Black Jacket. is a gambling-themed roguelike deckbuilder that many players, including myself, originally picked up in a Steam digital bundle assuming it was made by the same team behind Balatro. It isn’t. But while the inspiration is obvious, Black Jacket quickly carves out its own path. In fact, when it comes to visual polish and sheer presentation, it actually gives its peers a massive run for their money. Instead of poker, this one turns its focus to blackjack.
Playing Cards in the Underworld
The setup here is wonderfully dark: you are a lost soul trapped in hell, doomed to play cards for the rest of eternity. Your only ticket out of this nightmare is to play well enough to amass a fortune and bribe the ferryman for passage home. While you might not expect much of a story from a card game, Black Jacket surprisingly features a lot of narrative depth. As you progress through your runs, you gradually uncover the tragic, messy backstories of the different supernatural opponents sitting across the table from you.
If you have ever played blackjack on a family holiday, you know the basic rules. You draw cards to get your hand as close to 21 as possible without tipping over. Highest score takes the cash. It is one of the simplest card games on earth, but Black Jacket completely reinvents it and it is glorious.
Instead of drawing from a shared 52-card deck, you and your opponent use individual, fully customised decks. Every card still holds its normal numerical value, but they now carry wild secondary features. Some cards force your opponent to raise their bets, others let you sneak a peek at the next card in your pile, and a few can actively slash the value of the cards in your opponent’s hand or even your own, turning that “bust” into a 21.
Learning the Tricks of the Trade
The sheer number of card modifiers means Black Jacket can feel incredibly overwhelming at first. The game absolutely does not hold your hand, and your first few runs will likely end in spectacular failure (mine absolutely did). It took a bit of stubbornness and an “aha!” moment to realise that you cannot play this like a normal casino game and once you reach that, it’s increadibly hard to put down.
To survive, you have to lean into the theme and bend the rules. The game actively encourages you to pay a small fee to slide a couple of powerful cards up your sleeve, saving them for a critical moment. There is also a brilliant visual trick built into the design: the patterns on the backs of the cards match their suit. If you know you only have high-value Diamond cards left in your deck, a quick glance at the top card tells you exactly what kind of points are coming up next.
The real fun opens up when you start experimenting with different starting suits. Each one completely changes your strategy. While the early options are a little basic, unlocking the advanced builds, like the “thorns” suit, which focuses entirely on dragging your opponent’s score down, is brilliant. There is nothing quite like watching a tough boss end a round with a score of minus 20.
My favourite suit though has to be the Tumors, which is a powerful offensive suit with massive modifiers. There are so many times I’ve nearly lost a round only to pull out a card that wipes the table clean for a fresh start and allows me to come back and win. This deckbuilding “Magic the Gathering” style battle element creates a wonderful tactical game play that gives even more satisfaction when you win.
A nice play you’ll come across is using face cards. When you play them together, they interact on screen to tell tiny stories and trigger hidden bonuses. Drop a King and a Queen together, and their scores jump because of their romantic bond. But other cards might give a more negative effect, especially if they don’t get along or are aiming to take the crown. Learning these interactions is a nice sub-tactic to build as you play. It can be frustrating when you are close to a win and stuff it all up through one though.
The Verdict
Outside of the matches, the game features everything you want from a great roguelike: branching paths, shops to visit, passive items that grant permanent perks, and the ability to burn away weak cards to streamline your deck. With 21 difficulty levels and an absolute mountain of unlockable content, there is an incredible amount of depth to sink your teeth into.
The punishing early hours and lack of a proper tutorial might turn some people off early on. But if you can push past that initial wall and learn how the systems work, Black Jacket is an absolute gem. It is a beautiful, highly addictive strategy game that deserves a spot in your library.
Great news too, it is Steam Deck Verified which makes it a great game to play on the go with your deck or other handheld. I played on both the SD and the Lenovo Legion Go S which ran extremely well. Plus it’s available on consoles and dropped this week on Game Pass.
I highly recommend Black Jacket.
