A private eye being faced with a case of infidelity, only to find out more than he’d bargained for – truly, a pitch that could belong to any number of books or movies. However, this is EggNut’s debut game, and with an absolutely beautiful world, fascinating story, and powerful score, that pitch soars a bit more than you might initially think.

I can easily say that I’m a fan of noir type setups. Something about the black and white nature of it, the mystery, and the narration have always spoken to me. As cheesy or predictable as they may be, they are a type of comfort food for me. Backbone throws the player into a world of anthropomorphic animals that are divided by class of their Kind. The main character is a raccoon by the name of Howard, who you’ll learn about as you play. The gameplay is mostly dialogue trees and collecting items with a few puzzles you have to figure out based on context clues. The initial act had me thinking those choices would have far more consequences than they did, but I understand that without a large number of endings, it’s hard to make those matter.

This is one of those games that I thought I knew what to expect near the end of act 2, but soon had things turn upside down on me. Once I had reached the end of Act 3, I had to play through to completion, similar to how I approach the last couple episodes of a show – I rarely watch the penultimate episode without watching the finale. There are a few games that have done that to me, although the ones I can think of that really pushed that envelope for me were the first several Assassin’s Creed games. While I fell off the series following the closure of Desmond’s story, the last few missions of those games always demanded my attention and didn’t let me go. I felt that way starting this game, slowed way down in Act 2, and then picked back up by the end of Act 3.

There are a couple portions of the game that contain vocal tracks in the background, while another is used for a cut-scene. Given the absence of voiced dialogue, the songs are hauntingly beautiful, and really set the tone for the situations. Vocals aside, the sound design throughout offers tension and really just enhances the world. I tried listening to a podcast at one point, and realized I was so engrossed in the game that I wasn’t listening to the podcast at all. The pixel art is also truly special, especially against the gorgeous backdrops, or the wonderfully rendered water during a sequence I won’t soon forget.

The problems of the game aren’t too large, although they did stick out when I encountered them. The game is mostly set on a single plane, with minor platforming when the game calls for it, but they are all prompt induced actions. However, I found myself falling through the floor in some sections, making it seem like Howard was constantly jumping. I realized that the second act began to drag a bit because the variation in gameplay from the first act dropped off so much. I wasn’t solving puzzles, or using stealth, or doing much other than following prompts and talking to people. It abandons many mechanics, or shoves them into places where they are completely unnecessary, such as the stealth following act 1. The final thing that stood out was the grammar and spelling errors that would pop up – these were minor and infrequent, but in a game so steeped in dialogue, they are glowing red beacons.

While the game isn’t as grand as I initially thought from the first act, the story is one that’s well worth seeing through. The characters you meet are interesting, the world is gorgeous, and the ideas are certainly relevant to the world we live in. It’s not going to start a revolution, but Backbone certainly is a strong showing as a debut title, and I can’t wait to see what the team does next.

8 out of 10

Pros

• Gorgeous World and Characters
• Intriguing Story
• Lovely Score

Cons

• Grammar and Spelling Issues Throughout
• Some Movement Glitches

Backbone was developed by EggNut and published by Raw Fury. The game is available for PC, PS4, PS5, X1, and XSX. The game was provided to us for review on PS5. If you’d like to see more of Backbone, check out the developer’s site.

 

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