It looks like most JRPGs lately don’t actually tread a lot into laborious science fiction. Positive, huge franchises like Remaining Fantasy or Xenoblade aren’t afraid to combine in some tech alongside their magic, nevertheless it’s uncommon that you simply’ll see builders totally decide to a world that’s all robots and computer systems. On this regard, Jack Transfer is a breath of recent air. What we’ve got here’s a transient, well-paced, and totally conventional JRPG set in a cyberpunk universe. It is surprisingly modern and a delight to play by means of.
Jack Transfer takes place in a near-future, cyberpunk society the place governments are successfully impotent and large conglomerates reign supreme. You tackle the function of Noa, a chipper hacker who routinely participates in assaults on firms and sells delicate info on the black market. Noa and her partner-in-crime, Ryder, are merely carrying on with enterprise as typical 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 unravel his newest analysis challenge.
It is a well-paced plot during and that is significantly aided by the sturdy worldbuilding alongside the best way. Conversations with NPCs assist to construct out a way of what each day life is like in a spot like Shiny City, whereas cute slang like “Digits!” or “Gigafloppin’!” exclaimed by characters assist imbue the world with some character. Character improvement feels slightly shallow given the comparatively brief size of the entire narrative, nevertheless it’s laborious to not get connected to Jack Transfer’s world given how a lot it charms the participant. Clearly there was quite a lot of effort put into including little particulars and vignettes to spherical out the expertise, resembling 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 which means.
Fight follows a standard turn-based construction, although has the fascinating wrinkle that you simply solely have one celebration member for the 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 ‘tender’ job system that makes her fairly versatile. Noa’s accessible expertise and actions are dictated by the accessible RAM in her deck, with every motion taking over a sure variety of blocks. You possibly can solely match a handful of actions in your accessible RAM at any given time, however you’ll be able to ‘Patch’ on any flip to swap skills in or out as wanted. For instance, we began out a tricky boss combat with a couple of necessary 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 widespread enemies don’t actually final lengthy sufficient to necessitate swapping issues out and in of RAM a lot, however we appreciated how well this technique manages to nonetheless give the texture of getting a celebration whereas combating with only one character. Noa all the time looks 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 Solar-esque thought 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 take advantage of enemy weaknesses. A purple ‘Wetware’ assault, for instance, shall 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 technique has the passive impact of significantly including to your Jack Transfer meter. This acts like a Restrict Break, and as soon as full, it permits you to unleash a devastating assault in opposition to the complete enemy crew that may fairly often finish the combat proper then and there. Even higher, there’s a quick DDR-esque minigame you play earlier than executing every Jack Transfer; nailing all of the prompts at simply the appropriate time will massively enhance the harm output and make the assault that rather more devastating.
One other factor that may provide help to tip the scales in your stability is the flip window within the nook, which signifies which enemies shall be attacking when and when Noa will subsequent get to behave. With this info, you’ll be able to typically eradicate an enemy to get Noa one other flip, or you’ll be able to both decelerate enemies or pace up Noa to present you extra actions on an extended timeline. We appreciated that developer So Romantic provides you a number of instruments to spice up your probability of success, because it makes fights rather more dynamic and retains them from feeling too stale and samey.
Whenever you’re not battling enemies, you information Noa round intricate cityscapes, datascapes, and junkyards, opening hidden briefcases with useful gadgets in them and fixing fundamental puzzles to govern the surroundings. All of the whereas, if you happen to’re in a dungeon space, there shall be a risk meter within the prime nook that signifies when the following battle will happen. As soon as full, you gained’t essentially get attacked immediately, however it might occur at any second. And, if you happen to don’t like getting jumped whereas attempting to resolve a puzzle, there’s a useful toggle to both lower the pace at which it fills or to cease it fully, although this latter choice runs the chance of Noa changing into too under-leveled to maintain tempo with the ascending problem.
As for character progress, Noa simply ranges up in a standard sense, however every software program motion may independently acquire expertise with use and be leveled as much as make it more practical in battle. Moreover, there’s fairly a wide range of accessible software program you’ll be able to unlock both by finishing sidequests or shopping for them from one of many retailers in a city; it feels such as you’re all the time 5 minutes away from unlocking one more to broaden your arsenal. With this in thoughts, it’s somewhat spectacular how Jack Transfer manages to really feel like a for much longer recreation than it truly is. Enemy ranges and stats scale up fairly shortly, however Noa’s functionality rises at a commensurate fee; the problem 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 by means of 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 troublesome boss combat right here or there could sidetrack you, however even then, that is possible one of many shortest RPGs you’ll ever play. This isn’t essentially a foul factor—the ability 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 disenchanted 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 Transfer makes use of a hi-bit artwork type that feels considerably paying homage to the work seen in titles resembling 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 Transfer isn’t essentially gritty, however we loved the way it included different components 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 might’ve preferred for there to be a couple of extra tracks within the general playlist to present it a bit extra selection, however what’s right here is completely top-notch work.
Conclusion
It could not final terribly lengthy, however Jack Transfer manages to pack in all of the necessary components wanted for a wonderful cyberpunk JRPG journey. The ingenious 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 need 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 laborious into science fiction tropes, and Jack Transfer makes essentially the most of each minute of its runtime. Extremely really helpful.
