Night Jackal: Blood Debt
Night Jackal: Blood Debt
Game
Game2025Published by indie.io
Aris Arcanum
Developer Broken Cane
The grand library of Aris now befell into madness — its scholars, corrupted, bear wounds of Ink; a dark, sludge carrying a mind-altering disease. A unique magic-bound roguelite awaits, where a desperate scholar bends the Ink's occult power to spellcraft his path to redemption. From the Steam store page
23 reactions from 2 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky) · newest Sep 18, 2026 · last updated Oct 7, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
75
LovedLoved
15 positive · 5 negative
95% range 53–89%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 15 | 5 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 0 | 0 | 3 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
15 of 20 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
75% recommend · 15 yes, 5 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 20 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Mostly Positive (19 of 26 positive).
Players praise the art style, music, and unique cosmic horror library setting. [1][2] Some find the combat janky, stamina-based, and repetitive after a few hours. [3][4][5] Several reviewers note the game feels short and lacks content beyond the first biome. [6][7]
Liked
Representative posts
- [6]
This game is perfect the first 2 hours that you play it. It looks good, plays well, and seems to promise a lot of unlocks and replayability in the future. If this was an early access game, I'd recommend it. Sadly, it's not. And the more you play, the more you realize that your anticipation for things to come is just your optimism. And the things you get the first 2 hours is it. It's unfinished otherwise. There's …
- [1]
Absolutely gorgeous art style and the cosmic horror library setting is so unique! Hidden gem!
- [10]
Started this game and couldn't let go until I finished it. I enjoyed it very much. I really liked the various spells and how you can stack different upgrades and runes together to make a powerful and kind of unique build in each try. The art, environments, character design, story, and music are also very unique. There are some minor bugs here and there but nothing that will degrade the experience. Kudos to Broken …
- [2]
Excellent vibes, gorgeous characters and fun weird and fresh combat: all I need to love a game.
- [3]
Good stuff! Gets janky sometimes but great world and the combat and spell crafting has its moments. Would recommend.
Summarised from 23 of the 23 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 14, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
75% of the 20 Steam reviewers we collected recommend Aris Arcanum. The complaint that keeps coming up: combat can feel janky and clunky. Deal-breaker or nitpick?
Reactions
23 of 23 · most liked firstThis game is perfect the first 2 hours that you play it. It looks good, plays well, and seems to promise a lot of unlocks and replayability in the future. If this was an early access game, I'd recommend it. Sadly, it's not. And the more you play, the more you realize that your anticipation for things to come is just your optimism. And the things you get the first 2 hours is it. It's unfinished otherwise. There's only 1 biome and you get about 15 levels until the boss fight. Pretty short. First…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good stuff! Gets janky sometimes but great world and the combat and spell crafting has its moments. Would recommend.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Absolutely gorgeous art style and the cosmic horror library setting is so unique! Hidden gem!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I feel bad doing this, its a small team with an interesting idea, the art is great, i like the idea of spellcrafting as roguelike and i am a sucker for a good ragdoll. The problem is the jank. Oh my god, the jank. Im okay with jank, jank can be charming and fun in its own way, this is not that kind of jank. I saved up currency for an upgrade that gave me a second life, only to discover that the super slow motion that engages when you die doesnt seem to turn off for the second life, leaving…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →For the first game by the Broken Cane team, it’s very impressive. The art style is superb, but certain elements still leave a bit to be desired. I hope they keep working on it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Excellent vibes, gorgeous characters and fun weird and fresh combat: all I need to love a game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Beautiful atmosphere and a tight game loop, loving it so far!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Big fan of weird stories and characters so this gets a yes from me. Gustav is my favorite- what a king. The combat system got me a bit of getting used to ,but it was well worth it, love ragdolling enemies. Plus points for that receptionist thing.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A fun game with an addictive loop. It has a slower more stamina focused combat than Hades. The graphics look great and the setting is interesting. The story is intriguing and the music great. All round great game
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Started this game and couldn't let go until I finished it. I enjoyed it very much. I really liked the various spells and how you can stack different upgrades and runes together to make a powerful and kind of unique build in each try. The art, environments, character design, story, and music are also very unique. There are some minor bugs here and there but nothing that will degrade the experience. Kudos to Broken Cane team for creating this beautiful experience with such a small team.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A cool and compact take on roguelites with heavier-feeling combat in a beautiful grim world with zany characters, and the possibility for some broken-in-a-fun-way spell builds.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →one of the best indie games i played recently, the retrolike music really got me going, and the boss fight was super fun
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Love the art style and the music. The victory/idle music after you defeat enemies is superb. Character wise I wish they had more to tell in terms of story progression. The gameplay is attention-grabbing and fun but the ink shard can get a bit dull after the first few rebirths. Overall it's a lovely game worth your time. P.S. That one moaning basic enemy with the weird sword can go ♥♥♥♥ himself.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Lovely art and I really like the interactions of spell upgrades!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great music, weird vibes. Interesting build variety so far. Promising Hades-like.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nominated for the MOST ANTICIPATED GAME AWARD at Indie Cup Ukraine’23: • Hollow Home • Glory to the Heroes • Aris Arcanum • Oberty • The Cable Guy • Tactical Squad: SWAT Stories • Headquarters: World War II • Hoglands Congratulations to all teams!
neutral · AI labelView post →Nominated for the MOST PROMISING GAME AWARD at Indie Cup Ukraine’23: • Hollow Home • Glory to the Heroes • Aris Arcanum • Dark Carrot • UMDS • Sparkhunt • Strange House • Fishing Stories • Freedom Tower Congratulations to all teams!
neutral · AI labelView post →Great game with a unique combat style, has a unique art style with an interesting story. Great game overall would recommend:
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →the art style and thematic is insanely pretty, however the gameplay needs more flush out, the stamina and movement is clunky sometimes, and the game get boring after an hour or two.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This might be the worst game I have ever played. The combat system literally puts you to sleep.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Aris Arcanum takes the familiar action roguelite formula and gives it a distinctive identity through occult magic, cosmic horror, and a setting built around the dangerous pursuit of knowledge. Developed by Broken Cane and published by indie.io, it follows Clyde, a gifted magician connected to the mysterious discipline of Atramancy. His journey takes him through the once-grand library of Aris, where forbidden experimentation has transformed a center of learning into a hostile maze filled with…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I like the art style and the quirky characters but ultimately the gameplay feels unsatisfying. The idea of crafting your own arsenal of spells sounds great (just look at Noita) but there doesn't seem to be much variety in effects and runs are too short to give opportunity for diversity. I feel like the best strategy is to avoid most of the upgrades as the base pew-pew is fine. Also, dodges share the same mana pool as the attacks, which in theory is a good opportunity for skill expression, but…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →[New Post] indieio Unleashes Dual Terrors: A Deep Dive into 'Bonefield' and 'Aris Arcanum' at Steam Scream Fest #indieio #Bonefield #ArisArcanum #SteamScreamFest https://mos-game-en.blogspot.com/2025/10/indieio-unleashes-dual-terrors-deep.html
neutral · AI labelView post →
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