BARDA: Backpack Roguelike

StrategyGoogle PlayApp Store

7.1~~/10~~

Our score

10+ installs

Reviewed by Editorial Team, ScoredApps editorial · updated 2026-09-21

Screenshots

Barda title art — a bird explorer with a backpack climbing a rope past floating gems

Bag full of tools and fruit beside a snowy peak node with a pink hazard and a Trivial challenge tag

The explorer standing before a mossy green rock face with hidden-item icons

Crossing a cracked lava bridge with a wheelbarrow while dark purple orbs roll past

Backpack view with flowers and skulls above a plateau showing Fatigue and Trivial tags

The mountain map — dotted paths between nodes with a Trade stop and turquoise lakes

About BARDA: Backpack Roguelike

BARDA is Mudita Games' backpack roguelike: you climb a randomised mountain to scatter your grandfather's ashes, solving each challenge by dragging the right item from a bag that hunger, fatigue and madness keep filling. Steam players rate it Positive — 36 of 38 English reviews — and the phone version costs $4.99 outright, no ads, no purchases, no tracking, 540 MB on iOS 13 or Android 6.0. The complaint is length: a first summit can take under half an hour.

Game information

DeveloperJerome Bodin

Version1.3.1

Size238 MB (Android) · 540 MB (iOS)

Price / In-app$4.99

Contains adsNo

In-app purchasesNo

Content rating9+

Requires (Android)Android 6.0+

Requires (iOS)iOS 13.0+

Offline modeNot stated — paid single-player, no online features

Interface languagesEN

Installs10+

Updated by developer2026-08-10

Data checked2026-09-21

Specs come from the official store listings and were last checked on 2026-09-21. Developers change pricing and requirements — check the store page before installing.

BARDA Review: A $4.99 Backpack Roguelike You Can Finish Before Lunch

Drag the Right Item Onto the Problem, or Use Your Hands

The mountain is a map of nodes and regions, rebuilt every run, each node a single screen with icons that announce what waits there — a climb, a fight, loot, a light puzzle. You solve a challenge by dragging an object from your backpack onto it; with nothing suitable, you use your own two hands and a dash of courage, the listing's phrase. The twist is that problems take up bag space: hunger, fatigue and madness arrive as items that crowd out your rope and food, and a March 2026 Steam reviewer with four votes recommends it on the strength of being able to eat your fishing rod when hungry enough. Items combine and upgrade, missions unlock an Explorer's Tree of permanent options, and there are Weekly, Hard and Easy runs. The goal never changes: reach the summit with grandfather's ashes.

Positive on Steam — and Beaten in Under Thirty Minutes

Steam went from Early Access in March 2026 to a $8.99 release on June 2, 2026 for Windows and Mac, and 36 of 38 English reviews recommend it, 80 reviews in all, with 34 achievements and one DLC. The praise is art, music and concept; a September 2026 player calls the soundtrack worth the price alone. The most-voted review, 12 votes from March 2026, reached the summit on the first run in under 30 minutes and cleared Weekly, Hard and Easy in under three hours. A June 2026 review with seven votes kept the game but calls the content way too slim, with upgrades most players will never touch. Balance is the second argument: a June 2026 player's first win came from good drops at the right time, and a September 2026 review with 7.8 hours rage-quit over item effects that differ from their descriptions with no log to explain why.

$4.99 Outright, 540 MB, and a Mid-Run Save Added in July

The mobile version is a paid app: $4.99 on the App Store with no in-app purchases, no ads and no data tracked, and Google Play's card likewise declares nothing collected or shared. It is 540 MB on iPhone, iOS 13.0 or newer with iPad and Apple Silicon Mac builds, and Android 6.0 or newer, rated 9+ and Everyone; the App Store lists English only, while Steam adds French, Brazilian Portuguese and Simplified Chinese. The July 2026 update matters: Steam reviewers spent June complaining that a multi-hour run could not be saved, the developer fixed it on July 16, and the phone builds — 1.3.1 on iOS, released July 22, and the Android build updated July 13 — list Run progress save first. Two months in, the audience is tiny: 10-plus installs on Google Play, zero App Store ratings. The Steam Deck reports of bag physics spitting out items are the touch version's open question. Mudita Games is Jérôme Bodin's French studio, maker of the card game Frost.

Pros

$4.99 outright with no ads, no purchases and no data collected
Problems occupy backpack space — hunger and fatigue compete with your rope
Hand-painted mountain and a soundtrack Steam reviewers call worth the price
Mid-run save added in July 2026 after players asked for it
Positive on Steam: 36 of 38 English reviews recommend it

Cons

A first summit can take under 30 minutes — content is thin
Runs swing on drops: good items at the right time win, early bad zones lose
Item effects sometimes differ from their descriptions with no log to explain
Bag physics can spit items out and tank the framerate, per Steam Deck reviews

Download From Google PlayDownload From App Store

We don't host any files. These buttons open the official Google Play and App Store listings.

Verdict

A 7.1: an original, beautiful roguelike sold the fair way — $4.99, nothing else — that most players will finish in an afternoon and that luck decides too often. Take it if a new idea, painted art and a clean price matter more than hours. Skip it if you want a hundred-run roguelike or runs where planning beats the draw.

Gameplay7A genuinely new loop — inventory as survival — praised on Steam, but luck decides more runs than planning should.

Controls6Drag-and-drop suits a touchscreen; the physics bag that vomits items on Steam Deck is untested on phones.

Replay value5Story in under an hour, Weekly, Hard and Easy runs in three; an Explorer's Tree few will exhaust.

Graphics & sound8Watercolour biomes and a soundtrack that reviewers name first; UI elements that drift off screen cost a point.

Monetisation9One price, $4.99, and nothing else — no ads, no shop, no tracking on either store.

7.1out of 10 · weighted average of the five scores above

Frequently asked questions

Can you play BARDA offline?

The store pages do not state it, but there is nothing to connect to: a paid single-player roguelike with no ads, no purchases, no accounts and, per Google's data-safety card, no data collected. Weekly runs are the one feature that may need a connection to fetch the seed. Treat it as offline-capable and check after the first launch.

Is BARDA free?

No. It is $4.99 on the App Store and Google Play, paid once, with no in-app purchases and no ads on either. The Steam version is $8.99 with one DLC. There is no trial on phones; the Steam demo is how reviewers tried it before buying. Prices vary by region.

What phone do you need for BARDA?

iOS 13.0 or newer with 540 MB free — iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Apple Silicon Macs are all listed — or Android 6.0 or newer. The PC build asks for 8 GB of RAM, but the phone version's floors are low. The stress point, per Steam Deck players, is the physics bag when it is full, not the graphics.

Can you play BARDA with friends?

No. It is single-player on every platform: one explorer, one bag, one mountain. The only shared element is the Weekly run, which gives everyone the same mountain seed to compare results against, and there is no leaderboard, co-op or versus mode listed on any store.

How long is BARDA?

Short. The most-voted Steam review reached the summit in under 30 minutes on a first run and finished Weekly, Hard and Easy in under three hours; an April 2026 player's first successful climb took about two hours. Replaying for the Explorer's Tree stretches it to 5–15 hours, by a July 2026 estimate. Since July, a run can be saved and resumed.