Backbone | Review in 3 Minutes
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- Опубліковано 6 чер 2021
- Amy Campbell reviews Backbone, developed by Egg Nut.
Backbone on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/86...
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The price wasn't known at the time of review, it's confirmed to be $24.99 on Steam.
25$...😲(anyway I will buy)
@Java Monsoon Yep it's on Xbox Game Pass
The Cool game ever
i came here because I just finished it and without spoiling anything I got to say the ending is just WTF and I was trying an explanation for the ending or any hints at the sequel
Right? I was like THAT’S IT?! I NEED CLOSURE
SAME! I need answers
That’s exactly why I’m here.. wtf
What a cliffhanger, finished the game 5 minutes ago
I wanted a HAPPY ENDING WITH FOX LADY
The ending made me so mad. Cus its really feels like they just wanted to wrap up an amazing story really quickly. There was so much potential, it just... never went anywhere
I'm pretty sure they're making a sequel, so that would explain why they did it that way
Righttttt
@@JW-hn5nt wow wow wow dont give me hopes there
There shouldve been multiple endings
Sounds like I'm not wasting my time on this one
I actually really enjoyed the ending for the most part, and genre twist that led up to it. That said, it feels like the middle of the game is missing and we got to that twist way too fast. I liken it to someone telling a story and getting so into it they accidentally skip to the end. Just imagine if we got so much more to attach to, then getting that ending. Huge punch to the gut. It's a pretty ballsy move to take everything in such a direction these days.
This is what I felt. I feel like the twist would have been acceptable if they gave us bigger and bigger breadcrumbs up to the big reveal. I think that would have been really fine. But they didn't do that and it gave me the biggest form of whiplash.
Why does it seem that anthro animals and detective stories seem to pair so well?
My theory is that anthros tend to have large (or comically small) facial features, which makes it much easier to tell what emotion the artist/writer is trying to convey. Think of how much easier L.A. Noire would have been if every suspect was just massive eyes, expressive ears, and a big-ass mouth.
I think that visually, sticking an animal head on a dude in a fancy suit is a cool look. And fancy suits fit well in a Noir setting.
Another thing is that an animal headed person in a suit is fun juxtaposition between something that is 'wild' and something that is 'civilized'. The obvious implication here being the idea that underneath the veneer of civilization, this character is a wild animal. This gels well the grim tone of Noir stories, and finding what sort of animal someone beneath the mask of civility that someone is wearing fits well for a detective story.
Finally there are a lot of animal associations that are fun to play with in this context. The fem fatale can be a vixen who is also literally a fox. Rats, snakes and moles have varying connotations that can come up. A mayor who is a lion says one thing about the character, a mayor who is a mouse characterizes them in a very different way. There's a lot you can do here.
@@Jason_Van_Stone Oh lol, wow. Um, trust me, there are others who make what little we've written here look downright paltry. I, personally, am not a furry, but I am involved in art communities and do commissions so it's not uncommon for me to see 100-page discussions on stuff like this. Even a lot of the requests I get, they'll go for pages just justifying why they feel what they've requested is appropriate.
@@HiddenDragon555 yep, I think that's mostly it. Just to clarify further, because what you said could apply to other genres: in the detective genre, there's always a lot of categorizing people, label them to have a big picture of the crime. That's why what you said about the wild animal beneath the human is so relevant; anyone could've committed the crime and the detective has to be accurate with his categorizing in order to solve the mystery.
@@HiddenDragon555 And the private detective being a raccoon is quite neat isn't it? Raccoons classically dig through people's trash, what else digs through peoples 'trash'? That's right! A P.I. If you made the detective a bloodhound or a shepherd it would have very different connotations.
*Spoiler Alert*
The closeness that Renee and Howard developed didn't feel very organic to me - it felt like they just skipped over all of the bonding moments that would have lead up to them caring about eachother so much.
I also feel like the game would've been better had it just stuck to the Noir themes and genre rather than switching over to scifi. I think a genre switch can totally work, but with this particular game it just didn't quite land as well for me.
I also think that the opportunity for multiple endings, even if they were all similarly open ended, would've been great. With the sheer number of dialogue choices, there were so many ways each interaction could've taken the story. It almost doesn't make sense for there to be one ending. I understand that that must be extremely difficult to put together, but the game kind of needed it. If multiple endings wasn't manageable, the nature of the game needed to change.
