The logo for Tails Noir Preludes, shortly after the rebranding
Backbone, later rebranded as Tails Noir, is a noir Adventure Game developed by Eggnut Games, released in 2021.The setting is a dystopian Vancouver populated by anthropomorphic animals. Howard Lotor, a raccoon Private Detective, is hired by a woman, the wife of a banker, to find evidence her husband is cheating on her. He enters a nightclub owned by Clarissa Bloodworth, the polar bear at the head of the Bloodworth crime family. In the basement of the building, Howard finds his target dead and butchered. Renee Wilson, a fox investigative journalist, hires Howard for a deeper investigation into Clarissa's criminal network, and together they unravel a conspiracy of transformation.
A prequel, Tails: The Backbone Preludes, was released in February 2023. Later that year, in August 2023, the series rebranded, and the games are now titled Tails Noir and Tails Noir Preludes. The reason for this change was not officially announced.
This work contains the following tropes:
- 2½D: The game has 2D characters in a 3D environment, while movement is on a 2D plane.
- Antepiece: In Granville, Howard finds a family friend in a police booth and decides to sneak past his booth to avoid talking to him. Getting discovered here is completely harmless. Soon after, Howard is required to sneak past security at a night club, where getting discovered results in a game over.
- An Offer You Can't Refuse: At the end of Act 2, Clarissa breaks in to the safe house to interrogate Howard and attempts bringing him over to her side. She mentions his mother at the end of their conversation. In the epilogue, Clarissa kidnaps Renee and shares her plans for a revolution against the government, hoping that this person will support her.
- Arc Words: "Call mom."
- Howard's fridge has a sticky note reminding him to "Call mom." He does gets a chance to call her at the start of act 2, but this is optional.
- Later, during the parade, the cinema's marquee changes from showing movie names to only showing "CALL MOM."
- Creation Myth: The Church of the Great Shepherd, a figure who lead the animals to the safety of Vancouver, created the wall to protect them, and granted them wisdom while leaving the Apes in charge.
- Dialogue Tree: The majority of conversations use dialogue trees. Otherwise, Dialogue During Gameplay is usually used when Howard examines the environment or has thoughts for himself.
- Fantastic Caste System: The people are divided based on their Kind. Apes are at the top. Clarissa, a bear, is in the elite. Cats and dogs are also part of the upper class. Renee, a fox, and Howard, a raccoon, are both in the middle class. Rodents such as mice and rabbits form the working class.
- High-Class Cannibal: The flesh from the people murdered at The Bite is going to one of the Ape Ministers, who dines on it with his friends in the upper class.
- I Am Legion: Towards the end of act 4, one of the characters starts referring to themself as "We".
- Improvised Weapon: At one point, Howard can pick up a dinner tray to knock someone out.
- Knockout Gas: One of the puzzles requires Howard to avoid being gassed unconscious.
- Lizard Folk: Deryl V in the secret lab is a combination of a lizard and a canine.
- Outcast Refuge: Howard spends a couple nights at a camp underneath a bridge. It's mentioned another refuge exists outside the city.
- People Jars: Several people are seen floating in pods in Science City. More specifically, they are spliced creatures in the secret lab.
- Police Are Useless: Early on, Howard considers reporting Clarissa to the police, but realizes she must have some kind of protection. The most likely outcome would be the cops arresting Howard for trespassing while ignoring everything else.
- Recruited from the Gutter: Renee finds Howard drunk and passing out from injuries, and takes him to her safe house. Once he's recovered, she brings him on as a partner for her investigation.
- Scienceville: The city's scientists and their families live and work in Science City, which is based off the Hotel Vancouver
. The people there live in relative luxury, though their living quarters are used to test experimental technologies. - Seeking the Missing, Finding the Dead: Howard searches for several missing people, and discovers they attempted to escape the city. Later on, he can learn one of the three girls died during the escape.
- Slow Transformation: After finding the Artifact, Howard becomes its host and is gradually consumed by it for the rest of the game.
- Stealth-Based Mission: Acts 1 and 2 require Howard to sneak into a nightclub and a factory, respectively, avoiding guards by crouching behind furniture and fiddling with machinery to create distractions.
- String Theory: Howard and Renee both have cork boards with a map of Vancouver and its districts, photos of people and news articles.
- Stuff Blowing Up: In the liquor shop, if you talk to the tuna on the wall and exhaust its dialogue, it will explode.
- Underground Railroad: Deo, a scavenger, helps people get through the Wall to escape the city.
- The Taxi: Howard's friend Anatoly is a taxi driver, and he's hired for the day to transport Howard around the city.
- The Wall Around the World: The Wall surrounding Vancouver separates it from the wasteland outside the city, leaving its citizens isolated from The Outside World. Gaps in the wall allow docks for fishing boats to operate.
- They Would Cut You Up: Clarissa's scientist Belle performs some painful experiments on Howard while he's infected with the Artifact.
- World of Mammals: Vancouver is populated with anthropomorphic mammals, while birds can talk and deliver things but otherwise look like normal animals. Reptiles and fish are non-humanoid; lizards are kept as pets while fish are caught for food. The one exception is an unnatural hybrid created in a lab.
- Your Days Are Numbered: One of the characters becomes infected with the Artifact, and this condition is treated like a terminal illness.
