Jackal news & patch notes

BANDCAMP - The Jackpot Editon

STEAM SOUNDTRACK

LISTENING PARTY

Jackal kicks the door wide open with its ultraviolent launch on Steam.

Welcome to Las Vegas 1970s — when presidents could be impeached for just lying and the mob's territory was only Vegas. 

Why it Hurts So Good:

• Rooms shift. Layouts change. No run is ever safe.

• Chemical superpowers: faster, stronger, higher — until you crash.

• Brutal finishers: not just endings, but punchlines.

• Inspired by the sickest, bleediest pop-culture nightmares: Hotline Miami, Pulp Fiction, Fear & Loathing.

"Jackal combines my love of John Wick fight scenes, Scorsese's mobsters, Tarantino's storytelling, and the soul of the 1970s," says Marcinkowski, presumably while cackling maniacally.

BUY IT NOW WITH A DISCOUNT!

AND DID YOU GET YOURSELF AND ANUBIS TATTOO ALREADY LIKE THIS COOL CAT!?

Jackal is hitting Steam February 5th 2026 (Thursday). Check out the new trailer.

This demo update makes the action easier to read with overhauled outlines, lighting, and color-coding so you always know what's what. Combat is snappier, enemies are improved, you can look farther with a button and new spells give you more ways to cause chaos New spells: Timeshift, Slow, Blind, Speed, Akimbo

Demo Update 0.8.18 – 0.8.50

Gameplay

• Animals slower on Easy difficulty

• Mr. Green is a bit faster at shooting

• Enemies are more cautious when entering rooms where someone died

• Easier to target enemies when kicking furniture

• Faster melee recovery

• Pickup prioritizes more lethal melee weapons

• Fixed hunting enemies stopping when alerted by a sound

• Fixed madness enemy attacking player

• Fixed melee animation missing at high speed or low FPS

• Fixed weapon thrown at floor when no target nearby

• Fixed can't kick weapon after dropped from knocked enemy

• Fixed can't kick weapon if too high

• Fixed collisions of kicked scenery sometimes missing

• Boxes in bar storage are now kickable

• Associate spawns together with the player

Spells

• New spells: Timeshift, Slow, Blind, Speed, Akimbo

• Madness spell remade to affect everyone on screen in a time period

• Spell name now displays on HUD

• Spell cards can be scrolled horizontally

• Can open spell picker directly from death screen

• Spell progress shown on spell selection screen

Visuals

• Blood appears on enemies before death

• Dead bodies darken immediately on death

• Policemen brighter blue

• Civilians now share navy blue color for better recognition

• New civilian women models

• Associates changed to purple

• Darker, more distinct doors

• Improved ceiling texture

• Weapons larger when on ground

• Outlines shrink and grow dynamically

• Thicker black outline on enemies

• Melee outlines are neon blue

• Weapon outlines are neon red

• Equipped melee weapons display outlines

• Enemy outlines blink when appearing on screen

• Outlines blink with weapon color (or white if unarmed)

• Fixed weapon outlines hidden by enemy body

• Added rim lighting on characters

• Brighter lighting on characters and items

• Larger character blob shadows

• Nicer outline blink with dark contrast

• Darker door fracture parts

• Fixed Anubis too dark in gameplay

• Fixed dead animals not darkening

• Removed psychadelic effect when croc enters

UI & Menus

• Simplified game menu to single restart button (with new seed prompt)

• Can reload with new seed directly from death screen

• Game menu loops with controller

• Added reset all progress button to Gameplay Settings

• Removed "Clear" win screen for better flow

• Tutorial keys display after death

• Added look farther button (Shift / Right Stick)

• Removed hit marker sound from civilians

Speedball Mode (formerly Speed Running)

• Renamed mode to Speedball

• Fixed levels generating different layouts when returning from menu

• Fixed restart with new seed functionality

• Fixed music missing in Streets levels

• Removed cancel/restart help from summary screen

• Removed dog from Streets levels

Weapons

• Winchester 94 renamed to Winchester Rifle

• Winchester 1897 renamed to Winchester Shotgun

• Nicer spade placement in car

Audio & Polish

• Added elevator sound to Penthouse cinematic

• Fixed boss phone voice volume

• New chapter names

• Items now collide with ragdolls

• Ragdoll optimization time increased to 10 seconds

• Madness enemies continue their behavior off-screen

• Fixed hunt wave intervals in Highway Patrol level

• Dive bar level got one more wave of enemies

Have fun,

MM

DEMO UPDATE 0.8.17 -0.8.18

• fixed blood decals often not appearing on kill

• fixed blood decals on dogs

• added "optimize ragdolls" settings (general settings) so ragdolls don't go inactive