I found the dialogue to generally be pretty good, but the interactions between the Artifact and Howard got a bit "I am 14 and this is deep". More subtle dialogue would've been much more effective at conveying the changes going on in Howard's mind. That dialogue felt like it was written by John Green, which doesn't work with this genre (I'm not totally sure that Green's "deep" dialogue ever works to be honest)
The game didn't need a genre switch and cosmic existential crisis to be gripping and thought provoking in my opinion. I was so ready for it to be a grim murder mystery, and corruption, power dynamics, and social injustice could've been explored just as well, if not even better, in a non-dystopian sci-fi genre.
Exciting and unpredictable crime thrillers and mysteries are difficult to craft, so I can see why a genre switch felt like a good way to go, but a well done murder mystery that aims to explore philosophical themes would have landed better for me, personally. You can be grim, existential, and thought provoking without science fiction. Sometimes, the best way to discuss social issues is to do so in the context of our current reality rather than doing so in "what ifs".
i love this review you said basically all of my thoughts about the game overrall and its ending !
Thank you for saying what most of us were too lazy to, youve captured my thoughts and feelings perfectly, the game was beautiful, but it just... Felt rushed. It snapped into the change so quickly without and choice or explanation. You were told DO. NOT. TOUCH. IT. and all you could do was touch it.. Would've been better to start noir and finish noir, but hopefully they'll learn from their mistakes if they make more games like this.
does look really nice, and that music is pretty cool -- too bad it doesn't quite deliver. that's always frustrating
I swear, nearly every game nowadays with anthropomorphic animals has the same premise: hardboiled detective in a Noir Setting.
Chicken police, Blacksad and now Backbone
And none of them look as fun as Sam and Max IMO 🤔
Blacksad is cool
I love the original Blacksad comics. The game wasn't anything spectacular.
@@monsterhunter66 Yeah it all stems from the Blacksad comics, really. Definitely an oft-imitated concept.
Sonis the Hedgehog, Starfox, Crash Bandicoot, Rocket Knight, Beyond Good and Evil, Ratchet and Clank, Armello, Tooth and Tail
I think it is important to note that a sequel was just announced on twitter. Many of the plot points were left open-ended because the franchise isn't finished yet.
Unfortunately I don't think that matters to the General audience.
Or towards those who backed the game, to be honest.
I don't blame them either after seeing what was promised vs what was delivered.
So this was a cash grab. Nice
As a Canadian I just love that it's set in Vancouver! The prolouge has you go to Granville Island for pete's sake!
Man it hurts when gameplay suffers from poorly finished mechanics. Thanks for this Amy 🙏🍻
Another case of "good presentation, shame about the game" it seems.
narita boy, rain world :(
@@varunswarup79 narita boy was incredible!
Quite true. I was sad. I'd recommend the game to people, but mainly because I want to see what the devs could have in store for the future. The game looks amazing and the early story is great
"Despite the unforgiving heat of the day suffocating the air in the gloomy night of the city its heart was as cold as ever. The run down buildings and echoing police sirens do little to hide its true nature.
My eyes wander over the familiar scenery in front of the window of my office. While thinking about the risky, yet lucrative job that was offered to me by the gal that just left.
I reach for another smoke, yet find the box empty. No matter. After this one I will finally be set for quite some time. May even be able to move out of this dump.
Being unable to contain my anticipation I do the floss dance. What a giga chad move to take that job. Big brain."
It's strange hearing an Australian voice being anything other than exuberant or enthusiastic.
Yeah. We do exist, but we're far and few between.
This sums it up perfectly! If they kept with some more stealth, clues/puzzles and more unique city exploration the game would be solid
One more thing is that they needed to get rid of aliens and anything that had to do with it. They should have just stuck to the mystery of the canibalistic rich animals
Fuck I was so excited for this, it falling so short felt like such a gut punch
Honestly this could have been so good if they followed through on the exposing corruption plot and a relationship forming between Renee and Howard. Ah, oh well. Guess indie games developers can’t help but make the plot about mental illness and existential dread when push comes to shove.
Like I knew how it'll turn out when I first started playing the game, but for it to end so abruptly without a chance to have any save points or much chances to get eventful character interactions I was pretty bummed out, if it wasn't rushed halfway through I wouldn't have any complaints
I might get it for the art alone. Wow
That was my fear. The Backbone demo was one of the best demos I've ever played; and to know that the game dosen't quite live up to it is somehow both expected and disappointing, I will still buy it though
i don't really understand what she was talking about I mean I just finished the game and I got to say the game was actually pretty good. I would definitely recommend it
Don't do it man, you will regret it.
