Gambling deckbuilders are a massive craze in the roguelike world right now. Black Jacket takes gameplay similar to Dungeons and Degenerates and adds a fresh coat of paint with some addictive mechanics to top it all off. It’s another entry into the addictive world of gambling-based roguelikes and one that gives its own spin to common tropes of the genre and turns them into something new.
The Setting
Roguelikes live and die by their setting in the vast majority of cases, especially those that bring a followable story to the table. In Black Jacket, you are a soul attempting to get back to your life. To do that, you’ll need to battle your way through foes on the battlefield of a blackjack table. Taking money and, at times, even the tokens of souls as you adjust and tweak your deck of cards into a winning strategy. The game mentions bribing the ferryman of the underworld with your winnings and reclaiming your life. It’s a dark and intimidating setting, but one that brings to mind games such as Darkest Dungeon and Cloverpit.
The branching path through the underworld is filled with important decisions that can make or break any given run, especially for those not thinking ahead. When every hand can be the difference between starting over or barely getting by, it is a fitting scene for a game of cards with the highest stakes.
Gameplay
Black Jacket features a variety of mechanics, both in gameplay at the tables and on the spider-webbing map. Cards can be “awakened,” giving them secondary effects such as letting you peek at your opponents’ or your own deck and shuffle cards around to the top or bottom. Each suit is given a theme, with many ideas locked behind a full release. In the version Smash Jump received, I was able to look at the Diamonds, Clubs, and Spades. Diamonds focus on rearranging your deck, setting you up for success as you draw cards. Clubs concentrate on altering the card values, allowing players to manage their final total without worrying about the actual cards drawn. Spades, on the other hand, is more offensive; it focuses on manipulating your opponent’s deck by shuffling negative cards into their deck or outright forcing them to take a card of your choice onto their side of the table. Your opponents also use these mechanics against you, creating a seesaw of back-and-forth manipulation until one side passes.
On the table as well are card slots, some of which give effects such as increasing values or allowing you to force opponents to add extra coins that dictate their life pool into the round. These can be powerful tools, but they usually cost you an extra coin to use. If you win, you get the amount of coins you played into the hand back, but if you lose, that point is removed and placed in the winner’s bowl of coins.
The map itself also has some common themes we see in roguelikes, such as artifacts that help players lean into builds or burning cards from your deck, allowing you to narrow down your strategy. It’s a multilayered approach that requires thought at every step.
A few hiccups in playing
During my time playing through it, I expected there to be some rough-around-the-edges moments, especially since Black Jacket is still relatively far from release. I’m pleased to say that I personally didn’t experience many game-breaking issues. There was one time when I encountered a bug that softlocked my run after leaving a shop. I was not able to reproduce it at all, so I’m hopeful it was just one of those rare moments that happen from time to time in the indie world. I’m also sure it’d be an easy fix for the developers by the time Black Jacket makes its debut. The lack of constant issues is comforting, though, and shows that the development team is paying attention where it matters most: enjoyment.
Conclusion
Black Jacket is a strong title; it brings together many facets of popular roguelikes and creates a niche for itself. From experience so far, this is a new deckbuilder to be on the lookout for. It has the traits of a game ready to become a staple in the genre.
Black Jacket has a release date sometime in 2026, but can be wishlisted now on Steam
