NEED TO KNOW
EXPECT TO PAY $17
DEVELOPER Jaspel
PUBLISHER Jaspel, IndieArk
LINK bit.ly/3CDfhkf
Such is the need for a unique selling point in games, that even the most onerous housekeeping can become a key mechanic. Backpack Hero is an inventory management roguelike, a genre-blend that risks giving me flashbacks to panicked shuffling of vodka and the wrong ammo in STALKER.
Backpack Hero sees you take on one of three charming animal characters with a magical rucksack, a wooden sword, plated salad, and make shift shield, ready for a scrolling 2D adventure. The look and feel recall an ill-defined bygone era of DOS boot-drives, and the retro atmosphere is total, down to the music and audio. This will either delight you, annoy you, or give you an eerie feeling that your dad is going to want to watch the news on the family TV and make you turn the game off. Oh, the nostalgia.
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Special Report- Stacked Deck - Monster Train, a deckbuilding roguelike that firmly entrenched itself as the crown prince to the kingly Slay the Spire back in 2020, was the kind of smash success you might call Champagne Big.
Monster Train, a deckbuilding roguelike that firmly entrenched itself as the crown prince to the kingly Slay the Spire back in 2020, was the kind of smash success you might call Champagne Big. Four years later, its successor Inkbound’s launch from Early Access was looking more like Sandwich Big.I’m not just saying that because of the mountain of lamb and eggplants I ate while meeting with developer Shiny Shoe over lunch, to feel out what the aftermath of releasing a game looks like in 2024. I mean, have I thought about that sandwich every day since? Yes. But also, the indie team talked frankly about the struggle of luring Monster Train’s audience on board for its next game.
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