It's always better to try the game yourself and form your own opinion, reviews are just one particular person's opinion of a game, it doesn't guarantee you'll have the exact same experience with the game as the reviewer.
@@malek0093 I own and finished the game, it was a complete and utter disappointment, there is no gameplay to speak of after the prologue and it basically become a linear visual novel with a convulted story (its likely that they run out of funding for the game and had to push it out in this state), then there is the ending...
Act 1 - Wow, this is so amazing! I love the characters, the setting, the soundtrack, the gameplay, especially the art. What a great and dark introduction to a compelling story!
Act 2 - Not quite as good as the first act, though I love Renee and the plot thickens.
Act 3 - Felt very short. Feels more like a light novel than a detective game. The ending is gorgeous and the visuals are stunning, but THAT particular moment felt like it had no explanation at all. Shocking ending though.
Act 4 - Yeah, this is where things fall apart, although one would argue that Act 2 is where the game starts to decline. It is clear that the story is very linear. The plot is a mess and unresolved plot holes get thrown out the window. Puzzles are nonexistent and character decisions don't make sense anymore. I still enjoyed some parts of this act, like the soundtrack and the art, but this act needs the most explanation for.
Act 5 - Up until this point, each act managed to make me invested in the story. Despite the sluggish progression of acts 2 and 3, the abrupt twist in act 3, and the questionable experience of act 4, there were still moments where I felt excited to know what comes next. That's the power of a spectacular art style and a killer soundtrack. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the final act. Nothing in this act made sense and everything was painfully rushed. This is the shortest act and by far the worst one. The only redeeming quality of this act is the final scene where you're greeted with stunning visuals only to be reminded of the messy plot by that disappointing ending.
I'm pretty sure if things weren't rushed and the quality of acts 2-5 were that of act 1, the game would be a completely different experience. It had so much promise, but in the end it failed to deliver. My only hope is that the sequel greatly improves on what could have been a spectacular experience.
4.5/10
The demo was amazing but it promised SO MUCH that the game did not deliver. I've not been that let down by a game in... an incredibly long time.
I didn't get a notification!!
I played the prologue of this game when it was released and loved it. I was excited for it to be released soon, but this review just set my expectations down a bit. Guess I'll be waiting for a good sale.
Thanks, Amy & The Escapist team!
Yea we pubbed four vids today that’s why haha
Spoilers but just finished it myself and have absolutely no issue with the ending or any story elements in the game. People seemed to all be in agreement the ending left too open where I disagree. This felt like the story of Howard, from him accepting what seemed to be a run of the mill case and eventually to his tragic death, yes I wanted to see what happened with Renee and what followed with her decision, but I have absolutely no problem having it left open.
It went crazy real quick around Act 3, it definitely swing the story in a different direction and I understand people felt this was rushed or changed what the focus of the plot was, but I absolutely loved it. I was just expecting to play all 5 Acts and slowly uncover more information and then use that information to take down the bad guys, but nope, they pulled a fast one on me and I was on the edge of my seat the whole way through.
I understand people want their stories to be wrapped up nicely with a neat little bow by the end, but I don't think this game needed to do it at all. The time I played it just breezed on by, yes it is short but I am just saying in general, it was so fun to experience even if there isn't a whole lot of gameplay elements to it.
The new zootopia game got dark real quick
Tbh, it looks more like Beastars
@@Th3F4lc0nBl4ckBlu3Xd thats a road trip you do not won't to take
@@reddogsaws Lmao, why? It literally is the expanded and darker version of Zootopia.
@@Th3F4lc0nBl4ckBlu3Xd once you go you never come back
@@reddogsaws Nah, if you only like the plot, you won't "become" a furry. That part is entirely up to you (but I get why you say it xD).
Agree 100%. The prologue is the best part, and for bizarre reasons unknown, the rest of the game doesn't have the same detail of interesting mechanics. Great looks and atmosphere but the game is a dud and isn't fun.
