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Recently, there has been a sudden wave of standalone games being released from Jackbox Games as they refine their most popular games and turn them into standalone projects such as Fakin It XL, which we are here to talk about today, Murder Mystery Party 3, which was released not long ago, Quiplash XL, and even Fibbage XL.
During this standalone game wave from Jackbox Games, I have had the opportunity to get my hands on Fakin It XL and play it with some friends as we laughed the night away, continuing the tradition of Jackbox Games being one of the funniest collections of party games of recent years.
Fakin It XL Doesn’t Change a Lot, and That Isn’t a Bad Thing
Throughout the years of Jackbox Games releasing party packs, they have slowly changed how their games work and made improvements based on what the players’ feedback was at the time. So, for example, one of the biggest complaints in the original Fakin It was how you had to be in person or use a camera to play the game.
Now this was changed in a previous version of Fakin It, but Fakin It XL continues to use this feature, allowing players who are both in person and online to play easily with just their phones rather than having to set up a laptop or PC to join in.
In terms of improvements made to the game, the biggest change and boost for Fakin It XL is the fact that players will now be able to experience new prompts from the game, which was a lot of fun, as these are always the most fun part of this game type, as you never know what you will be asked or even how your friends will respond.
While trying out the game, my friends and I did a good few rounds of Faking It XL before we went back to some of the older Fakin It games to see what the similarities were to the questions, and we were pleasantly surprised by how many new prompts and options there were now instead of just regurgitated prompts and suggestions.
The biggest improvement was the visual aids provided for online play. Yes, I still had to stream my PC’s screen onto Discord so my friends could experience the entire game with me, but they didn’t have to use cameras if they didn’t want to, as the game provided visuals for the different game modes.
The most glaring examples of this were in the pointing and raising your hand games, as these very clearly require a visual aid, and even though this feature was included in the Fakin It All Night Long version of the game, it was kept in and made much more efficient for Fakin It XL, and it works wonders.
Overall Opinion on Fakin It XL
When it comes to Fakin It XL, it is safe to say that my friends and I had an absolute blast playing it, as there was always a sense of humour brought in by the prompts while also bringing in tough questions that players would never be able to lie their way out of.
This, for me, was just a lot of fun, as in the past there was always the sense that you could just about make sense out of the lies you could tell, with some of the prompts being similar enough to save you, but this time they were so different that you could still lie and get away with it, but you really had to talk your way out of it.
Simply put, Fakin It XL continues to bring the fun and chaos that Jackbox Games have been famous for years, and with this being a standalone game, it is quite interesting for those who like the Fakin It style of games to get it on its own rather than as a party pack.
Fakin It XL is currently available on PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch 2 and costs $8.99.
For your next read, why not check out our review of Dreadline Express, or check out our review of The House Dreams Along With Them.
Thumb Wars reviews every game based upon the structure of our review policy, and every review is on OpenCritic.
Liam is a Senior Editor, Writer, and Critic for Thumb Wars and has been working with the team since day one. Liam is a big fan of all things gaming, as you will catch him playing all of the new releases from every genre you can imagine. Whether you find Liam gaming just for fun or spending his free time streaming, you will always find a smile on his face when it comes to all things gaming.
