Steam's latest big hit is a little game about stuffing a huge backpack full of magic items

GamesActionSteam’s latest big hit is a little game about stuffing a huge backpack full of magic itemsWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Furcifer)

A fantasy character with a huge backpack

I’ve been wondering when a game might finally tear me away from last month’s indie Steam hit, poker roguelikeBalatro. Turns out it’sBackpack Battles, a PvP-ish (I’ll explain that in a second) autobattler about playing inventory tetris with a bunch of magic items. It arrived in early access on March 8, and within two days it sold over 100,000 copies,according to its developer, Furcifer.

After playing a few rounds today, I’m not surprised about that huge sales total, or about the “Overwhelmingly Positive” scores on Steam, or its peak concurrents: over 35,000 players today. Backpack Battles is atonof fun, so easy to get into that it doesn’t need a tutorial, and has such lightning fast gameplay you can blast through a dozen matches on a work break.

I started with a frying pan that works well as a low-damage bludgeon, but discovered that if I placed food items into my backpack around the frying, it did additional damage. So, I loaded up on bananas and leeks and peppers, which meant my pyromancer was actually more of a deranged chef. Other items can buff each other when placed together, like the fireballs my pyromancer generated each round could enchant a dagger I bought into doing heat damage.

(Image credit: PlayWithFurcifer)

Backpack Battles

Certain items, if kept near each other in your pack, will combine, sometimes surprisingly. I bought a friendly smiling blob named Goobert because it had healing properties (also it was just cute), and put it in my pack next to the pepper I was using to make my frying pan more formidable. A round later while I was shopping, Goobertatethat pepper, and becameChili Goobert, which increased its healing powers and buffed the activation speed of all my heat-related items. Hell yeah! Who knows what else Goobert can eat?

Winning 10 battles against the ghosts of other players lets you increase your rank so you’ll face higher ranked players in the next round, and there’s also a survival mode where you can see just how far you fight before you’re defeated. And there are so many items in Backpack Battles it’s almost ridiculous. In just a handful of matches I’ve already discovered hundreds of shop items to stick in my pack, not just weapons and shields, but squirrels, hedgehogs, multiple Gooberts, and horned winged rabbit named Wolpertinger who will do more than give you a buff, it’ll give yourbuffsa buff.

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There’s a free demo to try before you buy, but once you try I’m pretty sure you’ll buy. Backpack Battles is fast and fun and I think it’s gonna be my new breaktime game of choice. It’s only 13 bucks if you do decide to nab it, andit’s 10% off on Steamfor the next 10 days.

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