It’s not the fault of Diablo 4, Last Epoch, or Path of Exile. Some tropes, no matter how fussy or fiddly, die hard, and for decades now the classic RPG game has been built around – for better or worse – a big, tricky inventory system. Skyrim has one. Fallout has one. Hotkeys help, but with so many crafting and customization options, it takes a long time to find precisely the doohickey you need. Taking this tentpole of the RPG genre as its inspiration, one new indie game has exploded on Steam. With 100,000 copies sold in a single day, tens of thousands of players, and a 10/10 user rating already, now’s the time to check out one of 2024’s true surprise hits.
Backpack Battles is a multiplayer, RPG, and indie game all rolled into one. The idea is simple. As would-be fantasy world adventurers, you need to cultivate and arrange the perfect inventory system. Buy the right items, combine them in the most effective ways, and spin and flip your gear until it fits into your backpack perfectly. After that, it’s time to take on other players in pitched online battles. It’s your gear and your eye for the perfect, tidiest layout versus theirs.
Released on Friday, March 8, Backpack Battles has just hit a new all-time concurrent player count record of 32,635, which puts it ahead of the likes of The Elder Scrolls Online, Rimworld, Deep Rock Galactic, and The Finals during the last 24 hours.
On Saturday, March 9, just one day after it launched, developer PlayWithFurcifer confirmed that Backpack Battles had sold 100,000 copies. “This number has far exceeded our expectations,” the developer says. “As game developers, all we want is for people to enjoy our game. Having the game resonate with so many of you is a dream come true. We will continue to give our best and make Backpack Battles the best game we can.”
With almost 2,000 user reviews, the multiplayer game now boasts a 10/10 or ‘overwhelmingly positive’ rating on Steam. If you want to check it out yourself, it’s right here.
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