It's on sale right now? I might have to get it. I heard mixed things about it (namely, that is was too difficult) but the premise seemed super cool to me, and difficulty has rarely stopped me before.
It is on sale now until (I believe) the end of the month. I think it was something like $5.
The game is difficult, and some people will probably really dislike the way it's structured. The trick is that you have 100 total attempts to pull off the ultimate swindle - but before you can even attempt that mission you need to do a bunch of smaller jobs to earn cash, buy upgrades, and unlock new levels. Every run you go on counts towards that 100 limit, whether you are successful and earn a bunch of cash or fail and come back empty-handed (or worse). There is also a definite learning curve, which means you'll probably have to start from scratch (ie: no power-ups, stealing from the slums again) at least once.
In addition, the game punishes taking too many risks pretty harshly. You build up a multiplier for every successful swindle but that bonus value gets reset (in addition to earning no money and getting one step closer to the end of the game) every time your thief gets caught or dies. You don't lose any cash previously banked, and purchased upgrades carry over to your next thief - but since money is required to unlock everything, you really need to decide when to cut and run or it will cost far more than you'd expect.
Summed up: This is a game where you
can't slowly grind to a win. That flat out won't work. You must continually improve and minimize mistakes to be successful. You need to spend time with the game and (most likely) start over at some point before you'll have the skill and knowledge required to win.
Neither of those detract from the high points for me, because I enjoy each stage individually and don't yet feel a need or expectation to win everything. But I can see how some people would get frustrated with those design choices.
Update: Almost done the game, I think. With roughly 50 days left (after using the hack station to buy some time extensions) I've got all power-ups and am ready to hit the final stage - but am running into some problems. On more than one occasion, my console has frozen playing late-game levels. It makes me pretty nervous to pony up for the final approach, since you essentially lose a level when it happens.
Ugh... after having similar issues with Telsagrad I was really really hoping for this game to play smoother. Still loving the overall experience (despite mildly clunky controls and a few frustrating bugs) and recommend the game, but this is a real bummer and needs to be mentioned along with any sort of recommendation.
Update #2: Giving up at this point. One in three runs seems to end with my console hard-locking, which the game treats the same as dying despite me not doing anything wrong. Very frustrating to do a successful Bank run to earn enough cash only have the game freeze during the opening room of The Swindle... twice, in immediate succession.
Still like the game, and
want to play more... but the technical issues are inexcusable and frustrating enough to overwhelm my desire to see the end. It's a real shame too - but 8+ crashes over the course of today (and a few earlier) is too much to just overlook and forgive.
Really not feeling much love for indie games right now.
Final Update: Beat the game properly after multiple attempts.
Seem like the crash is related to hacking drones (maybe) while in a really busy level? Or maybe related to remote detonation? Ok, I still don't know what's causing the crashes... but I did report my issues to customer support with Curve Digital and they were communicative and very pleasant. Doesn't get rid of the problem, but my fingers are crossed for an eventual patch.
Having finished the game, I've gone back several times for more.Still think it's a heck of an experience, despite my excessive complaining about the bugs. (Oh right, one other bug to report. Sometimes when you blow up certain sections of the level, spikes aren't visible but still exist. Yep, that sucks too.)
I still recommend the game cautiously, as long as people are aware that this (in my opinion) wonderful game is hampered by some unfortunate coding issues unless a patch arrives.