Backfirewall_ Review (PC)

I need to find the best way to clog up a data-sorting solution inside a modern smartphone. It will not involve writing code or searching the web for a specialized program. It does not require the use of any kind of app. But it does ask my character to work the best way to make sure that some blocks cannot reach the bottom of a drop.

I’m also dealing with a number of app characters, ranging from banking to social media, trying to get one of them to glitch and enter a recursive state. This is a purely dialogue-based challenge and I might solve it by simply using all the lines the game offers to see which program will fail first. But I would like a better solution than brute force.

While I think about the two challenges, my character is also switching a level between three states and deleting cardboard data boxes. The idea is to make sure that the area is clean so I can see and get all the scattered bits of e-mail communication, the only way to find out more about the owner of the smartphone I am currently haunting. There are also plenty of bugs to collect.

Backfirewall_ is developed by Naraven Games and published by All in! Games. I played using Steam on the PC. Gamers can also get it on the Nintendo Switch, the PlayStation 5, the Xbox Series X and S, and older devices from Microsoft and Sony. The title mixes exploration and puzzles with a unique setting.

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As an update, gamers will be sent inside a smartphone, assuming the role of an update assistant, quickly encountering the operating system they are supposed to replace. The process does not go smoothly and the unlikely pair of allies is quickly thrown inside the device’s architecture. The old OS and the update assistant need to work together to find out what’s happening in the system and maybe change it for the better.

Backfirewall_ really wants players to like its characters and the humor associated with them. You will meet social media apps that get lost, banking apps with vulnerabilities, and more ideas centered on anthropomorphized smartphone programs. The game sometimes draws out a few laughs but it can also come across as trying much too hard. I found the fourth-wall-breaking moments the best but, as always when comedy is involved, one’s mileage might vary.

The game’s gameplay is built around puzzle rooms. The update assistant, with the backed-up OS in tow, will enter a location and a screen will provide a list of objectives. They are presented as true system statements that need to be invalidated for a hacked door to open and allow progress.

Some of them are very easy to solve, asking players to move around the space, discover what they can interact with, and eliminate as many if not all the boxes that are crowding out the level. Making space also makes it easier to see and to get the various collectibles spread around the world. They are not strictly needed but offer a good diversion when the puzzle work seems too hard.

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Deletion is surely the player power that’s most used over the course of the experience. The update assistant can also invert the status of objects, which is important for manipulating levels and other materials. The character can also choose the color coding for elements in the environments and duplicate them.

The game gradually introduces these abilities and makes sure players know what to do with them. And it quickly becomes second nature to see how and where they can be used while exploring the environment.

Backfirewall_ is not an easy game. The later levels have plenty of complex puzzles to engage with. The smartphone setting allows for some weird and delightful solutions. The game never falls into the classic trap of forcing players to endlessly experiment to hit on a way to make progress.

The best decision the development team has made is to offer a full hint system. At any point, players will be able to interact with a duck to get details about their objectives. If they want they can ask for full instructions on how to solve puzzles and clear a room. This eliminates frustration and allows any player to experience the title’s universe.

There are also some stealth elements in Backfirewall_, set between the puzzle-filled locations. They represent the least interesting part of the game but reward the player with more context about the smartphone world and extra access to collectibles.

Backfirewall_ is at its best when it puts players in the middle of a new environment, with a list of tasks to accomplish, filling the future with possibilities. Sure, puzzles can only be solved in one way, but the fact that you deal with more than one at a time enhances immersion.

Backfirewall_ makes a good choice by setting the action inside a phone, allowing the development team to create big levels and puzzles without spending a ton of resources. The world does not make too much sense and has limited visual appeal. But the puzzle elements are clean and it’s never hard to understand where to go and what to do.

The sound design is also decent. The voice actors for the operating system and other programs do good work with their lines but the rest of the world is oddly limited in terms of sounds. The music app radio is annoying and the soundtrack stays mostly in the background.

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