• animals more slowdown on hit

• fixed card icon glitch

Changes 0.8.14 - 0.8.17

• fixed cant pickup Mr Green after finishing the demo

• dead bodies go darker faster

• streets and divebar ceiling color change

• added bottom wall dark shade in Moonbeam for better visibility

• added loading icon on transition

• added more outline for cinematic texts

• fixed croc broken after pushed with furniture

• fixed ragdolls depenetrating below level

• madness civilian will update off screen

• madness enemy can shoot off screen

Changes 0.8.7-0.8.14

• fixed hitting stuff through walls

• fixed picking up priorities (gun with more ammo)

• fixed picking up priorities (melee instead of no ammo gun)

• fixed car drive-in camera only once

• fixed no outline on doorway and pillars

• new desert, asphalt and bedroom texture

• fixed first run reloading sometimes (fixed incremented seed level not saved properly)

• fixed first run having different enemy layout issue

• changed timer color and size

• fixed slide not working in tutorial after finished tutorial

• fixed furniture kills happening from wrong angle

• fixed issues with ragdoll positions not resetting properly

• fixed player getting shoved underground by falling shelves

• readded slight vignette in gameplay

• fixed changing global seed not changing lobby levels

• max camera distance limited to 10

• fixed not being able to pickup mr green issue

• mr green cant be severed

• fixed teleport spell used up if picked point outside map

• teleport cursor chooses most convenient spot

• fixed chapter name blinking when loading level

• added slight animation to transition/loading text

• fixed artifacts on cards

• show short spell picking animation even if one spell

• show global seed/level seed in summary

• fixed spell markers not rendering on no particles settings

• less associate particle effects

Have fun,

MM

Changes 0.8.3-0.8.7

• finisher grants temporary speed boost and invincibility (speed is stackable)

• fixed issue causing first run having different enemy layouts

• fixed ragdoll stiffer above 60fps

• ragdolls now collide with doors

• limited furniture push speed

• enemy pistol guys shoot less frequent on hard difficulty

• fixed mac10 trail position and size

• fixed some enemies turning red if finished

• fixed police madness not counting as dead

• fixed item near phone or trunk being higher priority

• fixed artifacts on cinematics letterbox when no post processing

• new color grading for cinematics

Have fun,

MM

I tried to fix all issues I found as feedback from Discord and Community from the Next Fest demo event. Mainly visibility issues. The player speed is a bit higher. There's an easy mode! Jackal Update 0.8.3 - Changelog

Combat & Controls

• Player movement is a bit faster

• Slightly slower reaction times for shooting enemies

• New optional separate key binding for kick

• Blood effects now only trigger on death (not stun)

• Non-cutting weapons only stun when thrown

• Enemies make a slight pause before entering the room from a door

• Instant restart when pressed fire upon death

• Renamed controls: "Special" → "Slide", "Ability" → "Spell"

Visual Improvements

• Enhanced visibility across the board:

  • Black outlines on all collidable elements and enemies

  • Larger, brighter weapon models that always fall on their side

  • Dead bodies fade to darker colors

  • Color-coded weapon outlines (yellow for melee, orange for low ammo)

• New vintage UI effect 

• Diamond bokeh cinematic blur for backgrounds

• Improved ragdoll physics (no more explosions; more natural/flexible)

• Lighter dog color

Difficulty Options

• Three difficulty modes now available:

  • Easy: 3 health points with visible player health bar and slower enemies

  • Balanced: Classic 1 health point

  • Hard: 1 health point with fast enemies

Cinematics

• All cinematics now in cinematic 21:9 format

• Hold button to pause cinematic dialogue

• New boss phone scene with full voice acting

• Various visual and dialogue improvements

Level Generation

• Improved randomization for more varied layouts

• New "Restart with Different Layout" option

• Level seeds now visible in game menu and summary screen for sharing

• More pushable furniture in the dive bar

Tutorial Updates

• New kick dumpster mechanic tutorial

• Quick spell tutorial added to bar area

• Improved tutorial hints throughout

• Repeatable tutorials for practice

Performance & Fixes

• Upgraded to Unity 6 physics for better stability

• Fixed numerous weapon collision and clipping issues

• Improved low framerate affecting melee hits

• Better resolution handling

• Zoom resets correctly after death during a finisher

• Madness enemies count as dead

Character Update

• Mr Pink is now Mr Green

• Gun fat guy has blue suit

Speedrunning

• Completely rebuilt speedrun challenges

• Statistics reset due to major level changes

Become a coked-up force of nature loose in Sin City's underbelly!

Jackal is featured in Snap Necks Fest so... BIG DEMO UPDATE!

