The Jackbox Naughty Pack Review (PC) – A Safe Gamble With a Promising Future

The Jackbox Naughty Pack did exactly what one would expect when it was announced back in April, which was turn heads and get gamers talking. Finally, the developers behind great game modes like Quiplash, Fibbage, and Tee K.O. had taken it upon themselves to create a title dedicated to its adult audience. The stage had been set, fan feedback had been taken, and with Jackbox Games releasing its 10th Party Pack last October, the time was right to get experimental. 

However, while Jackbox has been planning to wow players with suggestive and explicit content, the bar was already set high by users. Many of the previous games give players autonomy to write what comes to their minds, allowing them to enjoy adult-level content without the help of NSFW prompts. In some ways, this gave rise to an uphill battle for the developers, who ultimately chose to play it safe for their first venture into mature territory. 

The Jackbox Naughty Pack Is the Company’s One Small Step 

Maturity: the final frontier. These are the voyages of a game that is no longer safe for everyone, and the demographic limitations that come with it. I can imagine as the team at Jackbox was gearing up for The Jackbox Naughty Pack, the general motto was to push the envelope without bursting their bubble (forgive my malaphor). 

This sentiment was more or less verified by CEO, Mike Bilder, and the rest of the team, when I attended a preview of the game showcased last month. It was important that players know Jackbox Games wasn’t turning its back on the family-friendly fun the franchise was built around, but that they were willing to take more risks to keep things fresh. A risk was certainly taken with The Jackbox Naughty Pack, but it’s a minor one at best. 

Starting with Fakin’ It All Night Long, this game mode is all about trying to root out the one person in the group who is the faker. There are five different mini-games designed to help find them, which are: Hands of Truth, Emojional Damage, You Gotta Point, Finger Blast, and Thumbshot. 

Hands of Truth is all about players raising their hand for a prompt, Finger Blast is numbers-based, You Gotta Point is a bit of a blame game, and Thumbshot is all about good or bad. Emojional Damage stands out from the rest as the most unique of the mini-games, because players use emojis either from their phone or from Jackbox, to answer the prompts. It’s a creative technical twist and a unique way to generate laughs that puts it on the next level. 

Fakin’ It is a lot of fun, and it often asks the faker to explain why their answer was true to the question, even when it might turn into an awkward mess. I really enjoyed this game, primarily for its fast pace and how it offers a variety of ways to discover the faker.

The design and direction are on-point for the mature rating, and players will get to see Jackbox characters in a way like never before. It also has a great final round called Text You Up, a game that gives everyone three prompts to answer in their own words. 

Dirty Drawful is the next game on the list and it is very straightforward. You’re given a prompt to draw, other players insert their own captions, and the goal is to match the actual cue to the image. The inappropriate aspect of Dirty Drawful means that terrible drawings can actually make the game better.

The captions often give a whole new meaning to the drawing as everyone tries to see the image in its crudest form possible. Some of the better prompts are too much to share here, but essentially expect the middle school bathroom wall of Jackbox games, with quite a few genital jokes. 

The last game, Let Me Finish, is essentially a presentation challenge where players compete against each other by drawing on an image. The prompt will say something like “Which of these appliances gets turned on by videos of pimple popping” or “Which of these is known in their small town as Professor Gluck Gluck.”

The player then has to argue why the part of the image they selected is the best answer. It can be hilarious with the right group, and it also requires a decent level of thought. Those who aren’t presenting also have a chance to jump in and explain why their answer to the prompt is the best. 

Let Me Finish does a great job of taking mundane everyday items and forcing the player to make them fit in an adult context. The prompts get you started, but Jackbox isn’t hand-holding you through this game. The player is going to have to get creative to make their point, and that is where the fun really begins. 

Ultimately, The Jackbox Naughty Pack has a lot of solid material, and the game never relies on offensive content with the hope of getting a laugh. This is certainly a title Jackbox fans are going to want to get their hands on and squeeze out the fun.

It’s a unique game to review, because like all Jackbox games, some of the best parts come from the player. Fortunately, there’s enough quality Jackbox content here to give gamers plenty of options. Nevertheless, there are a few drawbacks that are worth mentioning as well. 

The Drawful Drawbacks of a Game That Plays It Too Safe 

The Jackbox Naughty Pack does a lot of things right, and if I were on the Jackbox team I would want to carefully approach a mature-rated game too. However, in some ways, the game plays it way too safe with what it has to offer. While fans are used to party packs with five different games included, this pack only has three.

Two of these three, Fakin’ It All Night Long and Dirty Drawful are altered versions of games that have already been featured in past Party Packs. Fakin’ It now features a remote play option and emojis, and Dirty Drawful has an undo button, but there are not a lot of additional changes to the base functions, aside from new prompts. 

The only original of the three is Let Me Finish, which shows there’s no lack of creativity coming from these devs. Understandably, games like Fakin’ It and Drawful were perfect for the adult context, however, it would have been nice to see even more original content. In some ways, the game feels more like a mod or DLC added for adults, and less like a new contribution. 

I don’t have a lot of concerns for The Jackbox Naughty Pack, because it’s still a winner in terms of how it plays. The one thing I noticed might be an issue, however, is that the game may not have the best replayability. Between the preview and the time I spent playing, I did notice a couple of the same prompts. I hope this is just a coincidence and that Jackbox has thousands of randomized cues ready to go, but I would be remiss not to mention it.

I can imagine these games would lose their charm fairly quickly without enough variety. I also felt that Dirty Drawful needed a wider assortment of colors, since I noticed only four options are available. 

As far as the adult content itself, Jackbox usually garners a teen rating from the ESRB, and this time the studio has earned an M-rating. That said, while the prompts are adult in nature, they can sometimes feel like they were written by a teenager.

I would say it’s fitting for what the company usually creates, and also another way to avoid making the game feel too controversial. Lewd drawings, and picking which inanimate object is the most sexual, might be fun at first, but it could get old quickly and that goes back to the replayability. 

It didn’t take much time with The Jackbox Naughty Pack to realize the company was playing it safe. The lack of new material and explicit content that leans towards middle school bathroom talk was a dead giveaway. That’s not to say Jackbox needs to go full Cards Against Humanity, but there were a few times it seemed the devs were pulling their punches. 

Final Thoughts on The Jackbox Naughty Pack 

There is a promising future for Jackbox when it comes to unexplored content and I truly hope the studio finds success with The Jackbox Naughty Pack, so the devs can push the limits further next time. I’m not saying I would do anything different for the first adult game, this was a logical move, but as a consumer of Jackbox games, I wanted more. 

New content is definitely needed, but if this inspires Jackbox to go back and create adult DLC for existing games at a reduced price, that could be a treat too. Now that the waters have been tested, it might mean big things for what comes next. 

The Jackbox Naughty Pack is an unprecedented new direction for the studio and fans of Jackbox should absolutely give this game a shot. It may not be the most original, but it is full of the heart and soul that has made Jackbox such a joy over the years.

The game is currently available to purchase for $21.69 (nice) which is a reduced price compared to a new Party Pack. Now, players will finally get a taste of what they have been begging to experience for years.