Jack Move Preview

I’m always on the lookout for fun RPGs to play and sink my time into, so when I spied this cyberpunk JRPG adventure on Steam’s Next Fest, I knew I had to try it out. Developed by a team of freelancers and the work of one-man UK/Taiwan-based studio So Romantic, and published by HypeTrain Digital, Jack Move follows Noa, a young hacker hellbent on rescuing her father from Monomind, a powerful corporation.

Now, while the basic plot of “protagonist needs to save their kidnapped parent from the evil organisation” is classic at this point, Jack Move’s version of this story, written by Amalie Kae, is executed masterfully. At least within the demo, each character has a strong personality that’s easy to get attached to and most — if not all — of the jokes hit. One specific moment that impressed me was early on, when the carefree banter before a heist between Noa and her good friend and handler, Ryder, is interrupted by a Monomind guard. Instantly, the tension is raised. From this single guard, or rather the corporation he represents, both Noa and Ryder start to think they might be biting off more than they can chew, but decide to go through with their plan anyway. More than any narration could, this moment pulls double duty in escalating the situation, providing some greater insight into who Noa is attempting to steal from and tells the audience everything they need to know: That Monomind, no matter what they do for business, is so dangerous that even trespassing on their property could be enough to ruin lives.

Much of Jack Move’s sharp writing, including that example with the guard, does a fantastic job of setting up an atmosphere that can only be described as ‘cyberpunk sass vs. oppressive corporation’. Aiding that atmosphere is the phenomenally punk-esque soundtrack from Fracture and some dang good sound design from Adam Hay. To my untrained ears, the music sounds like some gorgeous and pumpy synth rock, which did a great job of keeping me engaged and hopeful that I could face whatever came ahead. And that sound design was no slouch, making every moment pop and giving every attack a satisfying finish. The largest treat for my ears was easily the titular Jack Moves, special attacks that require a bar to fill up over several battles that hits everything on the screen for ludicrous points of damage. But with the sound of thunder cracking down, the Jack Moves go from a powerful tool to almost a force of nature.

Another aspect of the game that truly helps Jack Move punctuate every moment of the demo is in its character design and animation, led by Joe Williamson. The game’s visuals are made up of 8-bit art and described as “Hi-Bit” on the title’s Steam page. One fault of this type of pixel art that I’ve tended to notice in the past is that it can be very easy to lose a lot of the characters’ and world’s personality if the artists aren’t careful, but Jack Move’s art team has absolutely delivered on that front. Noa and her enemies often seem to be bobbing their whole bodies to the music in battle and every time Noa enters a battle or defeats her opponents, she does this spin and poses, either to prepare for battle or to cheekily celebrate. Jack Move’s demo nails Noa’s character in its animation, often acting as the best part of the game.

With all of these highly polished and impressive story and presentation elements, Jack Move would have an amazing showcase of a demo, even if the gameplay wasn’t quite up-to-snuff. Thankfully, not even that aspect of this cyberpunk adventure is found wanting! The man behind So Romantic, Edd Parris, handled the programming and design behind the game in addition to the background art. The turn-based combat has a tactical quality to it, where the player always knows the next few characters that will take their turns and can even impact that order in some ways. Uniquely, the “guard” action, here called “Cache,” not only raises Noa’s defence until her next turn but also gives her another turn when her enemies’ attacks are finished. Notably, Noa can occasionally move twice, so with timeful use of Cache, Noa can move three times in a row. There are other interesting aspects to the combat, including the ability to swap out different special abilities stored in Software mid-battle, though I never felt it necessary to use this ability after its tutorial during the tutorial. I can imagine, when battles get longer and more complicated, this ability could be a useful tool that also offers a risk-reward system of trading precious turns for greater flexibility in abilities.

Still, what’s present in the demo far exceeded my expectations, offering a lot of promise for the full release of the game. With a solid base and plenty of room to grow, I have little doubt that the game will continue to impress. Keep an eye out for Jack Move and its planned release later this year.