Review | Backpack Hero - Pack Rat Experience
Backpack Hero toys with an idea that was talked about as one of the more interesting aspects of Resident Evil 4 - Inventory management that is almost as in-depth as combat. Seeing as it’s been remade once again, there’s a bit of coincidence in that this game finally puts front in centre something that was at one point just a small part of the now-distant Deus Ex.
As a roguelite deckbuilder(it's not really a traditional deckbuilder but that is the closest comparison), the game offers a story mode, quick play mode, and mod support. The story mode, in particular, is impressive in that there’s plenty of lore and humour, sometimes-too-challenging side quests, light town-building mechanics, a meta progression, and even story events of a sort. And to top it all off, there are five playable characters that all work differently.
The art style is expressive, showing various sprites stretch, blink, and idle with aplomb. I do think the developers did themselves a bit of a disservice by putting enemies with multiple states or emotes much later in the game because they’re a treat to see. That Ultra Knight who has a strange stance and might not actually be one giant mouse. The Rat King who appears to have more eyes(and rats) in his cloak. The grinning lizard that starts sobbing uncontrollably if you hit him. These extra animations weren’t necessary, but give the enemies you encounter much more flavour than if a JPEG was staring you down at the other end of the screen. Also, something that surprised me with how good the music is Backpack Hero. I can say without reservation BinaryCounter did a fantastic job bringing me into the dungeon with multiple gloomy, yet groovy tunes. The music makes me wonder how awesome it would sound if live or done with an instrumentation arrangement.
The premise of the game sees you choose a hero, delve into the dungeon, pick up loot, and if you die, you get sent back to the beginning. This is a tenet of roguelites, though you’re sent back to the village with 1 item in tow (if you choose) if you’re in story mode. This all sounds appealing, and it was at first blush going into the story mode. I thought starting there would make the most sense as someone pretty new to the proper roguelite deck-builders, I’d engage with mechanics as they were doled out to me. This approach worked fine at first, and in fact, I felt like I was excelling at the story while unlocking new and potentially exciting upgrades. Unfortunately, I ended up reaching a point where I seemed to be woefully underequipped for moving into the second and third dungeon sets and their respective challenges and ended up doing kamikaze runs where I’d just off myself when I finally had a piece of loot I could bring home upon death for an upgrade. While the saying ‘nothing ventured, nothing gained’ applies here, there were also plenty of times that I ventured forth with, nothing to show for it. You do eventually unlock some interesting gameplay styles, such as using a bow, staff, toys, or a good ol’ sword and board. I favoured the bomb item that let me destroy weapons to attack my opponent with what I imagine is shrapnel.
Speaking of items being destroyed, it is important to talk about actually using them. In Backpack Hero, items are not only worth using, after every battle you’ll have a choice of three to eight items to replenish your stock if necessary. Depending on how old of a gamer you are, not using items could be a strategy to avoid getting hard locked out of progression, or just for an emergency that never comes. But rest assured, items are for using in Backpack Hero: even if you don’t get an exact replacement, there are certain relics and other items that react to item use. That being said, the RNG of getting items may be too random - I saw plenty of ‘structure’ items that I was unable to create an entire build around because structures are all heavy (they sink to the bottom of your backpack) and it quickly becomes hard to find room for in your backpack. Additionally, you may find yourself unable to heal, and you’ve got up to 12 floors to descend into… Well, that’s not a great combination and it sometimes unfairly sends you back to the start of your run.
Many of the sidequests task you with playing with certain modifiers, such as your weapon being less effective. This is all well and good if you HAPPEN to find a Slime Sword which duplicates itself at the end of battle, but that isn’t always the case. I ended up finding myself in a situation where I was unable to complete the sidequest, but I needed the sidequest credit to move further in the game to get better-quality items. So as much as I’d like to go back into the fray as soon as possible, telling myself ‘I’ll be more careful this time’, it brought diminishing returns to my enjoyment of the game. Developer, Jaspel, would do well to be less strict in doling out items, while some could do with rebalancing. Namely, items that are overly punishing like Nunchucks that require you to have empty spaces in your inventory, be able to house a peculiar shaped item, and most likely, completely modify or shelve your current build in order to take on the Nunchucks. The rate at which experience is earned should also be increased, as many times I found myself sighing when I encountered ‘+5 experience’ nodes on the map and getting into as many battles as possible since levelling up is the only way to increase your inventory space. This ended up meaning many of the events and post-battle rewards I just ended up tossing because my inventory didn’t allow me to do much with a random cleaver. For even greater perspective, I ended many runs with my starting wooden sword just because trying to find a good weapon, and ultimately enhance it through relics, reforging, or some other found synergy was much more of a hassle than it should be.
This is complicated further as in story mode, you end up nearing the end of the game, only to find out you need to learn four other heroes and take them on the same journey, AGAIN. The fact that some of the characters you unlock after Purse, the main character, are strictly worse than her is not much of a comfort when receiving this news. If this game were given another balancing patch for both item drops and the roster of characters, it would be extremely beneficial. The game was also bugged for me and I was unable to unlock one of the characters, a character kept asking me for something I either never had or sold not knowing it was a story item. There were a number of other small bugs I encountered, but nothing of this magnitude that affected my gameplay.
Something that I can’t be as lenient on is the game’s tutorialisation frustratingly bad. I even ended up having to google ‘How do I complete this tutorial’ for the character Tote. In the same manner, I ended up doing something before the game actually told me about it, and the tutorial popped up shortly after. As this is a roguelite where not understanding a mechanic could (and probably will) kill you, this is unacceptable.
Backpack Hero asks the question ‘How enjoyable was rearranging your inventory in Resident Evil 4?’. While this is definitely not the first time a game had you play with space, it is a bit rarer for one to actually look at your inventory as something precious unless you’re playing a game with an encumbrance system. And the inventory is nearly all the game is - a task that required the needle to be threaded very carefully. I do think if Jaspel either wants to patch this game, or start on a sequel, the bones of an excellent game are right here. As is, however: Backpack Hero is fun, but you may find yourself checking if the warranty is up and consider returning it back to Amazon to try another backpack.
