Rate top gamesBackbone is a distopic noir adventure/investigation game set in a world where animals have antropomorphic features and lives in a flawed society ruled by money, power and lust. I will try to keep this review spoiler free, for those who wants to play it, but I have to say I just finished it and it felt weird and unsatisfying.
You play the game as Howard Lotor, a raccoon detective, going through the city and its alleys snitching your nose where you were not called and looking for its secrets and bad people. And boy, you find plenty. The first half of the story was my favourite. Looking for clues, talking to people, walking around just feeling the city. The ambiance itself is fantastic. It felt so good to just walk around the town's neighbours, I did that for a longer time that it felt it was necessary. The places really brings close that noir vibe from investigation stories. The characters are deep and well built, each one with their own stories and interests and I give a big praise for that.
But in the second half, everything starts to feels unrelated and pointless. Everything the game plot gave it so far felt discarded, since it gives space to new ones which have little correlation to what happened before, sounds almost forced at times. The lore of this world sounds interesting, but a big chunck of it is not explained, it leaves the player wondering what's about. I don't know if this lack of closure was intentional for a sequel game, which... ok, it would explain a little, but I really felt the game could give more meaning and sense to it all. The dialogues are well developed, but player choices doesn't really matter most times, since they are shown as different ways to a same end. Some are just a reason to get an achievement, and personally this doesn't mean much to me. The ending was so abrupt it felt like I made a wrong choice or that there would be a second part to the game. I can't see myself recommending this game to others past the Prologue (which was great). I look forward to future games from this promising developer, but this one felt like it was rushed and not well fleshed out.
TL;DR I had fun playing it. Great beggining, great art and music, nice characters, but I can't see myself recommending this game after half of it. Looks rushed and messy.
You play the game as Howard Lotor, a raccoon detective, going through the city and its alleys snitching your nose where you were not called and looking for its secrets and bad people. And boy, you find plenty. The first half of the story was my favourite. Looking for clues, talking to people, walking around just feeling the city. The ambiance itself is fantastic. It felt so good to just walk around the town's neighbours, I did that for a longer time that it felt it was necessary. The places really brings close that noir vibe from investigation stories. The characters are deep and well built, each one with their own stories and interests and I give a big praise for that.
But in the second half, everything starts to feels unrelated and pointless. Everything the game plot gave it so far felt discarded, since it gives space to new ones which have little correlation to what happened before, sounds almost forced at times. The lore of this world sounds interesting, but a big chunck of it is not explained, it leaves the player wondering what's about. I don't know if this lack of closure was intentional for a sequel game, which... ok, it would explain a little, but I really felt the game could give more meaning and sense to it all. The dialogues are well developed, but player choices doesn't really matter most times, since they are shown as different ways to a same end. Some are just a reason to get an achievement, and personally this doesn't mean much to me. The ending was so abrupt it felt like I made a wrong choice or that there would be a second part to the game. I can't see myself recommending this game to others past the Prologue (which was great). I look forward to future games from this promising developer, but this one felt like it was rushed and not well fleshed out.
TL;DR I had fun playing it. Great beggining, great art and music, nice characters, but I can't see myself recommending this game after half of it. Looks rushed and messy.