Organize, rearrange, and make difficult decisions endlessly in this roguelike dungeon crawler. Was Backpack Hero worth it?
Full disclosure: We received a review code for the Nintendo Switch version of this game. Rest assured that this will not affect the quality or candor of our review.
Table of Contents
Background
Inventory Management Puzzles in videogames are nothing new. However, it used to be a frustration feature rather than the central conceit of a game. If I had to distill it down to a few conceits, it would be Slay the Spire with retro JRPG music and the grid-based inventory management of games from around 15-20 years ago. On top of that, there’s a city-builder mode back in town when you’re done dungeon delving.
What does Backpack Hero do well?
It’s a simple premise that works well, and there’s a lot of player agency. It’s hard to blame enemies for killing you when you have so many choices to make along the way. Should you have taken that potion that dealt 12 damage to all enemies? Well, it might have helped, but I wanted that treasure instead.
What could Backpack Hero do better?
The dungeons start to feel repetitive even early into the game. There are plenty of items, but I found myself gravitating to the same builds whenever possible. In the early game, weapons that aren’t your starter are just worse options. Sure, a cleaver build can be fun but I need all the parts for it, and good luck with that. I didn’t even know that there was a bow, and I so rarely saw it that I simply never planned to build around it.
Unfortunately, there are some technical issues, such as with the cursor and navigation. For example, I would try to construct one of the rightmost buildings, but I couldn’t navigate all the way over. There were other issues with menu choices, when selecting an option just didn’t seem to work, both in the dungeon and the town. Maybe it works better with a mouse, but that leads me to another question: why doesn’t this game have touchscreen functionality?
I’ve also seen reports of the game simply erasing your progress, so be aware of that possibility. Perhaps that’s part of the roguelike experience.
Was Backpack Hero fun?
The core gameplay loop is solid. However, you may find that the awkward controls take you out of it.
Is Backpack Hero good value?
The main story is pretty short. As per usual for the genre, there are a lot of extra things to unlock and run conditions to beat. As is often the case with these kind of games, a lot depends on how enamored you are of the gameplay loop.
Who is this game for?
If you ever enjoyed shuffling items around in your inventory in games like Diablo or Resident Evil, then this is for you.
Was Backpack Hero Worth It?
Backpack Hero goes for $19.99 on the eShop. The indie game space is crowded, especially at that price point. I think it would have been fairer for this to have been priced at around $15 since it’s a short game that relies on replay value. Backpack Hero has potential but at this time, I would wait on Backpack Hero for now and confirm that it gets some QoL updates before purchasing.
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