Skip to main content

JARS

Overall this is a game that deserves its place in any gamers library.
JARS Game Cover
64%Game Brain Score
graphics, story
gameplay, grinding
55% User Score Based on 58 reviews
Critic Score 77%Based on 6 reviews

Platforms

Nintendo SwitchLinuxPCMac OSWindows
Buy Nowfrom €11.99
Buy NowGet on Steam €11.99
JARS Game Cover

About

JARS is a single player tactical platformer game with horror, mystery and comedy themes. It was developed by Mousetrap Games and was released on October 20, 2021. It received mostly positive reviews from critics and neutral reviews from players.

Jars is a strategy game featuring puzzles and elements of tower defense. Join Victor in his spooky yet endearing world and prepare for a quest to uncover the secrets of his family's basement. Will you save the world or get grounded by mother?

Genres & Tags
Play Modes
JARS screenshot
JARS screenshot
JARS screenshot
JARS screenshot
JARS screenshot
JARS screenshot
JARS screenshot
JARS screenshot
Skip User Reviews

55%
Audience ScoreBased on 58 reviews
graphics11 positive mentions
grinding5 negative mentions
  • Unique blend of puzzle, strategy, and tower defense mechanics with a novel jar-breaking gameplay loop.
  • Striking hand-drawn gothic art style and atmospheric, subtle audio complement the eerie yet whimsical theme.
  • Short, manageable levels with a relaxing pace and some strategic depth, suitable for casual players and tower defense newcomers.
  • Heavy reliance on random number generation (RNG) causes frustrating and unbalanced difficulty spikes, especially in later levels.
  • Repetitive gameplay and grind-heavy progression, including required grinding for essential minions, drags down the experience.
  • Menu and control issues such as perks resetting randomly, clunky UI, and minions behaving unintuitively reduce overall polish and enjoyment.
  • graphics
    30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics feature a distinctive hand-drawn, quirky art style that blends eerie and whimsical elements, creating a dark-fantasy yet charming atmosphere. Visuals are widely praised for their uniqueness and striking quality, often compared to games like Krumit's Tale, and complemented well by a fitting spooky, lighthearted soundtrack. While the aesthetic strongly appeals to many, it may not suit those sensitive to creepy or slimy themes, and some find the style repetitive alongside gameplay.

    • “The entire game is rendered in hand-drawn artwork that gives the basement environment a distinctive dark-fantasy atmosphere.”
    • “The aesthetic balances eerie and whimsical elements, creating a world that feels both creepy and oddly charming.”
    • “The visuals are striking—reminding me of Krumit's Tale—and the spooky yet lighthearted music perfectly complements the hand-drawn aesthetic.”
    • “Graphics - decent.”
    • “Nice atmospheric graphics, but poor early pacing has bored me with repeating the same few tools before finishing the second map.”
    • “It does not matter if the art style is quirky, or 'to your liking'.”
  • gameplay
    22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay offers a unique blend of tactical planning, puzzle-solving, and light tower-defense mechanics with a core focus on breaking jars, creating engaging tension and strategic depth. While the gradual introduction of new mechanics keeps the experience fresh and encourages experimentation, the overall gameplay loop can feel repetitive and shallow for experienced players, especially due to RNG elements and required grinding. Despite its novel concept and appealing art style, the gameplay struggles to sustain long-term interest as a full-length game.

    • “Released in 2021, the game blends elements of tactical planning, puzzle solving, and light tower-defense mechanics into a compact but distinctive experience.”
    • “This mechanic creates a constant sense of tension, as every action can either strengthen the player’s position or lead to chaos.”
    • “As players progress through the campaign, the game gradually introduces new mechanics that expand the strategic possibilities.”
    • “The core gameplay mechanics, while clever, do not evolve dramatically throughout the campaign, which may leave experienced strategy players wishing for deeper tactical systems or greater variety in enemy behavior.”
    • “Instead of unlocking them naturally through gameplay, you’re forced to grind earlier levels repeatedly, which drains the fun entirely.”
    • “'World' 1-3 is fine, world 4 is where RNG comes into play so incredibly heavily that it becomes part of the gameplay to restart a level if you get bugs (the towers in this tower defense-like game) that do not match together to defend the chests.”
  • story
    18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story follows a young boy named Victor uncovering secrets beneath his family home, providing a unique and intriguing narrative that complements the tower defense gameplay. While generally praised for its creativity and charm, some players find the story somewhat limited and desire more depth, with certain mission restrictions and grind requirements detracting from the overall experience. Nonetheless, the story adds a memorable and engaging backdrop to the game's puzzle and strategy elements.

    • “The story centers on a young boy named Victor, whose curiosity leads him to explore the secrets hidden beneath his family’s home.”
    • “Jars is a lovely tower defense game, with a nice story and creative playstyle.”
    • “Jars is a strategy puzzle with tower defense elements from Mousetrap Games and Daedalic Entertainment, providing endless hours of jar-opening fun along with an intriguing story and quirky artwork.”
    • “An idiotic design decision forces players to grind levels repeatedly just to buy a specific minion needed to attempt a mission in the third area of the game.”
    • “I disliked that some missions had to be completed exactly as the developers intended, often focusing on a single ward, limiting player choice.”
    • “A major downside is the prerequisite to have a specific unit in the squad to start certain missions, which can only be purchased in a junk shop, leading to expensive costs and boring grinding for currency in previous missions and endless mode.”
  • music
    8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's music features quiet, spooky, and lighthearted background tracks that effectively enhance the mysterious and thoughtful atmosphere. The restrained, haunting soundtrack complements the hand-drawn visuals and slow pacing, creating a unique and fitting auditory experience. While some find the music good but not exceptional, it generally adds well to the overall mood and aesthetic.

