Backbone

Developed By: EggNut

Published By: Raw Fury

Price: £19.99 / $24.99

Adventure, Casual

I always enjoyed the aesthetic and themes of Noir. The colors, the outfits, the composition, it all just works so well for me. Nothing beats trying to solve an actual mystery, and Noir has that in spades with an assortment of tropes and archetypes. So whenever a Noir-themed game comes up in the upcoming games list, I have to try it out. Backbone is a special twist on it, with developer Egg Nut instead giving us an original world with anthropomorphic characters. 

In a dystopian Vancouver, raccoon private investigator Howard Lotor receives a case: to find a husband who is thought to be participating in infidelity. All evidence leads to a club known as “The Bite,” whereupon sneaking into the lower levels of it reveals a dark secret, one that sends Howard on a series of discoveries he didn’t want to find. 

I’ll get into the story later on in the review, as I have a good amount of thoughts about it. 

Rain-Soaked Streets

As the game begins, it accepts you into its world by showing you how absolutely gorgeous its pixel art is. This is emphasized even more when you leave your apartment and make your way out into the downtown streets. There is detail to be found in every nook and cranny of these environments. 

Backbone’s use of environments and lighting really amp up the visual aspect of the game. What I enjoy most is how the character bodies interact with the environment, whether it be reflections in the rain-formed ponds or the shadows projecting onto the backlit walls. All of this really made me excited for what the next locale I visited would be, and how it would look. 

Sounds Of The City

Of course, I couldn’t feel that immersed unless the sound design really brought it home, and in Backbone, they really do well with it. When on the streets, you hear the bustling crowds, the passing cars, the honking horns. When inside, you’ll hear the footsteps of the people in the apartment above you. There are plenty of sounds to be heard that make up this lively world. 

Then there’s the music. The music in Backbone is some of the best in the Noir genre of video games; they knocked it out of the park on this. Every track is unique to the place you visit, and while most of them are these beautifully made compositions, there will be times where they will hit you with a song. These moments, where the lyrics filter in unexpectedly, really enhanced a lot of scenes. 

No Backbone

Of course, these scenes are what make up Backbone’s narrative.  When the story starts off, it starts off strong. The prologue and following chapter offer an interesting mystery and a fantastic way to begin in this strange world they’ve put us in. Howard is desperate to find answers, and the only person he can turn to is a writer by the name of Renee.

Not to mention that the characters are very well-written, each with their own personalities and quirks that make them feel unique, along with the chemistry between them. This building mystery had a lot behind it, enough to create plenty of intrigue. All of this coming together, by the end of the prologue, I was hooked and ready for what was coming next. 

Back-Breaking

Unfortunately, that good feeling I had began to wane as time went on. The mystery I initially began to investigate slid to the back in favor of some strange twist that nearly came out of nowhere. Honestly, while there were some hints to it, it came so out of left field, it was unfitting. 

Then, things just kind of start dropping off faster. The pacing feels messed up in places, and themes are thrown out the window. Things change on a rather rapid basis. Everything is then rushed to a quick end that really just left me feeling empty. There felt like there was so much they could do, that the ending kinda felt like sequel bait, except that there would be no sequel. At least, not for me. 

Basically, everything would’ve been better if that twist was not introduced. 

Shedding Off Gameplay

In addition to that, the prologue also promises some interesting ideas for the other parts of the gameplay, with puzzle solving and stealth mechanics. The sneaking was fine; it wasn’t the best, but it worked. The puzzles, however, promised interaction with the game world, where you would move things around to get the correct code. I thought we would get more of that.

That did not seem to be, sadly. As Backbone went on, things just devolved into talking, lots of it. Which is the point, but I was hoping for more problem solving and sneaking. Hell, I was hoping for even more use of the inventory system. I only had to use the inventory once in the middle of the game. The most I got after that was people commenting on my examinations of items in the room, or being able to complete optional unsaid tasks that did literally nothing.

This was the worst part because the prologue really did draw me in with its gorgeous visuals, strange mystery, and its simple, yet engaging, puzzles. So it was a disappointment to see nothing else come of that. 

The only other problem I had was with some transitions. When moving room-to-room, sometimes the game will instantly load up the room and slide over to your character rather quickly, which was pretty jarring.

Tail-End

So, while the game is gorgeous with heavily detailed pixel art, accompanied by a banger of an original soundtrack, the parts that mattered are what brought it down for me. The story slipped; it tried to take off and only stayed on the tarmac. 

Overall, Backbone is a visual showcase of how beautiful you can make a pixel art game. That’s the strongest point I can give it, because that’s what draws everyone in. Then it takes your expectations and stomps on them, delivering a subpar, messy story with gameplay that withers into a fine dust. It delivers the Noir, but if you’re hoping it delivers the story, I believe there are better ones you can try out there. 

 

Verdict

Not Quite There

 

Did you enjoy this review? Check out our reviews of Demeo and Hokko Life. Do you enjoy what we do? Check out our Ko-Fi, and consider dropping us a coffee! If you want to do what we do, we’re looking for new writers and editors! Fill out the form here if you’re interested. Thanks!

Reviewed by Freelance7. Game played on Xbox Game Pass PC.