Backbone review: it's not what you expect, but hot damn is it pretty

Tails Noir

Tails Noir is a post-noir narrative adventure. Become raccoon private eye Howard Lotor and explore dystopian Vancouver inhabited by animals as you uncover a deeply personal story of change and transformation.

An important part of having a lovely time with something is setting your expectations correctly. Just ask the two old ladies who I once saw going into a screening of Zombieland and leaving after approximately seven minutes. So in that spirit, it seems important to tell you that Backbone is not the point and click detective adventure game with all puzzles you might have thought it was.

It's more accurately described as a grim, philosophical, story-focused noir game about collectivism vs. individualism, dressed up in the tropes of a detective puzzle game. Like The Good Place with more depression, or Disco Elysium with raccoons.

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