Backpack Boy Review
Shine a flashlight into the past and reshape the path forward in Chuck and Niles Games’ compact puzzle platformer Backpack Boy.
Backpack Boy. Credit: Chuck, Niles Games
Puzzle platformer Backpack Boy from Chuck and Niles Games began as a submission to the 2023 Big Mode Game Jam and expanded over the course of a few years into a full game. It’s a compact, highly focused experience that had me completely absorbed until I finished it in around 2.5 hours with the true ending. Its simple mechanics give the level design just enough to work with, and Backpack Boy keeps finding clever new ways to use them.
Backpack Boy is climbing a snowy mountain when he discovers a mysterious abandoned structure and a flashlight that reveals the past wherever its light falls. He can’t help but explore.
As you run, jump, climb, push, and carry or throw objects, you can aim your flashlight in any direction to transform the environment. The world exists in two states: present and past. Solving each room relies on using light—from your flashlight or other sources—to change parts of the level and open a path to the exit.
Backpack Boy. Credit: Chuck, Niles Games
Backpack Boy. Credit: Chuck, Niles Games
The movement and platforming themselves aren’t special; the real star is the brilliant level design. The concept is simple, but the developers squeeze everything they can out of it. Over its runtime, the game never stops finding new ways to spin its mechanics, often by cleverly exploiting what it has already introduced instead of adding more gimmicks. I was constantly surprised by the new wrinkles. Nothing ever got stale. And if you do get stuck, you can skip any room in the game from the pause menu.
The game’s pixel art isn’t remarkable. The whole thing looks simpler and flatter than it should, but the function of every object in a level is always clear. The best thing I can say about the graphics is that they never get in the way of understanding how the puzzles work.
If you appreciate bite-sized puzzle platformers, I highly recommend Backpack Boy. It brings back memories of the simple-looking but highly inventive freeware indie games coming out in the mid-2000s.
Backpack Boy
Simple mechanics and brilliant level design make Backpack Boy a delightful puzzle platformer that never wears out its welcome.
Explore an abandoned structure and manipulate past and present with a flashlight in Chuck and Niles Games’ inventive puzzle platformer Backpack Boy.