It’s time to get out of the dungeons and discover what’s on the surface - the Story Mode is now available on the public testing branch! 🎉
We’re super excited to finally invite you to Haversack Hill, Purse’s hometown that was destroyed by the evil Badger King! It’s time for you to discover her story and join her on her adventure from the very beginning.
What’s waiting for you in Haversack Hill?
Meta progression is here
You’ll start from the beginning. Everything you gather will have an impact on your future runs and the town itself. No more throwing you in at the deep end - your journey will begin with the basics. The game will guide you through the dungeons, gradually unlocking more and more possibilities to fight more and more powerful foes. Plan your actions well - you can unlock new items using the ones you’ve already found. Visit the tavern for more consumables, drop by the jeweler to unlock new gems, or head to the blacksmith to equip yourself with some sturdy armor! With time you will also unlock all the other characters.
Turn the ruins of Haversack Hill into a bustling town
Everything you bring from the dungeons will not only help you prepare better for your next dungeon escapades, but also bring Haversack Hill to its former glory. Join Purse’s mission to rebuild her hometown! With the loot you gathered you can now get three new resources - food, materials, and treasures that will allow you to demolish the ruins and construct 50 brand new buildings in their place.
Organize your village just like you organize your backpack
It’s not just what you build, but where you build it. The placement of buildings and decorations in Haversack Hill will add unique town effects and bonuses to the surroundings. Wanna boost up some military structures? Build barracks nearby! Trying to increase your population? Add more houses!
Unveil Backpack Hero’s lore
Following Purse’s adventure you will discover the secrets of the game’s lore. What exactly happened with Purse’s family? Why is she delving deep into the dangerous dungeons? Why was Haversack Hill destroyed? How are all the characters connected? What will happen next?! Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about Backpack Hero’s plot is finally here for you to unwrap! Meet over 30 NPCs inhabiting Haversack Hill and complete their quests to push the story forward and find out the answers to the most burning questions!
Play with a clear goal
Speaking of quests - they give you a clear goal of what you have to achieve in the dungeons! You’ll start every mission with a unique set of items, and will have to find and bring specific loot too! Every quest is a unique challenge that will help you understand the game mechanics better and improve the lives of those waiting for you on the surface!
Working on the Story Mode update has been our main focus for a while now and we really hope that it meets your expectations. Please keep in mind that it’s still not finished - we want to polish it as much as possible and we need your help! It's an essential part of Backpack Hero's 1.0 release, coming this fall to PC! 🍂
We can’t wait to hear your feedback!
If you want to let us know what you think about the Story Mode, please fill out two surveys we’ve prepared:
Survey 1 - this one focuses on gathering your overall impressions through a series of questions
Survey 2 - in this one you can share your thoughts in as much detail as you'd like! Consider this your personal notebook, where you can jot down your feedback and return to it whenever you have more to add.
To access the public testing branch: right click the game on the steam library -> Properties -> Betas -> "testingbranch - Testing Branch"
Upcoming Price Increase
Hey, Backpackers!
We want to give you a heads up that Backpack Hero will be raised to the full price - from $16.99 to $19.99 on September 30th. This is the only price increase we have planned for Early Access and 1.0.
Why?
We can finally say it - we’re really on the homestretch of the 1.0 release! 🥹 And we’re getting close to Haversack Hill - the Story Mode will be available for everyone to playtest on our public testing branch in October. We can’t wait for you to see how it’s changed since we showed it for the first time, and of course to get hands-on experience! With tons of new content, a bunch of exciting quests and a whole town of witty characters, you’ll venture out of the dungeons to discover Backpack Hero’s lore, experience meta progression and build your own charming town 🏘️
Keep your eyes peeled for the upcoming news about the Story Mode’s release to the public testing branch - we’ll give you much more info about it then 👀
Backpack Hero has really changed since we entered Early Access!
We want to really thank you for your feedback on the recent Enemy Update ❤️ We’re extremely happy with your response and really glad that it solved many of the issues you’ve been experiencing for a while. Since we entered Early Access, Backpack Hero has changed a whole lot!
In a bit more than a year we…
🤖 …added 4 characters - Tote, CR-8, Satchel and Pochette
🔨 …introduced new events, such as the forge
🎉 …celebrated Halloween, Christmas, New Year and Love Day together
🐸 …reworked 2 characters - Tote and Pochette
🗡️ …introduced over 800 items
🐝 …created over 100 unique enemies
🎮 …delivered many new ways to play - including controller support
✅ ...got Steam Deck verified
🔥 …reworked curses and hazards
🎥 …setup Twitch integration
😎 …made mod support a feature
📖 …improved the atlas
🐛 …fixed thousands of bugs
Whether you remember Backpack Hero’s earliest days or just started playing yesterday, we wanted to thank you for your support, feedback, and ideas ❤️ We wouldn't be where we are today without you. Let us know if there’s anything that can be improved - we want to keep making Backpack Hero better for you!
New enemies, all encounters rebalanced, more player agency!
Hey Backpackers!
This month’s big update is live now on the main branch!
Enemy Update
The Enemy Update is a big milestone: there are now 99 unique enemy types in Backpack Hero!
We've reworked and rebalanced every encounter in the game, there's more variety in combat, a lot more information, and more agency over your battles and runs (that includes Curses)!
We’re telegraphing enemy moves and abilities more clearly – with new opportunities to interrupt attacks and defend against harmful effects during combat. More information! More clarity!
