Backbone
Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Backbone Trailers
Backbone Launches on June 8 | Announcement Trailer
Backbone - Reveal Trailer - Beautiful dystopian noir adventure coming 2021!
Critic Reviews for Backbone
Backbone's sumptuous pixel art and promising narrative threads are undermined by flat gameplay and a non sequitur of a final act.
Even if it's brief and falters during the third act, there's no denying that Backbone is a truly gorgeous and captivating adventure, with an engrossing world that you'll want to see even more of.
Backbone features a compelling story and a well-realised post-noir dystopia, with engaging characters and some smart gameplay.
I am disappointed by the mixed feelings I get from Backbone. It is absolutely worth a look solely on the merits of its audiovisual presentation, but its attempt to offer commentary or insight into the topics its narrative broaches repeatedly fall flat, particularly in the latter half. EggNut clearly has the goods in the art and music departments, so I would love to see what they can do with a stronger narrative in the future. If you do choose to give Backbone a shot, make sure to get the Artifact Edition, as it includes the wonderful soundtrack.
Backbone had the potential to fill a bit of a void for a noir style game, but it comes up short. It opens with a strong prologue, but the story that follows tries to hit too many different themes meaning there's a lack of focus by the time it comes to a conclusion.
As a whole, Backbone is stylish but not exceptional. It’s a good time with an enjoyable story, but otherwise it’s just kind of routine. The visual style is great, but it’s offset by uneven audio design. There’s definitely a lot to love about Backbone, I just don’t feel it sticks the landing quite well. It will be worthwhile playing for most, but I’m more interested in what comes next from EggNut.
Backbone does both, striking a balance between nostalgic and new, breathing another breath of life into the genre with its gritty, sad grin. This 2D, sidescrolling, pixel-art noir is a short but solid adventure mystery with stunning visuals and meaningful characters.
Uncover a grim conspiracy and sweet-talk snooty bears in this genre-hopping indie game
Industry Coverage
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