Hey, Backpackers!
It’s time for our 5th hero’s backstory!
Last but not least, Pochette - a hedgehog with a secret!
Pets in the dungeon? Why not! Pochette’s playstyle is based on cute little creatures that help her during combat! Pets act like individual characters with individual backpacks and different gimmicks. What’s Pochette’s backstory? Let’s find out!
Pochette was born within the Oakshire Forest during the height of the Long March, where the Badger Kingdom was invading villages across the forest to excavate the dungeon for relics of power. When she was young, Pochette’s village was one of the unfortunate places ransacked and conscripted by the Badger King. In the chaos, Pochette’s family was captured and sent to be slaves in the Dungeon Mines deep beneath the Badger Castle. Before that though, Pochette’s mother sent her in a basket down the Dandylion River so that she may be spared.
Pochette drifted down the current crying for her parents, for what seemed like days she wept - until she was discovered by a kindly hermit crab. The crab who would become known to pochette as Mama took pity upon the small beast and took her under a shell where she would raise her as her own amongst the mysterious tribes of crabs, snails, and insects within the deep Bramble of the wood, where the forest and dungeon become indistinguishable. Thought by most to be nothing but savage animals, those native to the bramble are not uncivilized or unintelligent, just different.
Communicating through body language, feeling, and scent, Pochette learned these things whilst living with Mama, her mate Papa, and Pochette’s honorary little sister Bebe. Pochette grew up and thrived here amongst the Bramble Tribes, learning how to navigate this upper portion of the dungeon. Pochette lived happily there for all her childhood, but something changed one day. A beast not too different from Pochette showed up, exhausted and wounded. Pochette discovered her collapsed deep within the Bramble.
Though it was generally forbidden to make contact with the beasts not native to the tribes, Pochette felt compelled to help the wounded creature. Taking her back to the Tribe, Pochette convinced the tribal elders to help nurse the young chipmunk back to health. It was close, but slowly the beast began to regain its health. Pochette, and the chipmunk she learned to be named Duffel became fast friends. Though Pochette knew very little of the common beast tongue, they had an understanding as hunters and explorers in the bramble. Duffel told her of the troubles outside the Bramble and the valiant Patrol of the Oakshire Forest, and how she was an elite scout sent to explore the great Dungeon.
Through their meetings, Pochette began to learn more of the common tongue and of the culture of her blood-kin. Slowly she began to feel kinship towards the people of the Forest - with vague memories flashing before her eyes of the destruction of her village and her parents sending her down the river. Pochette felt a tinge of pain there and at that moment decided to help the Patrol - with some of her best friends, Pochette acts as a guide and emissary for the Bramble Tribes! Though there are many tribes within the bramble, and many are more cautious of outsiders than Pochettes, she is working hard to guide the Patrol through the Bramble, and find a mutual understanding between the tribes and the forest dwellers.
What did Pochette’s development look like?
Pochette was the fifth character unlocked in our Kickstarter, and the fourth released. She was actually decided to be added based off of a community poll with three other heroes, and she won it! Don't worry about the three that didn't win though, we decided to add them as post release updates! Their names are Knapsack, Pockets and Bindle.
An old version of Pochette's gameplay - gif from Never Nathaniel's video
From the start we had a pretty firm idea of Pochette being a pet based character, and how that would look in an inventory management game. She has proved to be quite a challenge to balance and make her feel good to play - we are still working on that. She has undergone some of the most drastic changes of any character gameplay wise. A lot of players who have been around a while may remember her old way of playing where pets could hold any items instead of treats.
Bebe and Jerry, the very first two pets Gangs drew
That’s it, folks! Now you know the story of all the heroes! Hope you learned something interesting about each character. You’ll definitely be able to discover more lore once Haversack Hill is out!
So, who’s your favorite character and why?
Thank you for reading and for your support! ❤️
READ ABOUT OTHER HEROES:Purse
Satchel
Tote
CR-8
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1970580/Backpack_Hero/