Penny Larceny: Gig Economy Supervillain Reviews

Excellent!

I was not expecting to like this game as much as I did. Don't get me wrong, I was expecting to like it! I love a good visual novel, and I'm a sucker for a story about superheroes-- and even more about supervillains, a tragically unexplored perspective. And that's all I was expecting to get when I opened this. But instead... I got something MUCH more. Sure, the hallmarks are all there-- a very fun flow to the 'heist' setup and executions, a forgiving difficulty system that encourages replaying without forcing a completionist mentality, a score of fun characters to delve into, romance, and all handled VERY well with opting in to sex and romance at all stages-- but... this game is a LOT more than that. I don't want to spoil too much, because this game needs to be properly experienced firsthand for the full effect. But this game gets into a metanarrative level that I was not REMOTELY expecting. It's both subtle and frontloaded, introducing the elements right as you stick your feet in and getting you so used to them that by the time you hit your first ending, you're blindsided by the way you didn't see where it was going at all. And that ending encourages you to play again, to see more, until-- if you're anything like me-- you're sitting back in your chair after an eight-hour binge feeling shockingly emotional about what you expected to be an enjoyable weekend timekiller. It's most comparable to Slay The Princess, which if you know anything about that should let you know EXACTLY what you're getting into, but Penny Larceny deserves enormous praise for managing to SURPRISE you with the fact that it's like that. And considering that is what I truly believe to be one of the greatest visual novels of all time? I think it's the highest praise I can give, and more than enough to convince me to buy Arcade Spirits near immediately if it's a FRACTION of this good. If you like visual novels, pick this up. If you like superheroes and supervillains (or should I say Capes and Masks? Play it, you'll get it) pick this up. If you like compelling characters, incredibly well-written and thought-provoking writing, and a really adorable artstyle, pick this up. If enough people do, maybe the devs will have to follow through on a sequel or DLC at some point-- though I think there's value in leaving a story with its happy ending and how you could follow up this one is a job for a much wiser writer than me, I certainly wouldn't mind a few more capers with Penny, Gibson and friends. Because as cheesy as it sounds to say, that's what they feel like after 100%ing this game. A caper successfully pulled on my heart, Fiction Factory. Five stars. And also Farsight is adorable and I cannot see any reasonable explanation for having any alternative opinion, that's my hill, I'm dying on it, so there.

A fun visual novel that incorporates the player and branching narrative into the story quite well. You're a voice on Penny Larceny's shoulder, giving them tips and suggestions on where and how to crime. They've got the standard thiefly skills of being quite agile, picking locks, that sort of thing, and I never ran into cases where wrong choices mean you fail, the game seems quite forgiving of these things. But there's a rating system so better choices *do* get rewarded, if only in the satisfaction of seeing five stars for a particular caper. Each playthrough is relatively short, you should be able to get through one in an hour or so. But a choice of multiple capers and different decisions you can make on each caper gives you a fair bit of variety in each run, and like most VNs, you can skip text you've already seen.