What's Good About Tails: A Backbone Prelude

Backbone was one of my favorite games of 2021, and one of the best-written games I’ve ever played. As I said during my games of 2021 post, it was a masterclass in writing efficiency. The script was lean and to the point, with every word serving a purpose, and every character making the most of the screen time they were given. The world-building was top tier, and it managed to pull off a switch in genre and come out stronger because of it. As the foundation of a universe, Backbone is how you do it.

It's been a few years since then, and I was shocked when I heard that there was a prequel set earlier in the lives of some of Backbone’s principal characters and one we’d never heard of. And that it was releasing the next day. To say that I was caught off guard was an understatement, but here it is.

Tails: A Backbone Prelude takes place several years before Backbone proper. Following the lives of private investigator Howard Lotor, investigative journalist Renee Wilson, and crime boss Clarissa Bloodworth, and a brand new character in the form of field scientist Eli Abbas, we see the tales (pun not intended) that shape both the lives of these characters and the world at large. We see Howard in his youth during college, navigating his friendships and classes in a more slice-of-life story. We see the beginnings of Renee’s career in investigative journalism and how it impacts her relationships. We see Clarissa’s upbringing in Vancouver’s patriarchal world of organized crime and Eli’s scientific research. From these basic setups, we see how these characters change and grow over the course of their lives. It’s all incredibly fascinating to see it play out in real time.

Much like its main predecessor, this is an excellent example of how to efficiently write a script. While we are familiar with three of the four characters in this game, it shows us different sides of them that we’ve never seen before and expands upon them in a way that makes sense. And in the case of Eli, it introduces a new character who, while at first seeming fairly innocuous, ends up becoming an endearing character in his own right.

While the gameplay is still largely the same, there are some interesting structural changes that have been added. Tails retains Backbone’s four-act structure and plays with it, adding a branching series of webs that illustrate the choices made and outcomes from said choices. This plays into the new trait system. At the beginning of each story, you are offered a series of traits to choose from that radically alter the course of how the narrative for each character pans out. While each story ends the same way, the paths to get there inform the narrative. For example, I went with Investigative with Howard, and it made the events of the third act in his story pan out like something from Backbone. This goes the same for the other three characters as well. All of these are kept track of by way of a series of branching webs illustrated like a detective’s corkboard. These showcase all of the choices you’ve made and the possibilities of different outcomes. This is reinforced by the game having a New Game Plus feature, so you can comb through all of the alternate paths. It’s great stuff.

ails: A Backbone Prelude is like its predecessor, an excellent example of narrative in games. Between the branching paths and the ability to go through it again for a different experience, it does what a prequel should: show the world in an earlier state, but not in a way that reveals too much. All of the stories dovetail nicely into Backbone proper and actually make me want to play it again. This is a testament to the quality of Tails as a prequel.

In summary, Tails: A Backbone Prelude is an exceptional prequel that expands upon the world and characters of its main predecessor. The game's excellent writing efficiency, world-building, and character development make it a must-play for fans of Backbone. The branching paths and trait system add a new layer of depth to the game and allow for different playthroughs, making the game worth revisiting multiple times. Overall, Tails is a masterclass in video game narrative that is well worth your time.