    • “Rather than relying on dramatic music, the game uses quiet background tracks that create a sense of mystery and tension as players explore each level.”
    • “The restrained soundtrack works well with the game’s slow, thoughtful pacing, allowing players to focus on planning their next move.”
    • “The visuals are striking—reminding me of Krumit's Tale—and the spooky yet lighthearted music perfectly complements the hand-drawn aesthetic.”
    • “Soundtrack- alright”
  • grinding
    5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Grinding in the game is often tedious and uninspired, involving repetitive button mashing or frustrating RNG-based resets. The perk management and hero leveling are poorly implemented, leading to unnecessarily long and grind-heavy gameplay with little strategic depth.

    • “Little to no strategy, comp requirements and perks management tedious, little content for length, buggy interface and tracking.”
    • “The levels are either incredibly brain-dead button mashing or tedious RNG-reliant reset spamming until you get a layout of jars that works.”
    • “Grinding for way too long to level your hero up in a poorly implemented roguelike way and having to choose between 3 randomly selected positive/negative perks, which may or may not destroy the run, all without failing for 35 long and tedious stages.”
  • atmosphere
    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game’s hand-drawn artwork and subtle audio design effectively create a distinctive dark-fantasy atmosphere, immersing players in its setting. However, the narrative and pacing are somewhat underdeveloped, with repetitive gameplay elements that may detract from the overall atmospheric experience early on.

    • “The entire game is rendered in hand-drawn artwork that gives the basement environment a distinctive dark-fantasy atmosphere.”
    • “The audio design complements the visual style with a subtle but effective atmosphere.”
    • “The narrative elements, while interesting, remain somewhat underdeveloped and primarily serve as atmospheric flavor rather than a central driving force.”
  • stability
    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's stability is a major issue, with frequent bugs affecting the interface, tracking, and collectibles. Many users report difficulties with loading and poor developer support, making it frustrating and often unplayable.

    • “Buggy interface and tracking.”
    • “Collectibles are buggy.”
    • “The game fails to even load despite hours of troubleshooting and trying to reach out to the developers, which is a deal-breaker.”
  • monetization
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Users find the monetization intrusive and off-putting, criticizing the presence of unrelated game advertisements and ads displayed on the title screen.

    • “Advertising unrelated games in the menu is scummy.”
    • “This game has ads on the title screen.”
  • character development
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The character development is enhanced by a distinctive visual style, featuring a muted color palette and exaggerated designs that lend the game a gothic animated film vibe, adding depth and personality beyond its puzzle mechanics.

  • humor
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor is characterized by a quirky, Tim Burton-inspired grotesque style that adds a charming and playful tone to the puzzle and tower defense gameplay.

  • replayability
    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The puzzles provide significant replay value, but it is the engaging story that leaves a lasting impression and encourages players to revisit the game.

    • “The puzzles themselves offer a ton of replayability, but it's the story that will ultimately make a lasting impression after every level.”
Skip Critic Reviews

77%Critics’ scoreBased on 6 critic reviews
Skip Game Offers

Buy JARS

Skip Videos

Videos

Skip Games Like JARS

Games Like JARS

Arcanium: Rise of Akhan Image
79%597reviews

Arcanium: Rise of Akhan

2022Tactical Role Playing
PCPhoneiPad+4
Games like Arcanium: Rise of Akhan
Whispering Willows Image
71%888reviews

Whispering Willows

2014Role Playing
Nintendo SwitchAndroidPlaystation 5+20
Games like Whispering Willows
Yoku's Island Express Image
89%3.1kreviews

Yoku's Island Express

2018Open World Platformer
Nintendo SwitchXbox Series X|SPC+7
Games like Yoku's Island Express
Heretic's Fork Image
83%2.2kreviews

Heretic's Fork

2023Tactical Shooter
Nintendo SwitchXbox Series X|SPC+6
Games like Heretic's Fork
Has-Been Heroes Image
68%234reviews

Has-Been Heroes

2017Tactical Role Playing
Nintendo SwitchXbox Series X|SPC+9
Games like Has-Been Heroes
More games like JARS
Skip FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

JARS is a tactical platformer game with horror, mystery and comedy themes.

JARS is available on Nintendo Switch, PC, Mac OS, Windows and others.

JARS was released on October 20, 2021.

JARS was developed by Mousetrap Games.

JARS has received mostly positive reviews from players and mostly positive reviews from critics. Most players liked JARS for its graphics but disliked it for its gameplay.

JARS is a single player game.

Similar games include Arcanium: Rise of Akhan, Whispering Willows, Yoku's Island Express, Heretic's Fork, Has-Been Heroes and others.