Backbone Review: An Unfortunate Identity Crisis

Backbone is an extremely stylistic game that goes places. It tackles serious themes in a pixelated world bustling with life or an intended lack thereof. Unfortunately, some disconnects are present in ways that are a little shocking. While the design and art direction absolutely excel, the same cannot be said for the character writing. The game as a whole is never plagued with an identity crisis, but the characters within it are defined by it both in a lapse in consistency as well as directions or themes they tackle. I wholeheartedly enjoyed my time with Backbone to a nearly insurmountable degree, but I couldn’t help but get tripped up on the disconnects in writing and obvious potential the game has as a whole. 

Presentation

Even running on my laptop, Backbone is absolutely stunning with its pixel art style conveying its dark, dystopian retro future of its anthropomorphic world to the nth degree. It really just spews style, and is a frontrunner for the most stylistic game I have played all year. 

On top of that, and part of the presentation that Egg Nut utterly nails is the sound design. I, for one, am of the belief that serviceable sound design goes unnoticed, but a terrible or excellent design is noticed almost immediately. Backbone’s sound design falls in the latter category. Its musical cues and choice in crucial moments, coupled with the subtle keys and sounds while in Backbone’s moment to moment gameplay, enhance the experience exponentially. Each time a song kicks up, I find myself reveling in it for a moment before continuing. 

Overall, the presentation alone is worth the price of admission. It has gorgeous pixel art that grabbed my attention from conception, but features a completely realized sound design that captured my personal mindshare upon completing. After taking one look at Backbone, I am confident you will want to check it out. 

Story (Spoiler-Free)

You play as private investigator Howard Lotor who, while investigating a case of adultery, quickly realizes it is so much more than that and is in way over his head. Once in the thick of it, Howard wants to do something meaningful with his life, but is simply terrified. It is very apparent that he lacks self worth and I for one really latched onto that.

While I identified with Howard’s struggle with self worth, I found myself mostly taken aback by Howard as a character. I really wanted to like Howard, but I just couldn't get past the way his choices in the dialogue were weaved into the narrative. Howard and our story were all over the place on the surface, but were absolutely leading to a common goal with only an obvious illusion of choice. Howard and the bulk of the narrative’s biggest plight was its lack of an overall identity.

On top of that, Howard is a terrible detective. He is constantly always asking another character, Renee, what to do. I can see the attempt to assist the player here with this sort of direction in the dialogue, but like a lot of the narrative, it doesn't support Howard as a character.

Renee on the other hand is very interesting, but suffers the same fate as Howard to a lesser degree. Renee is a writer hired by a very powerful figure to write about them and their accomplishments. Renee simply being a daring intelligent writer poking her head where it doesn’t belong made her merely directing Howard, a PI, to do things and the correct next course of action felt off to me. I agree that Renee is the right type of person to help nudge Howard into his acts of bravery with a leveled head, but the way in which they do so didn’t seem genuine to them as characters. That's not to say the characters aren't likeable! Anatoly for instance, Howard’s friend/driver, I found very compelling and sincere throughout.

As cliche as it may be, the world does seem like a living breathing thing. Life beyond the walls, mob bosses, presidents, ministers, etc. are all name dropped effectively. Dark themes like murder, cheating, cannibalism, self worth that I mentioned above, and much more are all explored in meaningful ways.

I found myself along for the ride, but not thoroughly engaged with the story until a twist in Act III. Up until this point the narrative was serviceable enough to hold my attention, but this point really stood out to me and left me wanting more immediately. It is safe to say that Act III and its finale carry the narrative to an all new level. 

Overall, the story of Backbone isn’t bad. It's engaging enough to propel you forward and not bore you, but lacks an overall identity in terms of character writing. If the overall plot is enough for you, like it was for me, completing the story won't disappoint. But with that bing said, it could have been all wrapped up in a prettier bow. 

Gameplay

Backbone features two main types of gameplay; dialogue in terms of investigating, as well as moment to moment decision making takes front and center, and segments featuring stealth gameplay. These stealth segments have a quick respawn going for it, but were a low point for me personally as they seemed like nothing more than an empty change of pace. The change of pace itself was needed, but the stealth segments themselves were not. They didn’t feel like they belonged or were very fleshed out.

The stealth segments aside, Backbone’s gameplay does a lot right. You begin right away by taking the adultery case. You are just thrown right in and I felt that was a perfect choice. No real exposition was needed as you get to know Howard and his implications in this narrative organically as you progress. You can even run, which is crucial in my opinion for narrative adventure titles. 

In truth, the dialogue is the gameplay; the notable gameplay, anyway. I think in terms of fun and engagement, the dialogue is more than serviceable, but it didn't blow me away.

Breakdown

Game: Backbone

Developer: Egg Nut, Raw Fury

Availability: PC, Steam, Epic GS (Coming everywhere later this year)

Reviewed on Steam

Pros:

+ Extremely stylish in the best way

+ Strong 3rd act

+ Serves genuine commentary on heavy topics

Cons:

- Inconsistent character writing

- Squandered narrative potential

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, Backbone is a banger of a game that could have been even better. While the style and Act III carries the game successfully, the lows were never too egregious to be a significant hindrance. The story, with its hiccups aside, worked for me in the grand scheme of things and acts as a genuine commentary on heavy real world topics while maintaining a fun serviceable sense of engagement throughout. In all honesty, if you see this game in action for a few seconds, I don’t think an empty stealth segment or two alongside a patchy narrative will sway your interest enough not to give it a go.

Reviewed by Austin Ernst