Yeah, this is pretty spot on, loved the art and the demo was fantastic, but iunno, not sure if there's more but felt like threads fell apart towards the end
I wish more of the budget and development time went into the writing. The story became an absolute joke by the third act. The story takes a sharp turn without properly connecting to the previous plot thread and none of the characters had their motivations properly explored. A real shame, because both Renee and Clarissa have huge potential when it comes to strong female characters. I’m not sure the writers even knew what the hell they were going for with the story. The nature of sentience? Science ethics? Poverty within late stage capitalism? Abolishing a status quo? There wasn’t a cohesive theme to grab onto here.
I agree, it would have been cool to have an adventure with Renee at the bite and then all truths came to reality, or something, well just to say an example, I've just thought that in literally 2 minutes.
I really bet you and me could have come up with a better plot just the moment before Howard fucks up.
It was so well driven, such a shame.
I get strong "Blacksad" vibes from this. Looks interesting.
i just got a mandalorian season 3 ad so this is blessed
Very helpful review :> gj and thanks
damn that animation looks slick
hated the ending
terrible right? went out with a whimper, killed all the characters I actually liked, and just fell apart narratively. so many loose threads and not in the cool or interesting way!
How do you refine a story based game when well you cant change the layout and interactions of the story.
I can think of a couple of ways to do such, if the story is paced properly they could go 1 of 2 ways.
1 - add extra chapters for the narrative that expand on world building as a means of making space for the mechanics implemented already to shine more.
2 - add post game content (such as an epilogue or separate extra cases) that even if don't touch the main narrative could reflect what happened already, still working the mechanics more.
If they do either one would certainly cost some money and time to make but it would definitely be worth it.
Okay, Wow this was actually really helpful.
On sale for $5 on Xbox right now. Considering this or Blacksad
I hope there will be a sequel for this
adjust the volume guys... sometimes its low and then suddenly its too loud
hope it gets better since it does seem like a good idea
So i played this game after no one recommended it. - i played it and really enjoyed it although not one theme was ever present. it didnt matter how hard the game wanted you to feel. the same nature was present. BUT the theme music was ridiculous, i cant remember the last time a game cared this much about how you felt during the experience. Arooj aftab and danshins contributions to the music of this game is insane
The pic reminded me of "Inherit the Earth", an old point and click
Loved the game loads all the way up until Howard gets the artifact feel like of it stuck to the detective stuff and built the characters up more instead it would be infinitely better
Such a cool concept for a game. I will never look at raccoons the same again!
Loved the game, i was hella interested in the plot about the missing people and cannibalism of people just for the apes, what disappointed me though, in both ways is that the ending was a cliff hanger, he succumbs to the artifact and we don’t know what happens next, really cool that we got to play as Renee and bloodworth briefly though
Looks interesting, great review
Spot on review. It had such potential and then fizzled out to a "wait what?" ending. Lots was started but didn't get finished, new characters met and dialogue exchanged, only for this to lead to nothing in the game, or even further interaction. There were items you could pick up etc which had literally no purpose or use. Overall, I felt at the end like saying "hey, come back and finish the game!"
What I liked about the ending is.. OH WIAT IT DIDNT FUCKING HAVE ONE
Interesting because I couldn't find anything on this game, since it's named "TAILS NOIR" on the Playstation
Good game, would’ve liked more puzzles and maybe it being a little bit longer, I feel like the end was on top of us way too soon.
Tbh, it kinda gives me a combined vibe of BNA/Brand New Animal, Beastars, Zootopia and LA. Noir. Especially BNA & LA Noir, it’s as if they combined Michiru Kagemori, Shirou Ogami & Cole Phelps into a single character. Or it’s at least that’s the vibe I’m getting from it.
Great, really great review
The game started off incredibly strong and I just wanted to solve a crime and the like. I'm not mad about the whole Symbiote thing, it could have been very interesting if handled correctly. I'm mostly disappointed that it felt that they rushed the ending, so that whole storyline just got slapped in there by the end. This game totally could have benefited from multiple endings, since in the end the dialogue options don't matter when it feels like it should have.
Thankfully a sequel (that's actually a prequel?) is coming out in roughly 24 hours by the time I wrote this comment, so we might get answers there and perhaps an actual sequel in the future.
Pleae, enable closed captions for your video in the future.
Thank you
The game is $7.99 on Steam right now, but these reviews make it sounds not even worth that much because of how frustrating the ending/ pacing is.
I was really excited for this and am very sad about how many people dislike it.
I think there should’ve been more on Clarissa’s motives; I still don’t quite get what her deal is, it all took a U-turn so quickly that we didn’t really get to find out why she was really doing all that, or even why she sent the girls over the wall.
