HEIST Reviews

Slow, boring, and with frustrating controls/physics/asset boundaries that make you go "oh wtf i told you to moveee/hide/do this/not that"

Cool little stealth game. Good gadgets to unlock to distract guards Shadow based stealth Good amount of checkpoints to use Simple fun for stealth fans

Indie devs, cosplaying as an evil corporation, implement checkpoints, the 3rd-rate save system meant for proprietary hardware, as a middle finger to players. With both hands, because if you leave mid-mission, either willfully or by accident, you'll have to restart from scratch next time. No way to simply continue. In fact, you'll have to browse manually through clunky menus just to retrieve the map you were playing on. If you can remember which one it was, that is. I respond in kind, with a shorter finger, pointed red and painted down. With both hands as well, because there is no quality of life whatsoever. No multi-slots. No comfort in the GUI. No smooth aiming. Nothing in-game to indicate where you or your objective are inside the maze, no map, no zoom out, no scrolling, no visibility at all. Nothing but bugs and the inevitability of Murphy's law.

This game is so hard to love, the ambiance is great, the gameplay however isn't that good, you can't pass certain points without asset, the checkpoint are weirdly place, the whole thing just feels clumsy Just get Mark of Ninja already

never heard about this game until it popped into my recommended an hour ago so iv not been following this at all. you can easily duke many of the guards by sprinting past and effectively just rushing the level, they lose sight of you if you turn a corner or go through a door pretty much. other than that the core gameplay loop seemed ok but very basic and i had no motivation to really unlock the other items, although i think it could be quite fun if there was more complexity. i wouldnt mind the simplicity if there was more commitment to the aesthetic (past the heavy shadows, jazz and trench coats theres nothing much compelling here). im under the impression this is maybe one guy or a couple of guys but i really hope, give it 2 to 5 years, that they revisit this type of thing and try again, with voice actors, narrative and maybe some cutscenes.

HEIST is the first game by Australian studio Atomizer Games, and I'm very impressed by it. Despite the fact that it has a few issues, it's still very well-made and a fun way to spend your evening. Please note that my playtime above doesn't reflect my actual playtime, it's actually around three hours, but Steam didn't register it for whatever reason (I think it's because my Wi-Fi was down and Steam wasn't online). Much like the description says, you play as a cat burglar in the Depression Era trying to avoid guards, pull off various heists, and escape without being caught, no false advertising here folks. The black and white color scheme gives off a noir film feel, and it works very well, so don't fret if you think it'll be bland and boring when you play it, I assure you it's not. First, the good stuff. There's a story in HEIST, but it's fairly simple, so don't expect Bioshock levels of storytelling. It's straight and to the point because much of the game revolves around and focuses on the gameplay. There are 7 levels, so the game, while short, is concise, with the developers focusing their time on perfecting these specific levels instead of flying off the rails and having the game stray from its main focus, the stealth, and its level design. I love stealth games, and I'm a huge fan of the Metal Gear series, so if you are too I think you'll like the gameplay at the very least. The level design is fantastic with each room being a puzzle in itself with you trying to decide how you'll tackle the challenge and steal the item/escape. There's no time limit on any of the levels so don't stress over that. HEIST is a game about taking your time to pull off the perfect heist and focuses on strategy over action. After every level you get a new tool to aid you in the missions, these include, but aren't limited to trip wires, smoke bombs, and cherry bombs (purely for distraction purposes). There is an arrow to guide you to your objective, so you don't get lost in the levels (it'll pop up when you press the TAB key). I guess the only con I can give HEIST is its AI. The guards are incredibly easy to exploit, and you can pretty much cheese your way to your objective. This is because there are green objects (couches, desks, etc...) that you can hide under and become invisible even when you're being chased, they also act as a sort of "quick save" point. Theoretically you can sprint to the next one if you know where it is and work your way towards your objective that way. If you make enough distance between you and a guard that's chasing you and make it to a dark area it's fairly difficult for them to find you. Effectively, the game isn't that challenging in this aspect. I also did run into one bug where the guards kept colliding with each other, meaning that I had to restart the level (granted, I'd only played five minutes of said level up until that point, and it only happened once). I recorded that moment and uploaded it to YouTube, and it's accessible via the link below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1DgwXsow-4 Once the devs fix this collision issue and point it out in this review's comments I'll gladly edit the review to reflect that. Nevertheless, despite the AI issues, HEIST is a fairly good game where you can just sit down on a weekend and have a tea while you play it. It takes around three hours to beat, so don't worry about it getting in the way of your work. The game was cheap in my country but if you feel that it's too expensive for a three-hour experience wait for it to go on sale and see if the price warrants the playtime at the discount that it's on when it goes on sale. Overall, I feel like HEIST is pretty good and worth your time, and it's very impressive given that as far as I know this is Atomizer Games first game. I enjoyed it, and I'm looking forward to the next game they release in the future.

Good game, love the style and music despite the jank and bugs. I would like to see more from this studio.

I'm loving how this game feels. It's refreshing to play a stealth game that requires careful movement and item use in the way HEIST does it. It seems like there are several ways to complete a heist, and it is up to you as to how you do it. I'm only a few levels deep at the moment so I can't wait to unlock more.

Decent art style, limited gameplay. You are limited to 3 types of gadgets, all of which have limited numbers that can't be recovered. Most of the gadgets are distraction variations, and the starting set is very weak. Coins have a tiny radius and should not be limited uses. There is only so far you can get with clever stealth, and some areas will stack guards in bright areas in front of the only door available to progress. You have no way to control light, no way to take down guards early on, and no free distractions. Imagine if Metal Gear Solid limited how many times you could knock on walls. I'm sorry, but absolutely not. I know the goal is pure stealth, but the levels are not designed for clean runs with no detection.

I really wanted to like this game. But it took several updates just to get basic quality of life updates like a compass pointing the way to the exit. I like supporting small Australian Indie devs and the game had a lot of potential. But it just isn't fun to play. You don't feel like a stealthy genius when you succeed. You only feel frustration when your gadget fails to distract the guards correctly. Guards walking often get stuck on environment / other guards after a chase. Camera is often very restrictive and results in you being spotted many times by guards you couldn't see due to a poor angle. Also aiming gadgets and camera are both bound to the mouse, so you can't move the camera while aiming a gadget. On the positive side the maps often have multiple approaches / routes to take. It rewards exploration.