OK, how to Describe Backbone… It’s 2016, you’re in the cinema with your family. or your bestie, seeing the newest big Disney release. Zootopia.
Or Zootroplis if you live in the UK. Something to do with Milkshakes?
Anyway, you’re enjoying the film. This well-written crime story about animal people classism in a bustling cartoon metropolis, about a missing persons case turning into a deep-rooted conspiracy of animal instincts, racism, and false-flag deep-state shenanigans. You’re munching on popcorn or those overpriced warm bacon snacks and chugging one of those frozen Fanta thingies that comes in a phallic bottle, but one thought, one niggle, crosses your mind…
This is good, but what if they ate each other?
Backbone is a beautiful pixel-art narrative adventure, what we used to call ‘point and click’ before they made both of those concepts redundant.
You are Howard Lotor, a raccoon detective hired by an Otter to find her husband in the busy middle-class nightlife district of The City, a mammal-person civilization ruled by a caste of scientists and politico apes. Following leads takes you to the hot bear-run nightspot The Bite, owned by mafia head and future waifu Clarissa Bloodworth. Digging through the prostitutes, drug rings and murder businesses, you find your otter.
Then you vomit profusely, blackout, get beaten up by street toughs. Rescued by a fox journalist, you team up to get to the bottom of this dire situation and expose the City’s corruption.
That’s just the epilogue (and a tiny bit afterwards). I won’t spoil anything else because Backbone is full of twists, turns, and shocking revelations you need to experience for yourself. You’re a down on your luck photography graduate trying to be a detective, and everything that happens drags you further into a world of corruption, cannibalism, systemic racism and an enforced class system. All within the imposing walls of a City that tells you constantly there is nothing outside.
And when I say cannibalism, technically, it’s not. But people eating people is cannibalism in my book, regardless.
There doesn’t seem to be room here for surprises and shocks, but Backbone does it every ten minutes. It plunges a hand into your gut, reaches up and grabs your heart, leans in close, and growls: “SOCIETY IS CORRUPT BUCKO.”
You could make an argument that this game has a political bias because it does; the ruling class are inhuman monsters, and even the people doing good have to do nasty things along the way that muddy their ethics.
I’m sitting here writing this article a week after the Bobby Kotick scandal broke and Activision’s shareholders decided to defend their CEO over the safety and welfare of the companies workers. There’s no better time for a video game that makes a statement like this; the upper-class predates on those below them and will do anything to protect themselves, amoral or illegal, and sometimes we need to do more to fight that. If you can’t handle that, maybe video games aren’t for you. Or real life. Or books. Or anything, really. Sucks, doesn’t it?
The world and characters of Backbone are fantastically well developed and rounded. Howard is a risk-taker who throws himself headfirst into danger with minimal consideration, perhaps because of the cloying, suffocating love he got from his mother. Anatoly, your fat, taxi-driving beaver best friend, has strong Cousin Roman energy. The City is surrounded by a Wall, and the Apes say there is Nothing Beyond It. We worship The Shepherd, who dictates which class can do what because The Apes Say So. Finally, Clarissa Bloodworth is Lady Dimitrescu, But A Polar Bear, huge and sharp, beautiful and ruthless. She is someone’s mummy.
The pixel art here is wonderful and really stands out during the zoomed out, widescreen, landscape streetlife shots that dominate the game. Expressive characters, so many embellished details like photos, books and signs, easter egg filled furry-fied film posters. The sprites are emotive, large, and heavily animated, in an early 90’s kinda way. The best way I can describe a lot of Backbone’s look is deep-fried Broken Sword. But you’re a Raccoon. And not George Stobart. Fucking George. (Ed – What’s wrong with George)
However, I did not like the zoomed-in cut scenes. It’s pixel-heavy sprite art, so when Backbone opens with a raccoon taking a bath, and every pixel is 2cms big. Argh. It doesn’t look good, but thankfully these moments are few and far between.
Backbone’s score is Brilliant. You can tell straight off that the makers listened to a lot of soundtracks from David Lynch films. Atmospheric horns, piano and heavy drums, tense rolling bass, wrapped in an alien static-like discordance.
There are no voices here, but there’s no need. The music tells a big enough story audibly, and the characters are so loud in their characterization you can hear them directly in your head, thanks to the fantastic dialogue, paired with the sprites’ thought-out body language. My personal fav is Circe, a lady puffing a joint whose chest is falling out of her silk gown, who interrupts you illegally entering a building to admire your butt. I can hear her. I can taste her.
Finally, it plays simply. You have an inventory, but there’s no inventory mixing, item puzzles, etc. Walk, explore, talk, pick up items, try previously locked doors, pay attention. It’s A to B with no diversions in between.
There are loads of dialogue options, but most conversations need you to exhaust every option before finishing. Some choices, like, insulting someone or saying the wrong thing, might end a conversation early, but it won’t screw up your playthrough. There’s a run button just there for saving time and a duck button you use maybe five times? It produces fun ducking, sneaking sections that are never too hard; getting caught restarts the puzzle.
Overall, the gameplay is nothing special, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s here to get you through the dangerous world, the shocking twists and the brilliant dialogue.
I really enjoyed Backbone. It really, really is David Lynch’s Zootopia, and that’s good. In an age of new narrative games where gameplay takes a backseat to storytelling, Backbone is an uncut gem with a strong message – eat the rich.