Beautiful artwork for this! Not sure if al the Disco Elysium style dialogue trees is my thing, but it certainly looks interesting. Thanks for the heads-up!
If I was asked to come up with a great name for a raccoon detective, Howard Lotor would not be at the top of my list.
To me I evaluate the game as each act it's own game with the first 2 acts being great the third act feeling like a good bridge act to something great but once you reach the 4th act the entire story flips into a different game with the 5th act becoming like an artsy "who am I" vibe with a 5 min walking simulator at the end. To me it feels like the devs had two amazing game ideas but lack of time and budget so they cut each in half and smooshed them together. Or even just one game that has amazing potential but with a lack of money and time it didn't reach what it could have.
10/10 idea
6/10 finished
Just finished the game. It overall is a good experience, but the downfall really begins when the protagonist finds the wife's husband died in the Bite. just doesn't feel the same after that. it seems most mechanics were used before and until then and then nothing happens in terms of puzzle/interaction (apart from convos) however worth a go
Mouse and keyboard wasn't bad at all! I played it soon as it dropped.
I was almost playng it again to see if it was some Mistake I did
I just got done playing and really loved it but i agree that there was unrealized potential and that the entire (very short) game feels like a demo.
there better be a 2nd one
Just finished it...who came up with that ending....
Tbh keyboard was absolutely fine for me.
wasnt this game already released? about an animal detective on a old style city?
Wow I want to open up a bank account with Woof Bank... XD
I really liked the game. Yeah it fell off near the end and felt a little rushed and left some things unanswered but I enjoyed my time with it. 8/10
I just finished the game. I played the demo, really liked it and bought it immediatly after release. but i actually really didnt liked it and the end:( kind of lackluster
so backbone lacked backbone damn...
There’s a free prologue if you want to try before you buy
hm... and according to review prologue is better than the rest of the game...
yeah just pirate it, the prologue is good but as a narrative experience everything falls apart by the end. If you still enjoyed it by the end go ahead and give them your shekels
Ah, another victim of ambitions dashed by Corona. Pretty sure this was going to be more initially but then got altered in a desperate attempt to get something out the door. At least it has all the hallmarks of something like that.
I played this right after I played Night in the Woods. I was surprised how similar they were and that Night in the Woods was a more enjoyable game even though it was considerably easier. Backbone was pretty but disappointing.
dude the game just ended with a cliffhanger 💀
Wow, great 🤩
Any Gojira fans here?
yes but ??? is there something I'm missing here what's the connection lol
@@remingtongagnard4442 Well they also have a song called Backbone lmao
I think the writers of Backbone were inspired by the anime Neo Genesis Evangelion
Damn, it's finally coming out! I'm excited as hell!
*finishes video* Soo... what's this game about again?
I can never get enough furry noire games.
The. Fuckin. Artifact.
The ending felt like a buildup for a sequel and nothing more. Its a good game in itself, but alot of gaps in the storyline needs to get filled in to get the game more interesting. I hope there will be a sequel with a more fulfilling ending soon.
Blacksad with a raccoon
could have been great... bizarre ending
So basically Beastars but it's the 1950s and you're a detective..
Dope!
This looks like a rip off of the Blacksad comics lol. It looks good tho, love pixel art.
That's really disheartening that the game doesn't deliver. :(
I had checked in on this game for months to see the final product. Oh well. Maybe the devs can try another game with a similar style but better execution
@@googleuser7454 or they stick to it but make a sequel or even a trilogy
I loved this game this review is sad
The ending feel like they killed of Howard quicker than a bad sitcom
The ending was unbelievably bad! Killed the whole game for me. Just terrible!
This is the SECOND "FURRY" DETECTIVE GAME...... BLACKSAD was the first ?
And hey.... Both USE THE EXACT SAME CLOTHES!
Made me sad and it was way too short. Lost potential in a good game imo
Furries...
...furries everywhere...
One of the worst games I've ever played
Welp, we have done it - we have arrived at the "point and click that plays worse with a mouse than a controller". How inept of a developer must you be to screw up something like that?
just finished in a few hours off a pirated copy. still wasn't worth the price of admission: my time! so many loose threads that never go anywhere. the only thing it had going for it was a few characters but they get destroyed in pathetic ways. just sad, this could've been an interesting story but it's just bad narratively (which is the whole point)