Black Jacket: Gamble your way out of hell in this roguelike deckbuilder

Thanks to the success of Balatro, a whole new kind of deckbuilder games continues to emerge. As the name suggests, the Black Jacket video game is based on the rules of blackjack, but with plenty of twists and turns.

The Black Jacket roguelike mechanics mean you won’t be playing regular blackjack. Instead, you will use cards that are infused with unique effects, combined with artifacts and curses to bend the rules by creating powerful combinations or simply cheating your way out of hell.

What is Black Jacket?

The beginning of the Black Jacket demo sees you wake up in the underworld among other lost souls. You are told a Ferryman waits for you, and he could be persuaded to take you back to the life you were robbed of, but for a high price. 

The Black Jacket game is inspired by the rules of blackjack. Both you and your opponent must use coins at the start of a round to pay the blind. The winner of the round receives their bet back, while the loser’s coins go into the pot at the side of the table. The player who loses their last coin loses the duel, and the winner takes everything in the pot.

The opponent will always take the first turn. When it’s your turn, drag a card from your deck and place it in one of five slots on the table to see the value of the card. Some card slots will have coins on them as a way of allowing you to raise the bet mid-round, but they also have effects tied to them. The Exploit effect, for example, will force your opponent to pay coins into the bet, and if it’s their last coin, then you found an alternative way to win. 

Coins can also be used to place a card in your sleeve for later. In typical blackjack nature, your goal is for the total value of your cards to reach as close to 21 as possible without going bust or being beaten by your opponent. You can stand to end your turn by clicking the Pass button. The main difference between traditional blackjack and the Black Jacket game is that your opponent isn’t a dealer, so you both draw cards in the same way, albeit from your separate decks. 

Progression takes place via a tree that represents traveling through a realm. At the end of the realm is a boss with a curse. A curse acts as a negative modifier that will be active during the boss battle. There will always be the opportunity to visit a shop after every boss, but for the most part, the shop icon is scattered across the realm. When you begin a journey, you will select three suits that will be in that journey’s shops. The currency used at the shop is the coins you accumulated from the winner’s pot, but you may use your personal stash if needed. From the shop, you can purchase artifacts that possess bonuses and Booster Packs that allow you to select one awakened card from a random set of the pack’s suit. 

Also, the Black Jacket demo has Burn and Awaken cards that increase with every purchase. The Burn card allows you to remove a chosen card from your deck, while the Awaken card lets you awaken a chosen card to activate its effects. As you make your way through the realm, there will be other chances to upgrade your deck.

The opponent’s hand is all you’ll see of them, but you will listen to their stories and learn their playstyles. Expect to deepen your relationship with the restless souls to break a hellish cycle, even if you are manipulating their Black Jacket rouguelike decks and influencing the value of their cards. 

Who is the developer of Black Jacket?

The Black Jacket developer is Mi’pu’mi Games GmbH. The studio has also created the adventure game, The Flower Collectors, where a retired police officer and a journalist team up to discover the truth about a murder. The developer is also responsible for the episodic adventure game, The Lion’s Song, a story about a talented young musician trying to find inspiration for her breakthrough performance. 

Black Jacket differs from those releases because it’s a roguelike deckbuilder inspired by the rules of Blackjack, but you can expect a story to be told along your journey across the various tables.

When will Black Jacket be released?

Black Jacket is slated for 2026, but a specific date has yet to be revealed. The confirmed Black Jacket platforms are PC via Steam, but it’s unknown at this stage if the game will receive a console or mobile port like the studio’s previous games.

How long is the Black Jacket demo?

The length of the Black Jacket demo depends on how many attempts it takes you to beat the final boss. The demo consists of the opening section, allowing you to meet some of the souls that lurk around the underworld’s card tables, and experiment with some of the deckbuilding features and combinations that come from them. 

Therefore, even if you do defeat the final boss quickly, there’s enough replayability to warrant another Black Jacket run.