Dungeon crawling has become a dime-a-dozen staple of rougelike genre, to the point it really takes something unique for a title including these keywords to stand apart from the competition. Since you are reading this, you’ve probably rightfully surmised Backpack Hero includes just one such special ingredient which happens to be... Tetris. At first glance, the notion of meshing the venerable grandfather of gaming with dungeon crawling may seem absurd, but it’s mostly due to previous sentence being a gross oversimplification of smart inventory management system. I will explain everything in due time, first let’s meet Purse and her magical backpack.

Greed is good
Purse is a nosy rat with a taste for adventure and a will to improve the living conditions of her village. To this end, she violates the ban on entering the magical dungeon, hoping to bring a piece of its wonders back home. Fortunately, the self-proclaimed heroine comes across a magical backpack, which not only imbues her with endurance that would put a mightiest pack mule to shame, but she may also wield every item contained within like a finest warrior. Let’s drop the charade, with this game’s selling point being right in the title, the Backpack is the hero of this story, to which Purse mainly happens to grant means of locomotion.

Forget skill trees and character stats, gained levels in this title allow the player to open up new space within backpack and you do want all the room you can possibly get, as the more items and synergies you manage to cram inside, the better you will perform in combat. Soon it will also become apparent that overabundance of loot from combat and chests found throughout the dungeon allows the player to only take the essentials, making the inventory management the true challenge of the game. There is no point to pull punches during adventure, as defeated player only gets to retrieve a single item, whereas a successful run rewards every last trinket and weapon one managed to pocket.

From zero to tycoon
Loot both lavish and mundane will find its use within the village of Haversack Hill. Purse’s home is on the verge of starvation as the oppressive rule of mad king drained the place of all its resources. Influx of fresh riches from the dungeon will allow the player a chance to rebuild the village, entice new population to settle in and gradually create a fully-fledged town capable of producing commerce on its own. In short, Haversack Hill is there to give the player an incentive to return to the dungeon time and again in endless looting frenzy.
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3556341561
Truth be told, the main base of operations does a stellar job at getting you invested in the gameplay loop. Quests often require the player to wield a specific set of items, teaching flexibility and new ways to approach existing game mechanics, while also unlocking new content little by little. By the time you get a proper hang of things, a choice of attractions will be lined up already – alternative branches of the dungeon, craftsmen unlocking new equipment in return for specific items, and even entirely new characters, each completely changing how the game plays.

Sword and shield and bow and magic and poison and...
The bottom line is, should you happen to enjoy the general premise of this title, there is a lot to do in Backpack Hero and with exquisite variety to it as well. Thanks to simple, yet effective combat system, the number of viable builds is staggering and yet the game is not easy. Fights play out in turns, with the player beginning every time, by spending energy to either attack or shield themselves. In response, opponents likewise will defend or strike, with numerical values of each action shown to the player in advance – come what may, it is not going to be a surprise. You may disregard defence in favour of overwhelming attacks. You may ignore shield in favour of armour, which grants defence points without spending energy. You may use magic wands fuelled by mana stones rather than energy or settle for powerful shield wall, while gradually wearing the foes down with damage over time effects. Whichever approach the player happens to choose, the game expects you to grow quickly or be overwhelmed. Likewise, should you grow complacent with the current power level, the final boss may have a nasty surprise. Predictable enemy behaviour is something of a double-edged sword, as at first it rewards memorizing the patterns, to later turn the dungeon into a multiple answer “puzzle”. However, as playtime hours stretch from several to several dozens, a sense of repetition slowly starts to creep in, thus I strongly recommend playing the game in shorter sessions.
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Delusions of grandeur
You may have noticed by now that I’ve mostly swept any notion of storytelling under the rug. Admittedly, this is a slight oversimplification, as the game has an overarching plot of searching for Purse’s lost mother and it does include additional lore on top of that, involving rather unexpected meta commentary of all things (floppy disks exist in Backpack Hero). However, pacing of the story mode is strikingly inconsistent with vivid introduction, full of events, new characters arriving, each with some contribution to the village. By the time the player gets hooked proper, these activities start fading as Haversack Hill quickly grows into a proper town. Withdrawal is not immediately apparent as there is still a multitude of further quests and new characters to unlock. Only towards the endgame it becomes an issue as you eventually come to realise that for the other half of the playtime nothing of note happened in the settlement beside steadily growing item pool. To a certain degree, the game drops the pretence of a storyline being anything else than a lure to draw the player in, and while it makes a surprise return for the final act, I already forgot that the fun dungeon delving had a grander purpose behind it. Said disparity in pacing left me with an impression that there were bigger plans for the builder section of the game, which the developer opted to never fulfil for some reason.

One more round
To summarise, while I believe Backpack Hero to have certain flaws, it definitely accomplishes its ultimate goal – being a fun, cosy dungeon crawler with distinct premise, which goes beyond being just a gimmick thanks to smart mechanics design. Or a fun and a long-lasting gimmick for those unconvinced about backpack’s ingenuity. It is one of those smaller, more down-to-earth games which focus on getting the job done right and I respect this title for it. Assuming rougelikes are up your alley, this game is in perfect position to entertain you with a round or two of loot hunting after the long day’s work or provide a breathing room in-between “larger” gaming sessions. Easily recommendable to all who enjoy some slow-burn classic fantasy on the side.