It appears like most JRPGs today don’t actually tread a lot into exhausting science fiction. Sure, massive franchises like Final Fantasy or Xenoblade aren’t afraid to combine in some tech alongside their magic, however it’s uncommon that you simply’ll see builders totally decide to a world that’s all robots and computer systems. In this regard, Jack Move is a breath of recent air. What now we have here’s a transient, well-paced, and completely conventional JRPG set in a cyberpunk universe. It’s surprisingly revolutionary and a delight to play via.

Jack Move takes place in a near-future, cyberpunk society the place governments are successfully impotent and massive conglomerates reign supreme. You tackle the position of Noa, a chipper hacker who routinely participates in assaults on firms and sells delicate data on the black market. Noa and her partner-in-crime, Ryder, are merely carrying on with enterprise as standard when she receives a message from her estranged father, who warns her {that a} company referred to as Monomind could also be after her due to one thing he’s been engaged on. Shortly after this, Monomind kidnaps her dad, beginning Noa and Ryder on a quest to free him and resolve his newest analysis venture.

It’s a well-paced plot right through and that is enormously aided by the sturdy worldbuilding alongside the way in which. Conversations with NPCs assist to construct out a way of what each day life is like in a spot like Bright Town, whereas cute slang like “Digits!” or “Gigafloppin’!” exclaimed by characters assist imbue the world with some persona. Character improvement feels slightly shallow given the comparatively quick size of the entire narrative, however it’s exhausting to not get connected to Jack Move’s world given how a lot it charms the participant. Clearly there was a variety of effort put into including little particulars and vignettes to spherical out the expertise, comparable to an NPC who Noa repeatedly will get into pleasant insult matches with, and all these small particulars add as much as make one thing with actual texture and that means.

Combat follows a conventional turn-based construction, although has the fascinating wrinkle that you simply solely have one occasion member for your complete length of the sport. Noa is a reliable fighter, however she has to successfully be her personal backup in all of her battles, which ends up in the inclusion of a ‘mushy’ job system that makes her fairly versatile. Noa’s out there expertise and actions are dictated by the out there RAM in her deck, with every motion taking over a sure variety of blocks. You can solely match a handful of actions in your out there RAM at any given time, however you may ‘Patch’ on any flip to swap skills in or out as wanted. For instance, we began out a tricky boss battle with just a few essential debuff skills able to go to suppress their stats, later swapped in some buff skills to boost our personal, then went all in on assault actions to burst them down.

Most fights in opposition to frequent enemies don’t actually final lengthy sufficient to necessitate swapping issues out and in of RAM a lot, however we appreciated how neatly this method manages to nonetheless give the texture of getting a celebration whereas preventing with only one character. Noa at all times appears like she’s able to assembly the challenges she faces, even when she’s comfortably outnumbered and solely getting in a single motion for each two or three that the enemy can use. Plus, the Golden Sun-esque concept of getting that give-and-take of fixing up your character mid-battle makes each alternative really feel significant.

There’s extra to fights than simply swapping issues round in your RAM, nonetheless, just like the presence of a easy rock-paper-scissors system that may be leveraged to use enemy weaknesses. A purple ‘Wetware’ assault, for instance, will likely be tremendous efficient in opposition to a inexperienced ‘Cyberware’ enemy. Most enemies are color-coded to make it simple to see what they’ll be weak to, and leveraging this method has the passive impact of enormously including to your Jack Move meter. This acts like a Limit Break, and as soon as full, it lets you unleash a devastating assault in opposition to your complete enemy staff that may fairly often finish the battle proper then and there. Even higher, there’s a quick DDR-esque minigame you play earlier than executing every Jack Move; nailing all of the prompts at simply the proper time will massively increase the harm output and make the assault that rather more devastating.

Another factor that may make it easier to tip the scales in your steadiness is the flip window within the nook, which signifies which enemies will likely be attacking when and when Noa will subsequent get to behave. With this data, you may typically remove an enemy to get Noa one other flip, or you may both decelerate enemies or velocity up Noa to present you extra actions on an extended timeline. We appreciated that developer So Romantic offers you a number of instruments to spice up your likelihood of success, because it makes fights far more dynamic and retains them from feeling too stale and samey.

When you’re not battling enemies, you information Noa round intricate cityscapes, datascapes, and junkyards, opening hidden briefcases with useful objects in them and fixing primary puzzles to govern the surroundings. All the whereas, in the event you’re in a dungeon space, there will likely be a risk meter within the prime nook that signifies when the following battle will happen. Once full, you gained’t essentially get attacked straight away, however it will possibly occur at any second. And, in the event you don’t like getting jumped whereas attempting to resolve a puzzle, there’s a useful toggle to both lower the velocity at which it fills or to cease it fully, although this latter possibility runs the danger of Noa changing into too under-leveled to maintain tempo with the ascending problem.

As for character development, Noa simply ranges up in a conventional sense, however every software program motion may also independently achieve expertise with use and be leveled as much as make it more practical in battle. Additionally, there’s fairly a wide range of out there software program you may unlock both by finishing sidequests or shopping for them from one of many retailers in a city; it feels such as you’re at all times 5 minutes away from unlocking one more to develop your arsenal. With this in thoughts, it’s quite spectacular how Jack Move manages to really feel like a for much longer recreation than it truly is. Enemy ranges and stats scale up fairly rapidly, however Noa’s functionality rises at a commensurate charge; the issue doesn’t really feel prefer it spikes an excessive amount of at any level.

It bears mentioning that the story will in all probability solely take you about ten hours to see via to its completion. There are facet quests you are able to do to pad out the runtime a bit and getting hung up on a tough boss battle right here or there could sidetrack you, however even then, that is doubtless one of many shortest RPGs you’ll ever play. This isn’t essentially a nasty factor—the facility ramp ensures that you simply’re leveling up and getting higher gear at a a lot quicker tempo than in most—however these of you who like to actually dig right into a deep and complex JRPG could also be left slightly upset and wanting extra. We appreciated the transient size, nonetheless, because it ensures that there aren’t any half-baked recreation mechanics or unnecessarily long-winded cutscenes.

As for its presentation, Jack Move makes use of a hi-bit artwork fashion that feels considerably harking back to the work seen in titles comparable to Aegis Defenders and Katana Zero, characterised by properly detailed HD pixel artwork, easy character animation, and an general flashy retro aesthetic. The world of Jack Move isn’t essentially gritty, however we loved the way it integrated different parts of the cyberpunk style—spider-bots, avenue hackers, ad-filled neon screens over wet cityscapes—into a colourful and surprisingly vibrant world.

All of that is matched by a soundtrack that mixes collectively synthwave, lo-fi, and industrial music that creates an intense and nostalgic environment. We would’ve preferred for there to be just a few extra tracks within the general playlist to present it a bit extra selection, however what’s right here is totally top-notch work.

Conclusion

It could not final terribly lengthy, however Jack Move manages to pack in all of the essential parts wanted for a superb cyberpunk JRPG journey. The creative battle system, enchanting world, and interesting graphics all come collectively to make for a wonderfully paced, gripping, and memorable launch that no RPG fan will wish to miss out on, and that goes double for time-poor style aficionados. It’s not typically that you simply see a JRPG that leans so exhausting into science fiction tropes, and Jack Move makes probably the most of each minute of its runtime. Highly really useful.