No more curse attacks! – Curses are completely GONE from enemy attacks. Meaning they’ll no longer throw a wrench in your carefully planned strategies. You never have to get cursed.
Curses are a calculated risk – Cursed items are fun when you can build around them! Now you’ll be given opportunities to pick up curses from chests and NPCs in a way that you control: your choice if you want to take them!
Old Relics make a return! – We heard the complaints that old relics were gone! So we brought back some of the favorites!
All enemy encounters reworked and rebalanced:
Significant balance updates to all enemies, encounters, and bosses.
New enemy types – there’s now a total of 99 unique enemy types with countless more varieties, patterns, and encounters for each type.
More enemy variety – enemies have more attack patterns and unique powers!
More counters – counter the Robber Racoon from swiping your coins! If you attack him, you can stop him from running away!
New enemy powers and hazards – unique enemy powers including reactive attacks and 5 new hazards!
See enemy powers on their card and with their status effects – no more surprise block being added each turn!
Old relics are back! We're bringing back the old bombstone, the conductor, the old cotton ball, the cracked bottle, the old stopwatch, and the old shield spirit! These have new names, new sprites, and some small balance updates. But all your favorite effects are back!
Bug fixes Galore! Too many to even count!
New enemies and encounters:
This update introduces more than 12 entirely new enemies. Here's a few:
The Kestrel A new foe from the bird empire! The kestrel winds up very powerful attacks – but if you counter and attack first, they’ll cancel their big hit!
Queen’s Bees You’ve battled bees, now face... ... even more bees! These bees are much more dangerous than the bees you’ve fought before. They guard the Queen directly!
Lucky Wraiths These Wraiths are lucky - lucky for you. Defeat them to steal their luck!
Gremlins They like money and running fast. They will drop extra coins if you can beat them before they run away!
Returning Relics:
Hopefully these look familiar! We're open to returning any of your other old favorites!
What’s Next:
The Enemy Update is live now on the main branch and includes more changes and important bug fixes (pouches are fixed) – we hope combat and enemy encounters are now where we want them!
This update should be the last major stepping stone before 1.0 — we now plan to focus on Story Mode content, quests, and progression.
Story Mode is already in very limited testing and we’ll open it up to the public testing branch in the near future! We can’t wait for you to see how these recent changes play out in a more structured adventure!
Manage your inventory with a new time-limited bundle!
Hey, Backpackers!
We have a treat for all the inventory management fans! Backpack Hero has bundled up with God Of Weapons, an amazing roguelike packed with action! Collect and organize your loot, plan your strategy, fight hordes of monsters and reclaim the last light for the world.
God of Weapons is OUT NOW, so show these folks some love ❤️
And if you’d like to add not one, but two fun roguelike inventory management titles to your Steam library — or complete the set — you can take advantage of the bundle with a 10% discount! The offer ends after 7 days!
That's not all for this update! We have several new things too! Including:
Major changes to CR8! He has all new items, curses, relics, and an overheat mechanic that allows for some wicked new combos, but prevents some of the simpler infinites!
CR8 "Gear" builds. These are like cleavers, but for our robot pal!
The Cursed Forge! Add powerful new effects to your items at the cost of a permanent penalty applied to them! (Old forges are still there)
Many new items including Pandora's Box!
Buffed relics! More of the old relics will be added back in shortly!
New sound effects and animated backgrounds!
The Tusk doesn't effect CR8 components!
Improved options and credits screen! Kickstarter supporters can find their names more easily!
Many, many bug-fixes. We're sorry Coral wasn't working properly!
Organize your backpack and unleash the great power during Steam Strategy Fest 🧩
Hey, Backpackers!
Backpack Hero is part of Steam Strategy Fest - a true delight for all masterful tacticians out there! No matter if you relish in turn-based adventures or thrive on city-building challenges, there's something here to hone your intellect 🧠 Backpack Hero was also featured by Polygon in their article highlighting a selection of games worth checking out during the event, among other amazing titles ❤️ We're extremely flattered!
Dare to unleash the great power of countless items yourself? 🗡️ You still have a chance to grab Backpack Hero 20% off. So, if you’ve been thinking of adding it to your Steam library, you can take advantage of the discount until September 4th 🐭
Hey everyone, today we'd like you to fill out the Backpack Hero Feedback Form!
We want to make this game the best in can be, and to do that we'd like to know exactly what parts of the game you think needs improvement! Are there aspects of the game that you feel like aren't as good as they should be? Do you think some of the recent updates gone in the wrong direction? Let us know!
Feedback is very important when making a game, and we want to make sure everyone's voice is heard. We'll be using this feedback to make adjustments! Our next update plans to drastically reduce curses. So if you love them, let us know before they're gone!
We're continuing to work hard on the town, mod support, and general clean up of the games core mechanics, and we hope to share more information about those things soon, Thank you for your support!
We're planning to expand the modding possibilities even further down the road. So start brainstorming your ideas to make your journey as a Backpack Hero even more exciting!
We hope you have a blast with all these new items ❤️
It’s Dreamhack Beyond’s Summer Indie Showcase time and Backpack Hero is part of it! It's an event packed with fantastic indie games that are a definite must-try this summer 🎮 Make sure to give them a look!
Got Backpack Hero on your mind for your Steam collection? Starting August 21st, you'll have the opportunity to grab it at a 20% discount! 🐭
Meta progression is here
Turn the ruins of Haversack Hill into a bustling town
Organize your village just like you organize your backpack
Unveil Backpack Hero’s lore
Play with a clear goal
Why?
