I've been hyperfixated on an indie game called Backpack Hero for a few weeks now and it's been carrying me through some lonely nights. From what I've seen, the game doesn't have much attention right now and some fans think the developer's abandoned it. I want to share my experience, played blind in June 2024. It's a simple premise, an inventory management roguelike where you explore randomly generated dungeons filled with enemies, finding loot and placing it in a tile grid in your backpack. Some items take more than one space, but you can rotate items to fit, like a puzzle. Items have different interactions with each other, giving buffs if placed at the bottom or top, or boosting block or damage near items of a certain type. You can buff your items with forges (once unlocked) and make a unique build that you use to go through increasingly challenging levels and boss fights. So, here's what I really enjoyed: The good 1. Atmosphere and charm It might not be everyone's cup of tea but I re

Recently I decided to try Rain World, which I'd previously seen my partner and some friends play and gush about. I was drawn in by the cute slugcats and the art style, especially the whole "abandoned world" aesthetic. You go through areas with lots of rust, pipes, broken machinery, stuff like that. I was also aware going in that this was an "exploration" kind of game, the kind that doesn't hold your hand and gives little instruction. I figured it wasn't going to be that bad. Here's how my first experience went, playing blind. Starting out, learning to hunt for food and hibernate was easy and intuitive. Surviving and fighting monsters is hard, but I can understand it. I enjoyed narrowly escaping a giant lizard and getting to the next shelter. My problem began with the Drainage System area. There's this area with a big pit, and a shelter on the other side. I, assuming I was making progress, jumped the pit and saved in the shelter - now I respawn there. I found that the adjacent room was