History VideoGame / BackpackHero

''Backpack Hero'' is a {{roguelike}} puzzle game by Jaspel. It entered Early Access on Steam in August 2022 and was released in full on November 2023.

You play as a cute animal adventurer who's fighting to clear the dungeon, slay monsters, etc. But you have one big advantage; a magical backpack that can hold all manner of shields/potions/thunderbolts, however heavy or dangerous they would be otherwise. It even increases in size with every level you gain...but there will never be enough space to contain ''all'' the dungeon's loot. What items will best help you survive to the end? Is survival even worth anything if you can't bring that +5 Candy Blade of Evisceration with you?

'''CR-8''' (The Pipe Dreamer): A marsupial robot warrior looking for his origins and spare parts to restore order. When CR-8 levels up, he gains blocks of inventory slot sets[[note]]4 each[[/note]] that can be connected to adjacent inventory slots - but any inventory slots that overlap or go out of range are completely wasted. Unlike most characters, CR-8 cannot use most of his inventory items directly. Each turn, CR-8's Core fires out a jolt of 3 energy that uses anything in its path until its energy or maximum length runs out. The jolt can be redirected, refracted, or even amplified in energy. CR-8 starts with a Core, an adjustable energy-bending pipe, two wooden swords, a shield core, and a microchip.[[note]]His main defense, a shield module, will grow in defensive strength the longer the jolt runs before it hits the module. CR-8 also comes equipped with a microchip, a 0-energy item which can re-organize his inventory once per battle.[[/note]]

** Cleavers are standard weapons with weak DPS - but their gimmick is that they can chain with other cleavers so you use all of them at once with a few energy points.

* DifficultButAwesome: A fair number of rare and legendary items require you to seriously consider the positioning of your bag. For instance, energy gems have strict comfort zones, and will turn off if you stuff them too close to other items. The Earthshaker gains more damage the more inventory slots are below it- and it always sinks to the bottom of the bag with its 'heavy' tag, meaning you need to keep an unused inventory slot near the top to sustain it or a bunch of bricks to prop it up.

** The healer hedgehog [=NPCs=] are strongly implied to be nuns; they make reference to their "sisters", receiving health upgrades from them is described like a spiritual experience, and they deliberately venture into dangerous places in order to minister to needy people. Narration describes enemy hedgehogs as very rare and theorizes that their evil is motivated [[FreudianExcuse by some tragic event]].

** The Snake's in-game description is "Poisonous, dangerous, [[Film/SnakesOnAPlane keep them away from planes".]]
** The Cobra [[Film/TheKarateKid wears a karate outfit, a reference to Cobra Kai. Its in-game description is "Strike first, strike hard, no mercy".]]

* WorldOfFunnyAnimals: All characters intelligent enough to wear clothes (that is, everyone who's not a typical fantasy monster) are bipedal woodland animals. Of course, [[WhatMeasureIsANonCute the heroes are cuter than the villains.]]

* DropTheHammer: The September 2022 Update added Hammers to the game. Most hammers are fairly weak but have a single free use each turn and strengthen other hammers ''two'' spaces apart, meaning you need structured backpack space to get the most out of a hammer grid. The common claw hammer ''multiplies'' damage, and legendary-class hammers typically refresh the uses of other hammers, making positioning even more crucial.