Backstab

Backstab follows a samurai who wakes up on a mysterious island. NPCs give you missions that unlock further tasks as you complete them, introducing skills, equipment and how to use them. You gather equipment, match skills and defeat enemies to complete each mission.

Missions and factions

Quest dialogue reveals the island’s interpersonal and faction relationships, which shape the suspense around what happens next. A separate quest line follows the adventures of other adventurers and reveals character relationships beyond their outward appearances.

Combat

You can charge into enemy positions and fight at close range, or attack from the rear with arrows. How you fight is up to you. Elites have different skills, so underestimating one can send you back to town to fight again.

Enemies include fighters with conventional weapons such as swords, wizards who use magic to inflict weakening status effects, and robots that attack with energy barrages or lasers.

Equipment and travel

New equipment you find during an adventure comes with quest dialogue about how to use it, as well as instructions describing the item. Each battle map has a quick-arrival point that takes you from town to a target area, but only one quick-arrival point can be active at a time. Choosing where to set it can help you make better use of your time.

Island locations

Quests lead you through caves, basins, swamps, deserts and abandoned towns.