After I was first requested to take a look at Backbone at Summer time Game Fest 2025, I hadn’t heard of it but. I looked it up on Steam and thought it regarded fairly rad, so I booked an appointment, although I additionally anticipated it might kick my butt. Typically that is the job, and that is okay. I in contrast it to Sifu in my thoughts, which I at all times discovered to be actually troublesome. Nevertheless, as soon as I received to go hands-on with it, I discovered it is extra like a Batman Arkham sport by way of its fight gameplay. These acquainted mechanics helped me look trendy and lethal in my demo, and put Backbone on my radar forward of its launch subsequent 12 months.
Backbone comes from Nekki, a workforce that has beforehand developed cellular video games, together with the favored Shadow Combat sequence. Even Backbone initially started as a cellular sport, however because the venture grew and took on a distinct form, the workforce realized it had a chance to make its debut on PC and consoles. Impressed by the profession works of John Woo and different trendy motion motion pictures, Backbone is a “gun-fu” fight sport in a cyberpunk setting with a easy story setup.
In it, you play as Redline, a personality whose bodily look is so cool in my view that it received me to e-book the demo. The punky road artist’s origin story is very similar to John Wick’s, although as a substitute of a useless canine, it is her kidnapped brother who compels her to get into ass-kicking mode. The 15-20 hour sport is alleged to start out small by way of Redline’s motivation and improve the stakes from there. What she expects is a private quest to save lots of her brother quickly pulls her right into a legal underworld of AI overlords and corrupt folks in energy throughout the colourful however troubled metropolis.
In my time with the sport, I lit up unhealthy guys in bars, hallways, and rooftops with roundhouse kicks, haymakers, and blasts of my dual-wielded pistols. The sport wears its inspirations on its sleeve. This is a sport from individuals who unabashedly love motion pictures like The Matrix and Arduous Boiled. Nekki is not shying away from that, maybe finest displayed in its hallway battle scene paying homage to Oldboy. It is leaning into it. However I used to be pleased to see the sport makes use of fight programs extra just like the Batman Arkham sequence, wherein it is not too robust to chain collectively assault combos, execute well-timed counters to maintain chains alive, and periodically swap to ending strikes carried out by urgent a pair of face buttons.
Redline was fierce and swift, taking down teams of 4 or extra enemies at a time with regularity. I may additionally use a set off button to spray-paint enemies huddled round me, very similar to Batman’s cap stun assault. The paint would follow the enemies and the setting, giving it a pleasant visible contact wherein you actually left your mark on a brawl. I may shoot each time I needed to, however it’s not a shooter. The weapons had been finest used as combo finishers, which you’ll see trendy examples of within the trailer above.
Whereas the sport will not essentially be “simple,” it is not meant to ship you beating your head right into a wall. With folks’s busy schedules in thoughts, a developer advised me the studio needs gamers to have the ability to play for simply a short time and really feel like they’ve made progress. If you happen to come dwelling from work and solely have slightly time to play video games, it’s best to have the ability to load up Backbone, crack just a few skulls, and really feel such as you’ve completed one thing in your quick timeframe. And for gamers who do need extra of a problem, the sport will supply a mode wherein it’s a must to keep away from taking any injury in any respect. Good luck with that.
I favored Sifu, however extra on the deserves of its artwork course, story, and, positive, how good the fight regarded after I may pull it off. However Backbone made me really feel simply as highly effective with out the accompanying frustrations, and personally, I am far more up for that sort of expertise. Whereas some video games of this type go away me feeling like a anonymous goon at instances, Backbone made me really feel like one among Keanu Reeves’ punchiest roles.
Backbone involves PC, PS5, and Xbox Sequence X|S in 2026.