Developer Shoutscion calls Jack and Casie an "inventory action game," a hybrid of turn-based RPGs and slot puzzles set in an alternative wasteland world. Basically, it's about collecting, arranging and using items in an inventory straight out of Resident Evil 4's iconic suitcase. It's currently on Kickstarter, with Shoutscion asking for $14,000 to bring it to life. At the time of writing, it has already beaten that with $17,786 raised and will run for another 24 days.
"Jack and Casie is an Inventory Action Game about the misadventures of Jack, a walking talking superdimensional storage closet, and Casie, who can shoot a gun," the Kickstarter reads. "As they make their way to the distant Capital, they'll encounter the mysterious Ancient Army, piece together the history of the Frontier, and cross paths with the people who call it home."
Combat is turn-based, but that doesn't do it justice. You've almost got to see it to understand it—which you can thanks to the free demo available on Itch.io.
Instead of selecting abilities at your leisure, you're constantly on the clock. Casie will automatically use the next item in your inventory when it's her turn, and there's no way to pause during fights, though you can speed them up. You have to put whatever weapon or item you want her to use at the top left of your inventory, and then work your way down.
If you want to reuse the same item, you can keep dragging it back to the top slot but you also need to focus on arranging your other items efficiently by flipping and rotating them, reloading your weapons by combining them with ammo (which, obviously, also takes up inventory space), or collecting items from the feed of items which accompanies combat. Random items and weapons are constantly rolling by, and every time you use an item it goes into the feed, so you've got to keep an eye on the flow of combat, your hitpoints, the order of items in your inventory and the goodies in the feed, lest they pass you by. On top of that, you can customize Casie's abilities via a similar inventory system, socketing in Tetris piece-like upgrades to beef up her armor.
It reminds me of Child of Light as much as Resident Evil 4, and even from the limited demo, it's clear Jack and Casie moves at breakneck speed. It's crazy to think it started as entry to the Ludum Dare game jam, especially with the amount of game on offer, including more than a dozen different zones to explore and hundreds of unique items to micro-manage.
With its Kickstarter already fully funded, Jack and Casie is slated to release in early 2019.
