The Jackbox Naughty Pack Review - Spicier, But Not Too Crass

Another year and another Jackbox Party Pack. This one, The Jackbox Naughty Pack, is a collection of three games specifically designed with an M-rating in mind. This means more crass jokes and more explicit sexual humor. How much does an M-rating really contribute to the tone of a game that is already filled with free-form comedy?

The Jackbox Naughty Pack comes with three games, as opposed to the standard five games of a Party Pack. Two games are new editions of previously available titles, Fakin' It All Night Long and Dirty Drawful, and one game is a wholly new addition to the Jackbox stable of games, Let Me Finish.

Each game is intended for 3-8 players (though I don't think I'd ever recommend playing with three) and features using a browser-enabled device (Mobile phone, tablet, laptop, etc) as the controller letting you select prompts, draw silly images, and type in responses.

The idea of having a mobile phone, a device that almost every person has access to, as a controller was an inspired idea over a decade ago when Fibbage first released and it's still an incredible way to allow all players, and even additional audience members to get in on the fun. So much of what makes these games enjoyable is the freedom of having your own screen.

Fakin' It All Night Long

Fakin' It All Night Long is a social deduction game where you need to discover who among you is the Faker. Players are given tasks to complete, this might be to raise a number of fingers or point to a specific player, while the Faker is given a slightly different prompt or no prompt at all.

Players might be told to raise as many fingers as they need to unhook a bra, and if you look out across the room and see someone holding up a single finger it might seem suspicious. If the prompt is "Hold up as many fingers as the number of guaranteed booty calls in your phone" and a monogamous couple has a member hold up four fingers eyebrows may raise.

The aspect of Fakin' It All Night Long, as well as the original Fakin' It, that makes them my favorite series is that this is a Jackbox game where the game facilitates interactions with one another, and it's not just players all watching what's happening on the screen. The game facilitates prompts and conversations with the players but doesn't get in the way of itself.

A new gameplay mode has been added as one of the sub-categories of games. In this mode, you'll be given a prompt and you'll get to respond with a single emoji. A prompt like "What are you most afraid of" might elicit emoji of skulls to represent death, spiders, or other fears, but if someone posts a raccoon emoji then they might just be your Faker. This is a fun mode, created as internet games like recognizing TV shows and movies based on emoji flood social media.

Playing a few rounds of this led to my group learning a lot about each other, for better or worse, and led to some rolling laughter when one person was so obviously the faker with how their responses didn't align with their personalities.

Compared to the original Fakin' It the major difference is just that the topics used end up being that much more personal. You'll definitely learn a lot about people with this game, make sure it's a closer group of friends that you decide to play this with.

Dirty Drawful

Dirty Drawful is the least changed of the games in the Jackbox Naughty Pack. It's just like the Drawful you know but now there will be more mature prompts. Some of the prompts I saw across my early games were "Loose Pill Pinata", "Butter Knifed My Damn Dong Off", "European Peen Contemplates Life", or "Baby Working The Mines."

Players get prompted to draw one of these insane ideas, and then others will guess what they are. At the end, all of the fake prompts and the real prompt will get shuffled together and every player needs to guess which one they believe is correct.

The biggest effect that these wilder prompts had on the game was that when a player posted something truly unhinged as one of their guesses there was less reason to doubt it was incorrect. In a normal game of Drawful you can rule out anything that references genitals or lewd puns but you just can't do that here.

This is an easier game to share with friends who might enjoy sharing off-color jokes, but that you don't want to learn much more about them directly.

Let Me Finish

Let Me Finish is the new game in the pack, where players are presented with a stock image and are asked to indicate something on it. You could be shown a series of screwdrivers and asked which one likes to be called daddy?

While every player submits their feedback on the image and prompt it's two players that go head to head presenting their response. Players will have a set amount of time to make a case for their argument, here's where people can let their presentation skills and improv chops fly as they try to convince the other players.

In my conversation with Let Me Finish director Warren Arnold he actually shared that this game was originally called Where's the Butt? after the initial pitch was given of an image of a mailbox with the caption 'Where's the Butt?' prompting wildly different responses from those in the room.

Once everyone has presented players will then vote on the best response. At this time other players can even jump in to tell the two players who presented, and whoever else might be around why they're wrong. I enjoyed this feature, but I could also definitely see a scenario where you're playing with someone who always wants their own thoughts heard might abuse it.

Let Me Finish does an amazing job highlighting just how differently our minds all function. When presented with the exact same stimulus and criteria the places that we all go in our minds as humans is incredibly different.

With the aspect of presentation, a lot of the core humor was definitely reliant on those presenting, and how willing everyone was to die on the hill that they had made for themselves. If players are shy, or aren't likely to speak up for their own silly opinion then it might be a bit harder to get this game off the ground.

Jackbox Naughty Pack Review | Final Thoughts

I was cautious going into this wondering just how well an R-Rated Party Pack would be but with the direct influence of spicier prompts leading to spicier jokes, and the indirect influence of crazier player responses fitting into the theme it's unmistakable that Jackbox Games has absolutely stuck the landing.

Fakin' It All Night Long continues to be an incredible way to play a deduction party game against your friends where everyone gets to be a part of the action. Dirty Drawful creates a creative outlet for players to not only draw unhinged creations but also respond to them. Let Me Finish gives players a platform to offer their unrequested opinions on silly ideas and have a way to let out some antagonism in the spirit of good fun.

This might not be the Party Pack to play with your family at Thanksgiving, but it's definitely one to share with your group chat.

The Jackbox Naughty Pack was reviewed on PC with a copy provided by the publisher over the course of around 3 hours of gameplay - all screenshots were taken during the process of review.