Jack Move is the game I picked for this month’s Blaugust Reviews – Humble Choice. There were quite a few games in this month’s Humble Choice that piqued my interest, which hasn’t happened in a long time. What drew me to Jack Move was its cyberpunk setting, pretty pixel art, and a turn-based combat system, all wrapped up in a little RPG.

And I do mean little. How Long to Beat has the game clocked at 6 hours for the main story. Which is fine with me me. At the time of this writing I’m 2.5 hours in, just under the half way mark.

I may even *gasp* finish it! Haven’t done that in a while…

Jack Move takes place in post-apoctolyptic future where the world ended and society collapsed in 1997 due to a solar storm knocking out all electronic and radio signals. Eventually corporations stepped in to restore power and we end up in the classic dystopian cyberpunk future. Complete with hacking decks, slums, corporate overloards, and using random tech terms as slang. That’s terra-floppin’!

You play as Noa Solares, a sassy hacker as she tries to save her estranged father who has been kidnapped by the Monomind corporation because of some research he was working on. She’s assisted remotely by her tactical planner friend Ryder and sometimes her martini drinking, gentleman uncle, who happens to be an ex-corporate spy. It’s a small but fun cast of characters who synergize well together.

Like most turn based RPGs time is split between walking around and engaging with the story and sweet, sweet, turn based combat. The walking part is pretty standard, there are chests to open and side quests to complete. There’s also some tablets lying around with bits of lore on them that help to flesh out the world. So far, the world isn’t all that big so it’s easy to get around without getting lost. There are times when you need to leave town which is where the combat comes in.

Turn based RPGs can get a bit samey after you’ve played a bunch which is why I always appreciate when one tries to switch up the formula. The most unique aspect of Jack Move‘s combat is limiting your party size to a party of one. It’s just Noa up against, so far, two to three enemies. What I like about this is that it forces me to do a couple of things for each combat instance. I need to pay more attention to the turn order so I’m not taking a huge amount of damage from enemies who are attacking one after another. I need to remember which enemies I can either one shot or take out during my turn to force the turn order in my favor. On top of that, I need to remember which enemies are weak to which element, and sometimes switch out my skills mid battle to get an advantage.

The whole single character party also interesting because Noa can play any and all roles throughout combat. Rather than have a dedicated healer/buffer or damage dealer who take their own turns, I find keeping this balanced through a fight with one character to be a lot of fun. You can switch your equipped skills mid battle at the cost of a turn which adds another layer to combat as well. It’s a fun approach and, with the game being short, I don’t think it will wear out it’s welcome before the end.

I like Jack Move, a lot. I think it’s totally worth the price of admission for this month’s Humble Choice. It does everything it sets out to do well and I haven’t run into anything I didn’t like about it in play time so far.

P.S. It also runs great on Steam Deck if that’s something that’s important to you!