Demo Changelog 0.7.11:

New Content

• Extended levels with additional waves (bar, reception, rooms)

• New speed running levels: Highway/Desert, Streets of Fury 300, Penthouse 300, 42 Sins2

• New music for Hotel Reception and remastered title track

• Psychedelic effect added on win screen

Visual & Audio Improvements

• Updated cinematics with improved visuals, dialogue, and sound effects

• New music for most cinematics

• Reduced zoom and slowdown on win camera

Gameplay Adjustments

• Fewer civilians on levels

• Dog attacks now one-hit kill

• Added health bars for Croc and Fat Guy

• Croc slows down when hit

Bug Fixes

• Fixed arrow indicators on Highway Patrol and for stopped enemies

• Fixed police shooting only once

• Fixed player position when opening doors

• Fixed enemies sometimes seeing through doors

• Fixed mobs alerted at level start

• Fixed ragdoll instability issues

• Fixed katana roll kicking weapons

• Input disabled when application not focused

• Cops now rotate toward player

• Fixed opening Cadillac door when not highlighted

UI & Localization

• Improved Chinese (Simplified), Spanish, and Russian translations

• Fixed Walther PPK typo

• Fixed long resolution strings in settings

• Removed objective text; replaced loading text with chapter names

• Fixed missing captions on loading screens

• Fixed cinematic timing issues

Tell your friends. Share the word. Spread the carnage.

... and have fun! MM

Changes 0.7.7:

• added new bad guy vocalizations (including panic)

• reduced some unnecesary AI behaviours

• thrown item doesnt collide with minor objects

• added associate effect

• tutorial skipped after finished game

• added door banging before entering room

• spell progress won't show after teleport spell in demo

• rearranged controls remapping items

• added trunk open sound

• fixed hotel lobby to room transition

• scenery wont damage player

• seed slider says random seed if 0

• confined mouse settings synchronizes mouse cursor with system cursor

• better cigarette puffs

Update focused on most pressing demo player issues.

Changes 0.7.6:

• added separate finisher button \

• added enemy door banging before entering a room

• reception and desert made larger

• fixed teleport sound

• fixed fracture door parts blocking player

• fixed tutorial issues with Mr. Pink

• quieter elevator door sound in cinematic

• fixed camera mixing up on finisher and end slo mo

• added confined mouse cursor setting (for MHOOK)

• fixed sonic the crocodile on hard difficulty

• slide on start kicks weapons

• fixed being able to zoom during menu/settings

• fixed going past door

• added bullet icon to HUD

• fixed janky finisher controls sometimes

• fixed not being able to slide when finisher possible

• gib particles stay longer

• removed damage from Mr. Yellow roll

• fixed inaudible croc death sound

You're a drug-enhanced hitman with the moral compass of a broken slot machine, turning iconic Vegas hotels into impromptu abattoirs. Every table, chair, and kitchen utensil becomes a weapon in your hands because apparently, even the cutlery wants in on the action.

WATCH THE TRAILER:

Welcome to the demo of the definitive top-down murder simulator where mobsters become meat puppets and physics is just another drug.

PLAY THE DEMO & WISHLIST:

Why it Hurts So Good:

• Ultra-violent room redecoration

• Rooms shift. Layouts change. No run is ever safe.

• Chemical superpowers: faster, stronger, higher — until you crash.

• Brutal finishers: not just endings, but punchlines.

• Inspired by the sickest, bleediest pop-culture nightmares: Hotline Miami, Pulp Fiction, Fear & Loathing in Vegas.

Created by Michał Marcinkowski – the madman who gave us Soldat and clearly never learned when to stop.  "Jackal combines my love of John Wick fight scenes, Scorsese's mobsters, Tarantino's storytelling, and the soul of the 1970s," says Marcinkowski, presumably while cackling maniacally.

Release Info: Play the demo now! (A taste of the full massacre launching January 2026)

Warning: Side effects may include uncontrollable urges to redecorate with viscera, sudden appreciation for 1970s interior design, and the inexplicable need to wear sunglasses indoors.

I made extra effort for Jackal to be 100% compatible with Steam Deck on launch, this includes: * Twin-stick shooter controls * All content can be accessed with the controller * Shows Steam Deck glyphs for controls/tutorials * All interface is legible on the small screen Demo release date soon to be announced. MM

The festival will run from August 7th to 14th, 2025, with a special sale page on Steam and a whole week of streams and content on the Yogscast Twitch and YouTube channels. It’s a fantastic opportunity to discover new games, support indie creators, and be part of a vibrant, welcoming community. I can't promise when but Jackal will be one of the featured games and might be picked up and played by the plethora of streamers participating in the event.

In the meantime I'm mad busy with developing the game and making it as good as possible. Sorry for not posting any news or media but I'd rather spend time making the game great. I post some news snippets on Discord if someone asks, so find me there. Have fun! MM