love and care went into crafting the visual style. The designers, artists, and writers of the game utilize every bit of each scene to make it stand out and leave an impression. There are plenty of nods and references throughout the game that can really make you light up when you see them whether its a character wearing the signature jacket from Akira, graffiti of the infamous Cool Cat, or even a reference to the “understandable, have a great day” meme. Presented in an absolutely stunning pixel art style, the world of Backbone is rich and crafted with a personal touch that feels very lived in. As Howard gathers info on the case at hand, Backbone explores the oppression of the lower class and the structure of this society’s caste system. The highest of the animal society controls the gigantic wall that surrounds the city and makes attempts to climb the wall punishable by death, effectively allowing them to treat the inhabitants however they want. In this city full of anthropomorphic animals, racism and class warfare weigh heavy on daily life. Following Blacksad and last year’s Chicken Police – Paint It Red, is the all new Kickstarter funded project from Raw Fury and Eggnut, Backbone.īackbone is a gritty post-noire tale of a simple raccoon private investigator, Howard Lotor, that falls face first into a scandal that puts his life on the line. Trends in the gaming space are so hard to predict, but one that I never could have seen is the rise of the anthropomorphic animal noir detective story.
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