I kept wondering when I could get away from the indie game that hit Steam last month, the poker roguelike "Balatro". It turned out to be Backpack Battles. The game is a PvP-ish (more on this later) autobattler where you play inventory Tetris with tons of magic items. According to developer Furcifer, the game appeared in Early Access on March 8 and sold over 100,000 copies in two days.

Having played a few rounds today, I'm not surprised about its huge sales total, nor about its "overwhelmingly favorable" score on Steam, nor about its peak concurrent user count of over 35,000. Backpack Battle is so much fun, so easy to get into that you don't need a tutorial, and the gameplay is so electrifying that you can play dozens of matches in a break from work.

You start by choosing a class from the fantasy archetype of ranger, berserker, or pyromancer, then stand in the store and buy things to put in your backpack. At first, you have a limited number of slots available, but that's okay. Spend coins on wooden swords, stone bags, and healing potions, then step into the arena to fight other players.

But you are not really fighting other players. You are fighting other players' recently built builds. Based on the items you have in your backpack, watch closely as your character and the other player's character fight. Is the fight too slow?" It won't take long if you speed up, but keep an eye on what your items are doing and where your weaknesses are. Win or lose, go back to the store and buy more coins.

I started with a frying pan, which is an effective low-damage bludgeoning weapon, but I found that if I put food items in my backpack around the frying pan, I could do more damage. So I put a bunch of bananas, green onions, and green peppers. Other items can buff each other when placed together. For example, the fireballs that my pyromancer generates every round can be enchanted to deal heat damage to the dagger I bought.

Certain items, when placed near each other in a pack, sometimes merge together amazingly. I bought a friendly smiling blob named Gooberry; one round later, while shopping, Gooberry ate a chili pepper and became Chili Goobert, increasing his healing powers and the speed at which he could activate heat-related items. That's right! Who knows what else Goobert could eat.

Winning 10 battles against other players' ghosts will increase your rank, allowing you to face higher ranked players in the next round. Also, there are so many items in backpack battles that it is almost ridiculous. Not only are there weapons and shields, but also squirrels, hedgehogs, multiple goo-bats, and a horned winged rabbit named Walpertinger that not only gives you buffs, but buffs you.

There is a free demo you can try before you buy, but once you try it you will definitely buy it. Backpack Battles is fast and fun and will be my new break time game, and it's available on Steam for 10% off for the next 10 days.