Backbone - PS5

ESRB Rating:
Release Date: 10-28-2021
Critic Score (1-100): 80
Genre(s): Adventure, Side view, Puzzle elements, Role-playing (RPG), Detective / mystery, Fantasy, 2D scrolling, Graphic adventure, Point and select, Direct control, North America
Media Type(s): Physical

It takes a certain kind of person to take on the greatest evils of the world. A keen intellect. Relentless courage. An unstoppable desire to see justice done.

But you? You're just trying to make rent.

You're not special. You're not a hero. Thrust into unfortunate circumstances, you find yourself with no other option than to unravel what might be your biggest case yet.

Get to work, detective.

Backbone is a post-noir roleplaying detective adventure, in which you step into the shoes of raccoon private investigator, Howard Lotor, and explore dystopian Vancouver, BC, beautifully rendered in high resolution pixel art.

After years of small-time cases, lonely evenings, and just barely scraping by, Howard Lotor is swept into a job quite unlike any other before it. What starts as a menial case slowly unravels into something much darker, pitting Howard against the oppressive, systemic power hierarchies of the City itself.

Backbone's gameplay is a modern take on the classic point-and-click adventure,
featuring stealth, exploration, and elaborate dialogues inspired by old school CRPGs.

As Howard, you will:
• Make meaningful connections with a diverse cast of characters in pursuit of truth
• Explore both flourishing and decaying districts of a now walled-off Vancouver
• Uncover clues and collect evidence
• Solve puzzles and sneak around
• Be a raccoon

Post-noir dystopia
Backbone's Vancouver is a dangerous place, bleak and dreary, but not entirely without hope. It's a tale of a cold and existentialist world, interspersed with genuine connections and a bruised but undying drive to make a difference. Everyone wants to change the world, but not always for the better.

Stunning visuals
The breathtaking combination of high-resolution pixel art and 3D effects like dynamic lighting, pouring rain, volumetric fog and neon lights bring the sprawling city to life.

Evocative and unforgettable soundtrack
An original soundtrack by Danshin and Arooj Aftab is expertly crafted to create a cinematic, atmospheric, and simply jaw-dropping soundscape. You've never heard dystopian doom jazz quite like this.

Backbone is a point-and-click adventure title borrowing some elements from role-playing games. Set in a dystopian vision of Vancouver, Canada, the player controls private investigator Howard Lotor. He is a raccoon and the whole cast consists of anthropomorphic animals such as apes, rats and rabbits. The game has a moody, post-noir atmosphere with a jazz soundtrack mixed with electronic elements. The bleak city of consists of many districts that each have their distinct inhabitants, from the factory workers in the Labor District to the bourgeois in Gastown and the technological elite in Science City. The lonely Howard gets by on small cases and the game starts when he is visited by a new client, Odette, who wants to hire him to get evidence that her husband Jeremy Green is cheating on her. His investigation leads him to a bar called The Bite where quickly he discovers much more sinister things than cheating are going on.

The game consists of five acts where Howard meets many characters and develops relationships with them over time. Especially in the early acts more traditional puzzle-solving is involved to make progress in the case. There are however some elements that borrow from other genres. Howard is for instance able to sprint and duck to hide. These stealth sections can lead to a fail state, but can always be replayed. Movement is controlled directly. More prominently, there are large dialogue sections where the player get to shape Howard as a character and his relationships. Choices have impact over time and can open or close doors permanently. This transcendences to the puzzle-solving. Parts of the game have multiple approaches where the player can pursue a specific one, or be pushed in a certain direction through the dialogue choices. Puzzle-solving is often done through deduction, conversations and careful observation of items in the environment. Certain items can be picked up, but they are used right away in the same environment as there is no inventory system. Many parts of the game also have conversations that have no influence on the story but to set the tone.

Despite the choices the game is ultimately entirely linear and in the final acts becomes closer to a visual novel with more focus on just the narrative. At any moment Howard can activate a detective mode to track the current objectives.

*** Data by MobyGames.com ***

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