Backpack
Hero

Backpack Hero (2023) is an equipment-collecting dungeon role-play game that rewards efficiently packed backpacks. Play focuses on how you position items in your backpack to gain enhanced attacks. This takes classic dungeon fighting and exploration in a more strategic (and tidier) direction.

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You play a rat called Purse, who must complete levels and gather resources to rebuild her hometown with shops, research buildings and new houses. To do this you venture into the local dungeons with your trusty backpack. How items are packed not only affects the available space but can change their abilities when positioned next to each other. For example, a bow may need to be adjacent to and facing an arrow to deal damage.

Dungeons are different each time you descend. Each turn you can use items from your backpack to defeat enemies and bosses. As you progress you can unlock more backpack spaces and earn more items to create your optimal backpack for success. Dying in a dungeon empties your backpack and forces you to start again.

The result is a game that takes the backpack-packing idea and turns it into a surprisingly well-fleshed-out experience. There are even different characters to unlock, who let you work with the backpack in different ways such as CR-8, a robot rodent who carries an energy core to automatically perform attacks.

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Our examiner, Andy Robertson, first checked Backpack Hero 12 weeks ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated 11 weeks ago.