Night Jackal: Blood Debt

This is a "you get what you pay for" type of game. I can't really recommend it as a retro fps because the sprites are heavily pixelated and everything else isn't that, nor can I for the gameplay since it's your standard throwback fps faire, plus a disappointing grappling hook, and I can't even recommend it as a budget title since there are plenty of games on Steam close to this price bracket that are far better.

Wow this could turn into a multiple game series with the amount of lore here. Recommend the dual set with the arcade Night Jackal in it.

This is finally the last dosman game I had to suffer through and I am genuinely hoping it stays that way forever.

Do you enjoy fun and ambition? Then maybe you should check Night Jackal: Blood Debt out! Oh, and the theme song - certified banger. Peak theme! So don't wait around. Pick the Night Jackal games (yes, there's more than one) up now!

pretty solid game! i do appreciate when efpse games have a new game hub area

Another good EFPS engine game that pushes the boundaries of what we thought people could do with this engine. it's got some good sized well detailed levels, a nice variety of weapons and enemies, and a rather complex story that doesn't always go the way you might expect it to. highly recommended if you're a fan of Quartermain cult of cthulhu and some other recent offerings from dosman games

I am torn on this one; on one point, I had some genuinely good moments at some points during the game. The price is right too. Some guns (6 and 8) are genuinely fun to use. On the other, there is a lot to dislike: it's incredibly short, some moments are extremely difficult, the bosses (1?)are nothing special and the story is trash. Overall, this will get a thumbs down for the INCREDIBLY confusing level design. Levels are monotones and some of them are true mazes and I can say I've genuinely managed to find the end only by chance. Controls are subpar too and the game asks you to perform precise jumps with them; ammo is scarce and most guns are useless. While I appreciate seeing that kind of game being made, thumbed down.

This is a REALLY GOOD short game. My only issue is that it doesn't explain some of it's special mechanics or use them enough. Like your Boomerangs stunning the Sawbots, the game doesn't tell you, AND it ONLY works on them. Armor only appearing in FULL form and in a hand full of places, not even at the final fight. (unless I'm blind.) The Gloves of Tartarus slowly recover your health! I bet you DIDNT NOTICE THOUGH.

tbh I didn't expect to get so invested in this game. The comic artwork, music, and writing in general have clearly had heart put into them. These games usually have story as kind of an afterthought, definitely not the case here. The gameplay is pretty standard for this engine, though I did like the creativity put into the weapons & enemies. Gold sniper, shotty and throwing *mask? are very fun to use. Also gets more challenging midway through. Would love to see this character expanded. A quake type game / mod would be super cool

Easily the most impressive EFPSE I've played from a narrative perspective, too bad the shooting kinda sucks. Night Jackal: Blood Debt is a Retro FPS game developed by Nothing Rhymes with Entertainment and published by DOSman Games. Based on the comic series Night Jackal and running in the EFPSE engine, it follows the titular masked vigilante as a recent attack on his manor has him spiraling down a rabbit hole to figure out if there's a bigger conspiracy afoot. The game is really impressive on how it works around the limitations of the EFPSE engine in order to tell a pretty enthralling story, however it struggles in the gameplay department where it ranges from fine to downright bad. Gameplay of Night Jackal: Blood Debt, despite that it uses the EFPSE does actually have some shake up in the level variety. While you do have some levels that provide the same Retro FPS format you might expect with enemies, secrets, locked doors that require a kind of key, etc. There are sections of the game that exist to serve the plot while still using the FPS format as a base, as well as straight up in-engine cutscenes which is really impressive for a engine like this. Night Jackal also carries a variety of weaponry, ranging from his own fists, a signature iconography throwable, and straight up firearms ranging from a shotgun, smgs, all the way to a mini-gun. You even have a grappling hook to get some extra height and while it does control a bit strangely it's a fun novelty. While this sounds like a pretty fun time with solid ideas, it's main issue is how it was executed. The shooting... is not that great. it's not clear if it's because of how bad the spread is on a good chunk of the weapons, the big lack of powerful feedback on most of the weaponry, the enemy placements being just obnoxious enough to be annoying, or maybe all of the above. It simply wavers between being serviceable and downright annoying, and it's such a big shame cause the actual story and some of the gameplay mechanics are quite neat to see in a game using this engine. Night Jackel's style is interesting. As this game, I presume, is either a sequel or some kind of side story to the actual Night Jackal comics. As such the pixel art for the enemies is very rough with very distinct outlines that makes it feel like it was ripped out of a comic book and then bit-crushed to be... I guess retro? The character designs themselves are pretty solid, absolutely nailing that comic book character look under the limitations of pixel art. There's also some comic stills taken straight from the comics, which as mentioned eariler I had no idea this was connected to a already existing comic series. I would also mention it's story since it's pretty standout especially considering that is this is a EFPSE game and the way it's able to get it's themes across despite the engine limitations as mentioned is pretty impressive. Not going into too much detail as the game is short enough and is probably the main reason to play due to the aforementioned gameplay hiccups. Overall, I think Night Jackal: Blood Debt does have a lot of good going for it but is absolutely held back by it's subpar shooting mechanics, even for a Dosman Games published EFPSE game it's distinctly less robust than other games using the exact same engine. And it's quite a shame since the setting, character designs, and just the general idea does have some pretty solid promise. I mean there's very heavy Batman Doom vibes here, masked super hero, unconventional weapons, comic book aesthetic? There's absolutely more here that could be fleshed out into a banger followup.