It appears like most JRPGs as of late don’t actually tread a lot into laborious science fiction. Positive, large franchises like Closing Fantasy or Xenoblade aren’t afraid to combine in some tech alongside their magic, but it surely’s uncommon that you simply’ll see builders absolutely decide to a world that’s all robots and computer systems. On this regard, Jack Transfer is a breath of recent air. What we now have here’s a temporary, well-paced, and totally conventional JRPG set in a cyberpunk universe. It is surprisingly revolutionary and a delight to play by way 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 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 mission.
It is a well-paced plot throughout and that is tremendously aided by the sturdy worldbuilding alongside the best way. Conversations with NPCs assist to construct out a way of what day by day life is like in a spot like Vibrant City, whereas cute slang like “Digits!” or “Gigafloppin’!” exclaimed by characters assist imbue the world with some persona. Character growth feels slightly shallow given the comparatively brief size of the entire narrative, but it surely’s laborious to not get hooked up 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, similar 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.
Fight follows a conventional turn-based construction, although has the attention-grabbing wrinkle that you simply solely have one occasion member for your complete period of the sport. Noa is a reliable fighter, however she has to successfully be her personal backup in all of her battles, which results in the inclusion of a ‘gentle’ job system that makes her fairly versatile. Noa’s out there abilities and actions are dictated by the out there RAM in her deck, with every motion taking over a sure variety of blocks. You’ll be able to 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 troublesome boss struggle with a number of essential debuff skills able to go to suppress their stats, later swapped in some buff skills to lift 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 Solar-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 probably be tremendous efficient in opposition to a inexperienced ‘Cyberware’ enemy. Most enemies are color-coded to make it straightforward to see what they’ll be weak to, and leveraging this method has the passive impact of tremendously 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 your complete enemy staff that may fairly often finish the struggle proper then and there. Even higher, there’s a short 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 enable you to tip the scales in your stability is the flip window within the nook, which signifies which enemies will probably be attacking when and when Noa will subsequent get to behave. With this info, you may typically get rid of an enemy to get Noa one other flip, or you may both decelerate enemies or velocity up Noa to provide you extra actions on an extended timeline. We appreciated that developer So Romantic provides you a number of instruments to spice up your likelihood 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 primary puzzles to control the atmosphere. All of the whereas, should you’re in a dungeon space, there will probably 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 straight away, however it could actually occur at any second. And, should you don’t like getting jumped whereas attempting to unravel a puzzle, there’s a useful toggle to both lower the velocity at which it fills or to cease it utterly, although this latter possibility runs the danger of Noa turning into too under-leveled to maintain tempo with the ascending problem.
As for character progress, Noa simply ranges up in a conventional sense, however every software program motion can even independently acquire expertise with use and be leveled as much as make it simpler in battle. Moreover, there’s fairly quite a lot 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 broaden your arsenal. With this in thoughts, it’s quite 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 most likely solely take you about ten hours to see by way 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 tough boss struggle right here or there might sidetrack you, however even then, that is possible one of many shortest RPGs you’ll ever play. This isn’t essentially a nasty factor—the ability ramp ensures that you simply’re leveling up and getting higher tools at a a lot quicker tempo than in most—however these of you who like to essentially dig right into a deep and complex JRPG could also be left slightly dissatisfied and wanting extra. We appreciated the temporary size, nonetheless, because it ensures that there are not any half-baked recreation mechanics or unnecessarily long-winded cutscenes.
As for its presentation, Jack Transfer makes use of a hi-bit artwork fashion that feels considerably paying homage to the work seen in titles similar 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 Transfer isn’t essentially gritty, however we loved the way it integrated 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 ambiance. We’d’ve appreciated for there to be a number of extra tracks within the general playlist to provide it a bit extra selection, however what’s right here is totally top-notch work.
Conclusion
It could not final terribly lengthy, however Jack Transfer manages to pack in all of the essential components wanted for a wonderful cyberpunk JRPG journey. The ingenious battle system, enchanting world, and interesting graphics all come collectively to make for a superbly 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 laborious into science fiction tropes, and Jack Transfer makes probably the most of each minute of its runtime. Extremely beneficial.
