Jack Move review - A byte-sized cyberpunk journey

Jack Move is the latest kid on the block to try its hand at the sci-fi genre in the gaming industry. After the disappointing Cyberpunk 2077 from publisher CD Projekt, gamers have been itching for a good RPG that scratches that cyberpunk itch. After all, there have been numerous games of this kind before, including underrated ones like Shadowrun and Anachronox.

Jack Move is more akin to these underground gems, in the sense that it is a story-driven turn-based RPG that does something a bit different within familiar territory. Created by developer So Romantic and published by HypeTrain Digital, it is a game that has spent several years in development. Now that it's out, it is a brand new indie RPG that pays homage to the golden era of SNES JRPGs. But is it worth your time or is it best left forgotten amidst the digital sea of indie games?

Jack Move's narrative is simple yet suspenseful

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Jack Move's story puts players in the shoes of Noa Solares. She resides in the small dystopian world of Bright Town, where tech and people mingle in one homogenous melting pot. Her father, Abner Solares, goes missing under the wing of the mega-corporation Monomind, so the hacker vigilate takes it upon herself to save him. The result is a short narrative that, while not super-ambitious, is relatively engaging.

Throughout the journey, she willl be backed by two key characters: Ryder and Guin Blakely. The former is Noa's tech-savvy best friend, while the latter is her laid-back, cool uncle who runs a bar in town. While a decent chunk of NPCs you encounter are fairly one-note, they most certainly get the job done to fill the roles they are given; say the evil scientist Dr. Qadir, who has been hired by Monomind to oversee secret research that concerns the Solares family.

Uncle Guin is one cool cat (Screenshot via Jack Move)

These mainstay characters, on the other hand, are thankfully well-fleshed out. Ryder, while calm and collected on the surface, clearly grieves for the loss of his boyfriend Ming - and this internal conflict causes some twists as the narrative picks up pace. Guin has a soft spot for his niece Noa, so much so that he could be considered her substitute father in the absence of Abner - whom Guin has reason to hate to begin with.

Noa herself is a brave bird but sometimes careless, both in her actions and words. This can often get her into trouble, but she has the zeal to rise back up and persevere, no matter what. On the cyberpunk side of things, Jack Move's plot touches on aspects like the double-edged ax of science, the morality of it and even a hit of philosophy concerning life, death and immortality. It also includes expected tropes like sentient AI, evil megacorporations and more so yes, it's not going to impress those already acquainted with the genre. But despite all its familiarities, it is an enjoyable and well-paced ride from start to finish.

Welcome to Bright Town

This bustling town has some neat stories to tell (Screenshot via Jack Move)

As mentioned, Jack Move takes place within various locales in and around Bright Town and is set in the year 2120. The exploration primarily revolves around three parts: the slums, the main quaint townspace of Bright Town and the posh Monocity-1 area. The former is home to lonely and dangerous alleys, leading up to a dingy small collection of residencies.

Bright Town is perhaps the liveliest, with bustling NPCs and neon lit stores. It's also where players will spend the most time, as Ryder and Guin both have their safe spaces here. Finally, Monocity-1 is home to the suit-clad uber-rich who regard the "peasants" of Bright Town with pity. This place is also the headquarters of Monomind.

Chat with the denizens of Bright town to learn a bit more about them (Screenshot via Jack Move)

In typical JRPG fashion, players will explore these locales, unearth chests with rewarding goodies (like credits or items) and undertake quests handed out by town NPCs. Some of these areas may have puzzle elements, like moving platforms and switch flipping to progress, but they are fairly easy to navigate - at least when you get used to the layout.

On that note, there is no map system in Jack Move to help with exploring the districts of Bright Town. However, the overall map is fairly linear and small for this pet peeve to not really matter in the long run.

Time for some number-crunching

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Coming to the core of the game: combat. Gameplay is turn-based, but unlike other JRPGs, the only character players have to manage is Noa. She has no gear either: only an array of software, hardware and consumables. And of course the titular Jack Moves, powerful QTE attacks that can be executed once the Jack Move meter is full. There are four Jack Moves in all, each pertaining to one software type: Cyberware (green), Electroware (blue), Wetware (purple) and Physical (red).

The fundamentals follow a rock-paper-scissors system with the following ruleset:

Cyberware (green) beats Electroware (blue)
Electroware (blue) beats Wetware (purple)
Wetware (purple) beats Cyberware (green)

As such, players should exploit enemy weaknesses to dispatch them quickly because many foes can be quite annoying or hit pretty hard. There are a variety of other software at Noa's disposal (can also be purchased from shops), the most crucial being the healing software Hyperderm. The Cache mechanic is also very important to winning battles as it not just lets Noa guard, reducing incoming damage, but also allows for having two consecutive turns. Yes, the flow of battle is determined by a timeline and manipulating it in your favor is key to success.

Battle and eliminate threats in cyberspace (Screenshot via Jack Move)

All enemy encounters in Jack Move are random and determined by the threat meter at the top-right of the screen. When full, Noa will engage in battle with enemies found in that area. These foes range from goons and drones to Monomind soldiers and computer viruses. All have varied movesets and weaknesses/resistances.

