This becomes more clear as the game goes on, too.
Occasionally, there are simple puzzles to solves, but you’re mostly just going to be reading. But as best as I can tell, Backbone grants players no agency you’re just along for the ride. Nothing I said mattered, and I ended up in the same courses of action no matter what. Conversations merely give you the illusion of choice. However, when Howard is meant to meet them next, the two of them spoke as if they’ve been introduced before. I even intentionally ignored meeting a major character. I tried to do things differently and picked different dialogue options. Therefore, I started a new game and dove in. There are certain things that could certainly go very differently, had Howard simply made slightly different choices. After beating the game, I thought that it might have multiple routes. Certain responses seem like they can shape the destiny that lies before Howard. The richness of the dialogue makes these conversations feel impactful, and I actually thought about my replies much of the time. When talking to other characters, you can select Howard’s responses. In order to progress, people need to be spoken to and objects need to be interacted with to move things forward. What Backbone accomplished on that front is mesmerizing.īackbone seems like a choice-based adventure game at first.
I can’t think of many games that so perfectly reach an apex of visual craftsmanship and atmosphere. Plus, the visuals make the game a necessary play for anyone who loves detailed pixel art. The high caliber of the dialogue and how memorable many of the characters are truly do make Backbone stand out. Expectations simply need to be held in check, as some of the disappointment is still lingering with me even now. Regardless, it’s still worth experiencing, I think. Perhaps this is exactly what the developer was going for, but it seems like a missed opportunity to me. It just felt like a cop-out, as if the first half of the game that I was so impressed by was more of a façade than anything else. Instead, the narrative is content to resemble the last couple of episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion, a series well known for having major production problems at the very end. I wanted to dive deep into these characters and learn about the history of the city and the apes ruling it. Which is a shame, because I wanted to know more. That just doesn’t give it the time it needs to develop and truly breathe life into this intriguing world the developers have built. It doesn’t help that the game is only about three and a half hours long. The last couple of acts rush towards a conclusion and, while the quality is still good, it doesn’t match the level set by the first two chapters. The central mystery pushing the narrative forward dissolves, and the story pivots into something reminiscent of a classic Cronenberg movie. Unfortunately, Backbone‘s plot can’t keep it going for the duration. There’s no voice acting, but the words jump off the screen all the same, doing much to bring these animal people to life, with their unique manners of speaking and a fair amount of swearing. The first two chapters or so of Backbone are engrossing, and I found myself drawn to the game’s mystery and rising action. Howard makes his way into the place, only to find himself unraveling a thread of depravity and corruption that leads directly to the people who hold the power in the future, animal-occupied Vancouver. Within a few minutes of questioning the locals, he learns that the husband likes to spend his time in a questionable establishment known as The Bite. Howard gets the details he needs, takes the case, and then sets out into the city to get what he’s after. A pregnant wife, endlessly aggravated by her husband’s behavior, has turned to Howard to procure pictures to air out said husband’s dirty laundry. It’s still a thought-provoking, unique piece of entertainment, but the game feels like it should have been more.īackbone begins with our protagonist, a raccoon private investigator named Howard Lotor, reading a book in his bathtub. But it peters out after a while and ends up rushing to an unsatisfying conclusion. The game starts out with a bang, which hyped me up for the subsequent chapters. The game’s pixel artwork is gorgeous, bristling with colorful, moody explorations of decadent urban sprawl preyed upon by the haves.
Doing so requires nailing the tone and dialogue to a degree that many people aren’t quite up to. Successfully pulling off a noir story is hard.
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