Grumpy Jack Review
As you probably know, DearGamers has a bit of a soft spot for indies. Now, there are indies (those mainstream ones that get all the coverage - your Hades, your Hollow Knights, etc.), and there are INDIES (the under-the-radar, the word of mouth, the self-published - Beyond the Long Night, Haste, and Madshot). We found a small Metroidvania, Super Roboy, through our Steam Curator page, and absolutely loved the game (check out the review here). Generally speaking, and specifically here, we started following the developer. As a result, we knew about his second game, Yokai Tales, and you can read our preview here. Side note: Did you know you can follow both games and developers on Steam and then use the Community tab in the Steam store to get a curated news offering? The gap between indies and INDIES sometimes feels as big as the gap between indies and AAA. If they do not make the Nintendo Direct or a State of Play, no one knows about them. Side note #2: check out the subreddit for your favorite genre (indie or AAA) - you will be surprised by the amount of new games you find that are not well reported on.
Developed by Vincent Penning (VP Games), Grumpy Jack is a Zelda-like that plays out like a bullet hell Metroidvania. Jack, our reluctant (read: very reluctant) hero, must defeat the Nightmare King due to a series of unfortunate events and a very convincing argument from Death. He just wants to go back to tending to his graveyard, but first, off to save the day. With the help of a colorful cast of characters and some dad-tier jokes/dark humor, can you help Jack through this short but sweet Metroidvania adventure?
Like most games with a top-down view, Jack can move in 8 directions. He can also attack in those same directions. By pressing LT (L2 or your regional equivalent), Jack can lock in the direction he is facing. Honestly though, this felt a bit too clunky, and I found myself just facing targets in one of the cardinal directions instead. A more traditional twin-stick shooter layout could probably fix this minor gripe. Anyway…as this is a shorter game, Jack quickly fills out his arsenal and learns new abilities very quickly. On top of that, everything he acquires is Metroidvania-coded. For example, a dash ability is useful for dodging enemy projectiles buit it can also be used to bypass a spike trap blocking your path. What about the magic wand that can attack enemies from range but also be used to unlock specific locks? Each new ability and/or weapon Jack finds gets him closer to the Nightmare King but also allows him to revisit areas left unexplored due to blocked access.
If you are looking for an enjoyable Metroidvania but are short on time, look no further than Grumpy Jack. You are looking at around a 3-4 hour playthrough on normal difficulty - I finished in 3 hours and 4 minutes (yes, there is an achievement for finishing in under 3 hours; no, I am not bitter about this at all). The game can also be played on hard and extreme (both with their own achievements). Before the argument is made about length of game versus cost (by the way, it is only $6.99), you will find that this developer has put ALL the effort into the title. Fantastic hand-drawn art and clever writing to enjoyable gameplay, VP Games puts out yet another great title for the masses to enjoy. Play Grumpy Jack, go play Super Roboy and Yokai Tales, and wishlist Kodama: Slumber of the Gods.