Defeating all foes by dropping their HP (Health Points) to 0 will reward players with XP and money. Also be sure to keep track of Noa's own HP and DP (Data Points, the MP or SP equivalent of Jack Move) so she does not fall in combat. Interestingly, Jack Move allows players to control the encounter rate on the fly via the following parameters: Hype (frequent), Base (normal), Slashed (reduced) and Null (No encounters). The last one is a life-saver when scouring dungeons for item chests and solving environmental puzzles.

Modify your character

What build are you going for? (Screenshot via Jack Move)

Software forms the most important type of equipment in Jack Move. Players will obtain many different types of software throughout the story, however only a handful can be equipped at a given time. This is governed by the RAM slot system - something not unlike Transistor's own RAM limitations or Final Fantasy VII's Materia system. Players can swap out software at the cost of a turn in battle and this forms the basis to survive its fun boss fights.

As for Noa's stats, they are classified as the following:

Toughness (Attack)
Guts (Defense)
Grok (Software Damage)
Sass (Software Defense)
Synapse
Luck

Except for the last two, all of them can be improved by using Hardware. These are a variety of modules that can be equipped in up to 3 slots. These modules can range wildly in their purpose. Take the Auto-Portscan for example, which allows viewing enemy HP and status from the get go. Or Linkman, which ensures all offensive software will target all enemies - including all targets on a boss.

Sometimes you'll find something pretty useful (Screenshot via Jack Move)

My favorite, though, has to be Silicon Beast - this fantastic module grants a variety of advantageous subsystems (like auto-countering with a physical attack on being hit or overclocking Noa's deck) at the cost of lowering defense to all software types. However, there are other software that can counter this, like System Cycle which removes all negative status effects - thus allowing players to take full advantage of Silicon Beast without any repercussions.

There's a clear synergy with various software and hardware combos here, but this also highlights another problem with Jack Move.

A battle between simplicity and complexity

Many enemies have limited attack patterns (Screenshot via Jack Move)

The three key issues to discuss here are:

Noa's large moveset that goes underutilized
Bland enemy design and difficulty balancing
Simple mechanics

For one, there is a lot of software to try out and it is this variety that forces players to spice it up in battle. However, given the lack of difficulty, there is no incentive to use anything besides spamming the software an enemy is weak to and the related Jack Move. Many enemies are reskins of one another and have a limited pool of moves, making them predictable and dull to fight. Plus, Noa being able to get overpowered quickly does not help either; the only time players will feel remotely challenged are the varied and well-designed boss fights.

Worst of all though, the way the core battle system is designed doesn't really take off. Since offensive and status software are completely independent of one another, this makes for an experience that feels rather basic in comparison to other JRPGs.

Enemies can spawn up to 3 at atime (Screenshot via Jack move)

As an analogy, it would be if Pokemon developer Game Freak removed status effect chances from moves like Flamethrower and Ice Beam - meaning they are now pure offense and players would instead have to learn a separate move to cause burning (like Will o' Wisp) or freezing status on enemies. Yes, Jack Move's RAM system definitely allows for adaptation on the fly, but at that point it's hard not to feel like things are dragging on longer than they should.

On an unrelated note, there is no post-game. This makes no sense because everything ends on a good note as Noa and Ryder go back to living their lives. So why can't players keep up with pending quests? The only solution here is to create a save before the point of no return, else players will find themselves virtually stuck within the finale zone.

Graphics, performance and sound

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Jack Move deploys a pixel-art style for its graphics, which feels nostalgic yet modern at the same time. This is thanks to ample use of real-time lighting (reflected on the character sprites as they move through the world) and sprite detail. The environment is often densely packed and the attention to detail is remarkable too, like the tiny yet precise droplets of rain as Noa runs through the streets to complete objectives.

From crisp and flashy moves in battle to over-the-top character designs, it is clear a lot of love was poured into the presentation of the game. It is also extremely light on hardware resources, so any setup out there should run it. This means flawless performance regardless of what's occurring on-screen.

Coming to the sound, this is impeccable. Jack Move's score is a bunch of ambient electronica and drums and honestly, there's not one bad track in there. From battle themes to overworld exploration, all of them are ear candy in their own way. It's definitely one of the best parts of the game.

In conclusion

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Jack Move is not going to be the next big RPG by any means, but that is not necessarily a bad thing because it finds success in its humble offerings. It certainly has its issues in the form of an almost non-existent difficulty curve, which results in its gameplay elements feeling even more limited and barebones than they are. It's an admittedly simplistic RPG, but what truly matters is that So Romantic has found a winning formula here. It just needs further optimization and tweaking to shine the best it possibly can. Perhaps a more ambitious sequel could set things right?

It should also be noted that, in an era of 50+ hour long RPGs, Jack Move surprises with its short 7-10 hour adventure. If anything, the game is a good example of how quality over quantity will always reign supreme.