Jaded Jacks

Dungeon crawlers are usually designed to be pretty simple when it comes to gameplay mechanics, even if the actual difficulty level is through the roof. Thus, it may be simple to move around and use your abilities, but to actually survive and make your way across room after room filled with monsters is a whole other story, at least in most roguelikes out there.

Jaded Jacks is a unique roguelike in which the gameplay is controlled using a single button, which is about as simple as it gets when it comes to the genre. Moreover, the difficulty level is quite up there, in spite of the apparent simplicity. Thus, it might take you a while to get used to the mechanics and be able to make your way across the monster-infested dungeons.

Speaking of which, movement is the first obstacle, because it’s a tad different than in most games. Hence, there’s an arrow that circles your character and points in one of the four possible directions, which means that you have to press the key when the arrow points toward where you want to go. However, at least you can keep moving in that direction for as long as you want if you don’t let go of the button.

The combat can be a bit disorienting at first, but the explanation is quite simple. Hence, each character has a certain ability that can be used when his turn comes, but you have to get the combination on the bottom of the screen in order to cast the said ability. By holding the action key when the bar fills up to one of the lines you obtain a down arrow, while not pressing anything means an up arrow. After a while it gets easier to nail down the technique, but it takes some practice.

As for the graphics, you shouldn’t expect anything too grand in this regard, although that’s pretty obvious after you see the gameplay mechanics. Everything looks the same throughout the game, except for the items that allow you to improve the skills of your champions or to regenerate their health or mana points. Simplicity is a good thing in this case, but some variety in the level design would have made the whole thing better.

In the end, you wouldn’t think that a one button game can be so engaging, but Jaded Jacks is a very polished game with difficult and rewarding gameplay mechanics. Moreover, the combat is tough as nails as well, which is always a good thing in roguelikes.