~✦~ Summary ~✦~

+ Interesting central mechanic involving optimizing an arrangement of items in one's pack
+ High variety of items
+ Numerous characters with unique items and mechanics
= Good variety of foes, but slightly short of adequate replay value given other game content
+ Interesting Story Mode features, with lots of quests for different gimmicks and challenges
- Story Mode has some occasional difficulty spikes or repetitive quests
- Story Mode finale felt highly rushed
+ Game's art does what it needs to, and sprites are generally fun to look at
+ Excellent music
- Occasional jank bugs, slightly unpolished gameplay
= Has modding compatibility, but isn't very in-depth beyond items

Conclusion: Rough around the edges, but has some promising gameplay mechanics that are well worth trying!

~~~~~~~~

~✦~ Detail ~✦~

Backpack Hero is an inventory management roguelike that depends on the items that the player collects. Many items power each other up or apply helpful or not-so-helpful effects. A high variety of items gives a lot of possible build combinations. Numerous playable characters further vary the gameplay with unique items and variations on the backpack theme, ensuring that each run is generally unique.

The foes that the player faces have a good variety. They also use various mechanics, but sometimes use status effects or even apply hazards to the backpack to work around mid-battle. They're generally very fair to the player, although they might not always have adequate replay value for how much other content is in the game.

For example, Story Mode is a meta-progression town builder that puts the backstories of the protagonists in motion. It makes the setting of Haversack Hills feel generally alive by letting the player customize their town - but more front-and-center, there are various characters, lore items for those so inclined, and a large variety of quests for the player to complete. These quests provide opportunities to try different item combinations, gimmicks, and challenges that might otherwise not be experienced.

Story Mode does suffer from a few issues. Most quests don't do much difficulty scaling, but some pose serious difficulty spikes (such as CR8's Micro Build quest). Some others feel disconnected or even repetitive. Two of Pochette's quests, Fragile Tribe and Everyone Comes Home (unlocked by Fragile Tribe) feel effectively similar due to a lack of other distinct mechanics. On the other hand, not all quests need to be cleared to complete Story Mode.

One of the most glaring issues is that it feels incomplete. I felt rather underwhelmed by the Act 4 area that opened up just for the finale run. It had no music, no map layouts, and no encounters of any kind except for the boss, and so the final boss felt like a mere one-note acknowledgement more than a full-fledged finale. The credits similarly lacked unique music, scrolled stuttering text, and had a broken Skip button - though the game did save. Overall, Story Mode had some genuinely fun experiences and mechanics, but did at times feel rushed.

Similarly, the game itself sometimes has janky moments. For example, items might overlap weirdly, or a button (or an item) might not work as expected. The game is still unfortunately missing some polishing to take care of these issues, despite having been released for a while.

The game's art does what it needs to. The items are well sprited and fun to look at. The music is excellent to listen to, and is often positively compared to Chrono Trigger. My personal favorite part is the Frozen Heart area.

The game has modding compatibility, mainly focused on items. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any in-depth integration for more foes, areas, or other mechanics.

Although the game is rough around the edges, I find its concept to be a lot of fun, as well as the often puzzling scenarios that arise. Combined with the fun music and the variety of mechanics that it does have, I can still easily recommend Backpack Hero to anybody looking for something different to the roguelike approach.

~✦~ Summary ~✦~ + Interesting central mechanic involving optimizing an arrangement of items in one's pack + High variety of items + Numerous characters with unique items and mechanics = Good variety of foes, but slightly short of adequate replay value given other game content + Interesting Story Mode features, with lots of quests for different gimmicks and challenges - Story Mode has some occasional difficulty spikes or repetitive quests - Story Mode finale felt highly rushed + Game's art does what it needs to, and sprites are generally fun to look at + Excellent music - Occasional jank bugs, slightly unpolished gameplay = Has modding compatibility, but isn't very in-depth beyond items Conclusion: Rough around the edges, but has some promising gameplay mechanics that are well worth trying! ~~~~~~~~ ~✦~ Detail ~✦~ Backpack Hero is an inventory management roguelike that depends on the items that the player collects. Many items power each other up or apply helpful or not-so-helpful effects. A high variety of items gives a lot of possible build combinations. Numerous playable characters further vary the gameplay with unique items and variations on the backpack theme, ensuring that each run is generally unique. The foes that the player faces have a good variety. They also use various mechanics, but sometimes use status effects or even apply hazards to the backpack to work around mid-battle. They're generally very fair to the player, although they might not always have adequate replay value for how much other content is in the game. For example, Story Mode is a meta-progression town builder that puts the backstories of the protagonists in motion. It makes the setting of Haversack Hills feel generally alive by letting the player customize their town - but more front-and-center, there are various characters, lore items for those so inclined, and a large variety of quests for the player to complete. These quests provide opportunities to try different item combinations, gimmicks, and challenges that might otherwise not be experienced. Story Mode does suffer from a few issues. Most quests don't do much difficulty scaling, but some pose serious difficulty spikes (such as CR8's Micro Build quest). Some others feel disconnected or even repetitive. Two of Pochette's quests, Fragile Tribe and Everyone Comes Home (unlocked by Fragile Tribe) feel effectively similar due to a lack of other distinct mechanics. On the other hand, not all quests need to be cleared to complete Story Mode. One of the most glaring issues is that it feels incomplete. I felt rather underwhelmed by the Act 4 area that opened up just for the finale run. It had no music, no map layouts, and no encounters of any kind except for the boss, and so the final boss felt like a mere one-note acknowledgement more than a full-fledged finale. The credits similarly lacked unique music, scrolled stuttering text, and had a broken Skip button - though the game did save. Overall, Story Mode had some genuinely fun experiences and mechanics, but did at times feel rushed. Similarly, the game itself sometimes has janky moments. For example, items might overlap weirdly, or a button (or an item) might not work as expected. The game is still unfortunately missing some polishing to take care of these issues, despite having been released for a while. The game's art does what it needs to. The items are well sprited and fun to look at. The music is excellent to listen to, and is often positively compared to Chrono Trigger. My personal favorite part is the Frozen Heart area. The game has modding compatibility, mainly focused on items. Unfortunately, I'm not aware of any in-depth integration for more foes, areas, or other mechanics. Although the game is rough around the edges, I find its concept to be a lot of fun, as well as the often puzzling scenarios that arise. Combined with the fun music and the variety of mechanics that it does have, I can still easily recommend Backpack Hero to anybody looking for something different to the roguelike approach.