Backfirewall_ from All in! Games and Naravan Games is a very different type of puzzle experience on PS5. Find out more in our Backfirewall_ review!

 

Backfirewall_ from All in! Games and Naravan Games is a very different type of puzzle experience on PS5. Backfirewall_ is a first-person puzzle game that puts you inside a smart mobile phone. You play as an update assistant, and your job is to upload a new OS update. The old system, known as OS9, is sentient and wants to put the spanner in the works of OS10. But there are some problems which we are all too familiar with when it comes to updating our mobile phones on a regular basis. There is often a bug here and there, teething problems, and sometimes major issues like the battery drain updates that occurred on iOS phones a few years ago. We have all seen some issues in some form or other over the years.

The first thought I had when I was about to start with this Backfirewall_ review before even seeing a trailer was that it might be some type of computer simulator. It was a nice surprise to find out it was actually a first-person puzzle adventure! The tools and apps in the game all have faces, weird voices, and quirky, funny personalities. It is quite an upbeat kind of game. And then there’s the game’s humor. You’ll certainly be getting some decent laughs during your time with Backfirewall_!

 

Along with adventuring inside a mobile phone, you will be doing a ton of other stuff, solving lots of different puzzles, and collecting user messages (text messages) toys. There are also sections of the game that involves being stealthy. If you are caught, you go back to the start of the level. Luckily it’s a mobile phone, so you can go back to the last saved position, so you don’t have to restart a horrible stealth section again and just carry on and rinse and repeat.

Being an update assistant means you’ll have a variety of tools at your disposal. You can delete anything that is deletable. You can jump. You’ll eventually get the ability to invert certain things, which is useful for solving puzzles. The puzzles are quite varied. You have the stealth parts where you have to move through the level and not get caught by the guards. You’ll run into the recycling room, which is probably my favorite puzzle in the whole game. For this one, you are given a list of statements and need to make true statements false. For example, if a statement says there are 20 boxes, then you need to delete those 20 boxes, and you have to search the room for solutions to other puzzles. It was quite fun!

 

Let’s talk about the Backfirewall_ trophies. This one has a Platinum trophy to unlock, and for that, you’ll have to complete many objectives so that you can add to your collection the 20 Bronze trophies, 10 Silver trophies, and 5 Gold trophies on offer. There’s a trophy for failing the stealth section, collecting all user messages and all figurines, finding all cookies, or answering all phones in the game. I won’t talk about the other trophies since that would spoil the game’s story, so you’ll have to play it to find out more about the other trophies!

I found Backfirewall_ to be unique. The art style is very bright and vibrant, and the 3D presentation was a good choice. There is a lot to like in this one – great puzzles, great comedy, and a brilliant art style. My one gripe would be the menu since there’s just too much white in it, making it hard to see everything. The good news is that the accessibility options will allow you to change the font size, color, opacity, and more. Backfirewall_ is out as a Cross-Buy title, so your $14.99 purchase will give you the PS4 and the PS5 versions of the game.

Disclaimer
This Backfirewall_ review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy provided by All in! Games.