The Jackbox Party Pack games have dominated gatherings thanks to their clever utilization of players' home devices, with just one player serving as host for a whole group. As The Jackbox Party Pack series is getting closer to double digits with an additional Party Starter version, it's amazing to see how Jackbox Games continues coming up with new games for fans to enjoy. There seems to be no stopping the momentum this juggernaut series has accumulated over the years.
While there has been a surge of asymmetrical multiplayer games and the ever-improving fidelity of virtual reality, hybrid titles between those subgenres are becoming more common. From early iterations such as Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes to more recent examples like Takelings House Party, these games circumvent the issue of every player requiring VR peripherals while incorporating other players into the unique fun. Jackbox Games has a prime opportunity to get in on the ground level of VR party games and retain its lead as the go-to party game developer.
How Asymmetrical VR Games Work
The premise behind asymmetrical VR games is simple: one player with the VR peripherals takes what might be considered the "main" role, while one or more players take "secondary" roles either playing with or against them. Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes is an excellent example, as it lays out exactly how these games work even in spite of their difficulty. One player has access to a ticking bomb in VR, and by describing its appearance to other players with a manual on how to defuse it, they can work together to stop the bomb from exploding.
But Keep Talking And Nobody Explodes is a cooperative title, so Takelings House Party is a great example of how a more combative asymmetric VR game would work with multiple players. Players without a VR headset play as "Takelings," running about the game to complete objectives while "Hal," the player using VR, has to exterminate the others. It's a fun concept that takes advantage of the asymmetry between players with and without VR, but one downside to Takelings House Party is that currently it's only a local multiplayer experience. Thus, Jackbox Games' online multiplayer reputation could capitalize on the idea.
The Jackbox VR Party Pack
Jackbox Games could easily get ahead of the competition if it implemented online play from the start, allowing players to join games remotely as well so it can cater to a gaming scene that has grown accustomed to online play following pandemic lockdowns or streamers alike. The challenge it would face is coming up with ideas on how to implement asymmetrical VR gameplay into a party game using the same method as other Party Packs. For example, coming up with a simple sentence or rudimentary drawing for minigames such as the fan-favorites "Quiplash" or "Drawful" is more straightforward than the 3D gameplay common for asymmetrical VR games.
Fortunately, this isn't a problem without a solution. With the advancing capabilities of app games, a plethora of cross-platform titles have emerged that can be played on PC or console as well as phones, including 3D titles like Fortnite and Minecraft. Jackbox Games might need to design a game that is more involved than its previous Party Packs, but it's not an impossible challenge. Minigames might need to be simplified, but a VR Party Pack could lift from other games such as Panoptic's Premise where VR players attempt to identify and eliminate others from masses of NPCs.
While a VR Party Pack makes great commercial sense to keep Jackbox Games leading the scene, it might not be the sort of project the studio is prepared to take up. Currently, there are plenty of other developers with asymmetrical VR games either released or in Early Access, so Jackbox Games may want to keep to its tried-and-true Jackbox Party Pack format for its ninth Jackbox game, due to release soon. However, this shouldn't deter the studio from considering a VR pack in the future, as these games are only going to grow in popularity while more people gain access to the technology.
The Jackbox Party Pack 9 is currently in development.